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Our First Review Of The New Untitled Farrelly Brothers Film!
Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
I’ve known Pete and Bobby Farrelly casually for a while now, and one of the films that they’ve always talked about as a favorite of theirs is Elaine May’s great THE HEARTBREAK KID. As long as I’ve known them, they’ve always talked about doing their own riff on the basic idea, and now... they have.
So how is it? Does it live up to all the time they’ve put into thinking about it? They just tested it for the first time the other night, and one thing’s for sure... the Farrellys use the test screening process about as well as anyone can, so I’m sure there’s a lot of fine-tuning ahead before it finally gets released. Let’s see what “Dandelo” has to say about it:
Long time reader, first time writer. I’ll try to stay away from too many spoilers.
Tuesday night, there was a screening of the new Farrelly Brothers/Ben Stiller movie at the Galleria in Sherman Oaks, CA. As of now, it’s Untitled, and we were told we were the first audience to see it. I sat four seats away from a Farrelly, so they were probably telling the truth.
To gain some perspective, I haven’t been the biggest fan of the Farrelly Brothers flicks of late. “Fever Pitch” was just alright, and I thought “Stuck on You”, “Shallow Hal”, and “Osmosis Jones” were about as funny as cancer. You know, the serious kind. Malignant. They had the same look and feel as their earlier movies; there just wasn’t any cum in anyone’s hair. Armless assholes who were friends with the Amish were NOT bowling while dead parrots were NOT being sold to blind kids. So my expectations were low going into this. And I was pleasantly surprised. This new one harks back to the earlier work. It’s not yet perfect-it was clearly a rough cut-but I’ll be skull-fucked-in-the-ass if there weren’t at least four or five scenes that rival those earlier efforts.
Here come a few spoilers.
The movie’s based on the Charles Grodin comedy “The Heartbreak Kid”. I’ve never seen it, but from what IMDB tells me, the stories are pretty similar. Ben Stiller’s character, a schlub named Eddie, meets a girl named Lila (the HOT Malin Akerman) and understandably falls in love with her. She does environmental work and tells him two weeks after meeting her that she’s being transferred to Holland. There’s another worker that would go, but he’s married, and they don’t transfer married people. FLASH. Lightbulb goes off in Eddie’s head. Fuck, I should marry this smoking-hot chick and she won’t have to move. Genius, right? Well, no.
On their honeymoon, Eddie finds out she’s the most annoying, bat-shit crazy bitch on the planet. Courtney-fucking-Love style. When they get to Cabo, he meets the real girl he’s meant to be with, Miranda (Michelle Monoghan from “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”), and thus comes Eddie’s predicament. He JUST got married, but his wife’s a fucking nutter butter, and this other girl’s sweet. And pretty hot herself. What’s a guy to do?
End of most spoilers.
The movie is fucking hilarious for the first hour. It’s R-rated as hell, and it uses that license for some great raunchy scenes. The problem is the movie’s two hours long, and there’s a good stretch in that second hour that could use some work. I don’t think this problem is insurmountable, and I’ll get to that in a minute.
But first…the first hour. Could someone please tell me where the fuck Malin Akerman came from? This chick is unbelievable. She goes for broke in a role of lot of actresses wouldn’t have the balls to attempt and she fucking tears up the screen. She’s sweet then she’s irritating then she’s a raving lunatic. She’s perfect! According to her credits she was in Lisa Kudrow’s HBO show “The Comeback”. I actually might watch that now. Wait, no I won’t, because I’m not a fucking vagina, but Ms. Akerman has my total respect. She holds her own against Stiller and does a great job depicting the 180 degree spin her character takes. It doesn’t seem forced; it just seems funny. Minor Spoiler - It’s ironic that Rob Corddry and Jerry Stiller have a conversation about how all funny chicks are a little manly-i.e. Ellen Degeneres, Rosie O’Donnell, etc. (in reality they’re wrong because while both those examples do have dicks, neither are funny). Believe me, there is nothing manly about Ms. Akerman. Wait till you see the sex scenes. I never knew it was possible to laugh so hard with a hard-on. Now I know. This girl is a star-I’m saying it first.
The way Akerman and Stiller play off each other is pitch-perfect and really brings back that old Farrelly feeling. The rest of the audience loved it as much as I did, and for awhile, I thought this was “There’s Something About Mary 2”. Until Michelle Monoghan comes on the screen. Now listen, I like her a lot. Liked her in “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”. Liked her in MI:3. And I would like her in this…if it didn’t seem like she was from another movie. It’s not her fault; it’s the writing. There’s a good half hour where Ben Stiller falls in love with her where there just aren’t many jokes. They forgot to write in the funny. It’s not terrible, it’s just a lot slower and unnecessarily long. The movie starts trying to tell a story instead of just letting one flow.
After that, there’s another big hilarious comic piece (involving aquatic life and the female genitalia) that leads into the last twenty minutes of the movie, which are pretty good. Not as good as the beginning, but not bad.
So basically, the movie has a half hour that’s out of place. Some of it is needed to get from point A to point B, but it can be drastically cut down. And I imagine it will be. Like I said, there was a Farrelly sitting a few seats from me, and he could hear the deafening roar of the silence during that half hour just as well as I could. Especially when it was contrasted with the non-stop laughter of the previous hour. If they edit this thing right, we’ll have the best Farrelly Brothers comedy since “Mary”. If they don’t, the best since “Irene”, which isn’t the worst thing a movie could be. Here’s hoping for “Mary”.
If you use this, call me Dandelo.
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have you seen my baseball?
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But good to know that the Farrelys seem to be back. I hope you're not a plant, dude.
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stick to what your good at boys. D&D = hilarious. Kingpin = hilarious (and big Bill's best role since Groundhog). Mary = pretty damn hilarious. They started to edge more to the rom com side here but Diaz, Dillon and Evans held it back on the good side.
The problem here is the Farrellys and Stiller are obsessed with being seen as able to 'crowd-pleasing rom com' not just stupid but hilarious sketch coms. But that's what they're good at. The Farrellys suck when rom com takes over - Fever Pitch anyone?
And Stiller? Man, the guy can do funny when he goes all out like in Zoolander or Dodgeball - hell, even directorial in Cable Guy - but like Carrey, etc he loves to show his other side and ends up delivering crap like Along Came Polly and Night At the Museum. Puh-lease.
This sounds like they are still trying to please both themselves and their fans. You so know a sweet, dull, toned-down second-half if going to ruin this movie. After all, even gut-busting laughs are hard to remember when you've been beaten by the saccharine stick for an hour after. -
The Farrelly Brothers are in my list of top directors, Stuck On You is one of the sweetest comedies ever, osmosis jones is hilarious, Dumb and Dumber always makes me smile, I tell you these guys know comedy I have no doubt that their next movie will be hilarious.
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If anyone knows someone that has an armed asshole, then by god post that shit somewhere.
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since Heroes is on break. I was going to write, "Roy Munson only lost his HAND, not his arm!"...I'm feeling it too, brother...also, my bowling team is too good, now. the other decent teams left the league after winter season cos they were tired of being dominated.
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To save someone else the trip to IMDB, she was the hot slutty wife of the mechanic Freakshow in Harold and Kumar. (Why anyone would mention that Kudrow show in trying to identify an actor is beyond me.)
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The correct term is "anal fisting".
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Uh, Maria Bamford and Laura Kightlinger aren't manly...rowr Laura Kightlinger.
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I haven't really been impressed with anything past "There's Something About Mary". Yet whenever I see a new Farrelly trailer, in big letters I am told: "FROM THE GUYS WHO BROUGHT YOU THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY..." Maybe Hollywood could come up with a 3 strikes rule. If you have a big hit, and then can't make another hit in the three next movies, you can't ride the coat-tails of the first hit anymore. No more "From the Director of..." I just think the Farrellys hit a tremendous uppercut to the chin, and have been throwing haymakers ever since.
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Wasn't that the hot little number who was married to the Jesus Freak with all the hideous boils? I've been waiting to see more of her.
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Both were awesome. You just never think of scotch tape the same way again. Okay,true story.. so my wife and I left the theater after Dumb and Dumber. In the parking lot she tells me "That movie was dumb." Thanks for the newsflash honey. By the way, Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a teensy bit of violence in it.
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Forgot to mention that. Wasn't she from Harold & Kumar? Wasn't that the hot little number who was married to the Jesus Freak with all the hideous boils? I've been waiting to see more of her.
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Those of you who like Curb Your Enthusiasm would appreciate this milder female-centric take on celebrity. Oh, and this reviewer is a misogynistic douchebag.
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She's hilarious, and she's got Portia to boot!
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Mar 29, 2007 9:58:37 AM CDT
They made Kingpin? Okay, then. Michael Duncan was good.
by jackpumpkinhead
But they also made some of the worst anticomedies in the last (or this) century - Irene, Jones... urgh. This one, just as the others, should fit right in with the "taste" of the audience that makes Wild Hogs and Norbit a success.
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If it is as good as Dumb and Dumber I'm there!
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She was that mutants hot wife. Can we start getting reviews without jagoff statements like "I’ll be skull-fucked-in-the-ass" and "because I’m not a fucking vagina". Guess what, you are a fucking vagina. No one thinks you're funny. Not only that, since you (and half the reviewers on this site) insist on putting 'gems' like that, we also don't think you can form a cohesive thought without reverting back to 8th grade. Take a queue from Moriarty and just review the damn movie.
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Ben Stiller?! What is he now, 56?
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It's dated a bit (1972) But Cybill Shepard has never been hotter. It's also got a hilarious performance by Charles Grodin. I'ts one of those movies that most people have never heard of but it's definitely worth a look. When I heard the Brothers were remaking it, It sounded like a perfect fit.
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But most certainly proves himself a douchebag after that statement! Way to go!
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we are of the same mind, sir
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What about John McTiernan? He's still "The director of Die Hard".
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I must be somewhat in the minority then, as I don't have too much affection for Dumb and Dumber or Irene, but more recently have been charmed and amused by Shallow Hal, Stuck on You and Fever Pitch. These are movies with both a heart and a funny bone. I haven't seen Osmosis Jones yet, which as a Bill Murray fan is a bit criminal thinking about it. Anyhoo, oin the basis of the aforemention threesome I will most likely go see this at the cinema.
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This fellow is clearly not a Douche Bag, maybe more of a Colostomy Bag.
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A rather brilliant one I believe. It made me laugh AND think about how I look at women. I can see how someone expecting a 'Dumb and Dumber' or 'Mary' style comedy would've been dissappointed in it. I really think it would be more highly regarded if it WASN'T by the Farrrelly's, and hence avoided those comparisons.
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I also think she's hilarious to boot.
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who cares if drops a "vagina" reference in there? it's his right. he went and saw the damn movie none of us have seen and is taking the time to tell us about it. he can write whatever the hell he wants and we get to read it. so what if it wasn't written be ebert? at least it gives us an idea of what the movie is about. douchebags
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Why, I didn't know you cared...
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It's ostensibly for talking about movies. But it's just as much, if not more, about anonymous shit-talking.
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and if they get the editing right they could have a hit on their hands. they've churned out cowshit for too long now, and its time they went back to their classic period. dont wanna sit thru another irene. that pissed me off. i shoulda walked out, but it took me too long to sneak in. wanna check out this Malin Akerman bird tho. sounds fit. i agree on that dory bird from nemo and the fat one who i cant remember what the fuck she's been in. they're shit. the US equivalent of jo brand or victoria wood. fuck dat. period, bra and tampon jokes. hilarious. osmosis jones was fucking shit. cartoon bits were funny tho.
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"really think it would be more highly regarded if it WASN'T by the Farrrelly's, and hence avoided those comparisons."- i thought the same thing, fella when i watched it. i was expected some hilarious shit, but instead it made me think. want a bad film, just diffferent from wot i was expecting.
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dawn french. Her list of crimes against comedy is too long for words. i'll start with The Vicar Of Dibley, which should be enough for a public flogging and then gently move on to some of the sketches she did with Jennifer Saunders: YES, YOU ARE A FAT BITCH. WE GET IT. IT'S NOT FUNNY.
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Fat, unfunny, useless, talentless cow.
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People who feel the need to announce to the world that they're "not vaginas" are usually trying to convince themselves more than anyone else. And usually, they're the only ones buying it. Maybe it's not the case here. First time for everything.
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They should run no more than 90 - 100 minutes.
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Sssssssmmmmmack!
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. . . but there was more than enough in Irene to crack me up.
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Me, Myself and Irene is fucking excellent. Shallow Hal wasn't THAT bad but could have done with more jokes (people just can't handle that they were aiming a little differently with that one) and it needed some fat trimming out of it *yes, that IS a fucking pun, you asswipes*.
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Not an unadulterated FARRELLY!!! Bros. movie, but taken on it's own, it was an above average rom. comedy--an improvement from Stuck on You, which also wasn't altogether bad.
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Just doesn't have the same pull as it did about ten years ago. Maybe if they eased off on the "Handicapable" message that had become a little heavy handed in some of their films, and got back to being tastlessly funny.
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Damn you Michael Bay
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why cant ben stiller go back and make more movies like "the zero effect"?
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sounds like a metaphor to me.... but a metaphor for what?
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Can't be done. Skull fucking refers to the penetration of ones cranial orifices. Unless he's got his head up his ass, it's just not possible. Perhaps he means an actual skull getting shoved up his ass and gyrated. Then maybe.
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...I hate it when AICN profiles reviewers who try so desperately to sound "cool." It's not cool. And it doesn't make me "relate." It's just grating.
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I love all of the Farrelly's works and this is sounding very promising.
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make the most criminally unfunny movies I can think of, aside from Adam Sandler. I've tried to like them, and aside from one or two funny things per film, they just SUCK. It's as if they aren't smart enough to be funny...their flicks are like watching high school drama class improvs.
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Kingpin was pretty funny. Thats about as good as it gets.
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I can't believe you guys are ripping the reviewer. I thought it was great. Funny stuff. Good review.
Oh, and I actually liked Stuck On You. Agree that Fever Pitch and a few other recent Farrelly Bros' outings have been pretty bad. -
The only 3 movies these guy have made that were actually funny. And Something About Mary had moments of struggling for humor. They PEAKED with Kingpin. It's too bad.
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We need more Comb-overs that go awry in movies.
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All that chest-thumping manly-man crap isn't fooling anyone. He gives himself away when he writes with bullshit machismo "I’m not a fucking vagina, but Ms. Akerman has my total respect." I think he might have been trying for funny, or snarky, by following the misogynism with the very PC "Ms. Akerman has my total respect."
If you respected her, you wouldn't be so violently anti-female. While I thought much of the review showed Dandelo had given the film some serious thought, so much of the review was drowning in so much faux-manliness that it was unreadable.
The funniest thing to me was how "dandelo" seems to suggest "dandelion," which to me screams...PLANT.
Boys and men, show some fucking respect for women, and knock off all the posturing. And maybe you'll have a happy life. -
Wasn't it?
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Yet you read every "grating" word... and you constantly do. I for the record hate when AICN talkbackers wait for reviews to be posted just so they can read every word of them, only to post how "grating" a read it was and how "uncool" the reviewer is. Yet... you'll be here reading tomorrow... and the day after... and the day after that. I actually liked that review a great deal, informative, witty, and concise.
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god it gets tiring to see the same dickheads complain day after day about the same shit...."you call this news i posted this last week""or this was on cinemablend 3 weeks ago"..."harry just give us a straight review and stop giving us your life story" etc etc etc and on and on...the same fucking shit every fucking day..do you motherfuckers just cut and paste the same posts every day or do you try to come up with old and unimaginative ways to say the same fucking thing repeatedly....if you don't like it why are you here every fucking day complaining about about the same tired old horseshit?? shut the fuck up.oh and anyone who has the time to go back through old stories and search the time harry said something which contradicts something he is saying now needs to turn off the computer and go for a walk outside.
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Damn you Michael Bay
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Review was shit. Michael Bay Denis is shit. Fuck this, I'm off to the pub.
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In the original film, the main character (Grodin) marries a fairly unlovely, sort of boring, whiny Jewish girl (Jeanie Berlin, Elaine May's kid) because he wants to get laid. Big mistake. While he's on his honeymoon he sees the Shiksa Queen of his dreams (Cybill Shepherd -- yeah, she was cute once) and falls madly in love. He dumps his wife rather cruelly (she's not nuts, just dull, and doesn't deserve this cruelty) and marries the SQ. But ha-ha -- she turns out to be even more boring than his first wife! Moral of the story: be careful what you wish for, etc. This remake, however, sounds about as profound as all the other Farelly films, and the change in the narrative sounds completely gratuitous and ever so slightly misogynistic.
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forgot about the great heifer that is Ms Dawn French. she was funny for five minutes at some point in the early nineties i think. Vicar of dibley is okay-average (it used to have its moments). it doesnt piss me off. what pisses me off is french and saunders. sloppy show. they simply recreate some famous scene from a film and add no gags or different spin on it. (a bit like recent episodes of family guy). it shit. she's shit. she should go on celebrity fit (fat) club. lose 18 stone at least. the fat funny girl routine has gotten old. way old.
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the only way Dibly can be remotely watchable is if you wire your temples into the mains. It is that bad. Look here's some guy that stutters, and another that smells, and some old fat tory twat, oh- look a few submorons, and DAWN FRENCH AS A FEMALE VICAR. Inspired. I think not. It isn't as bad as either F&S or the fucking chocolate orange ad. Mind you, neither is being fisted by King Kong.
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Of course I "read every grating word." I'm not psychic. How would I know to call the review grating, if I hadn't? Besides, isn't it possible I read the review because I'm interested in the movie itself, and not because I'm a big fan of the reviewer?Re: "...and you constantly do." Uh, what? Do you know me? Do I know you? Even within the context of these boards, do you recall one single post I've ever made? You sort of picked the wrong guy to single out to kick-off your soap-box speech. Next time choose a poster who participates in more than 4 talkbacks a month.
You also sort of picked the wrong review to use as the platform for your argument. Believe it or not, I've been known to get on AICN posters as well, for being so predictably negative about everything. In fact, I'm more apt to do that, than to criticize the writing in an article. (Again, you really did single out the wrong poster here.) But come on, *this* review? Witty? -
i guess you might be right when you sum it up like that. it sounds fucking shit. the only times i've watched it, i've been drunk around the family christmas dinner table. so it may have appeared funny to me. fat lady tries to get pummelled by the geezer from casualty ( i think it was that)- funny secnario...when drunk. once seen sober, its not so funny. still cant believe old lenny henry (who he himself lost his funny gene 25 years ago) fucks that shit. must be like fucking a no 27 double decker bus. he's a crazy bastard!
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years ago.They should stay married. Keep all that un-funniness locked away in one place. Stop it spreading.
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whats the reviewers problem with birds? speaks about them like they were pieces of meat. did his aunt fiona finger-fuck him in his asshole when he was little or something, or slam his willy in a vice? he needs to recognize. love and respect the birds, fella.
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shit. did they they? that one passed me by then cos i thought they was still married. last i saw of her she was posing naked for some painting (yeah, true, all 38 stone of her) and it was all over the papers but that was years ago or at least it felt like it. i agree that these two humourless comedians should keep that shit locked away like rabies- the comedians code is 'humourless comedians often go hungry'. as they say...Dawn French gotta eat!!!!! infact no she doesnt,..she's got enough supplies in those bellies of hers to last 7 years at least, AND feed the 40 starving people of Tower hamlets.
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It would be a fucking relief to never see any of the fuckers associated with that again. It used to be the curse of the comic relief single killed a music career (honestly, look it up- for example, remeber G-G-G-Gareth Gates?) but now I hope that it kills all their careers.Another point about Dawn French, She was cast in one of the Harry Potter films as THE FAT LADY. And she pissed me off in that as well. This is how Britain survives the Rage virus. We tie Dawn French up and just throw her to the infected. by the time they have eaten their way through her we could have built a fucking boat and sailed to Australia.
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