Despicable Me

What a wonderful, cutesy little film this is. Not quite as good as the Toy Story 3 or the Shreks from earlier this year, but still thoroughly entertaining.

The main reason it wasn't quite as good in my opinion is mainly quite simply that it wasnt as meant for me as Toy story was. there are adult themes in this film but it is a story and film geared towards a younger audience than me.

the main story revolves around a guy who has no friends or any love in his life, he is lonely and cares only about his work. He is slowly being eased out at work by a younger more ambitious colleague, into his life is introduced 3 children who over the course of the film change his views on life and make hi reassess what is most important... sound familiar? much like many Disney family movies this is a film plot that is stock beyond belief. However everything in this film is exaggerated beyond belief, to very funny conclusions. the man in question is a super villain living alongside "normal" humans. and the three kids are a trio of incredibly cute children, one of which - Agnes, is so cute she would melt solid steel.

a lovely family friendly jaunt, but none of the adult humour and themes that made Toy Story so appealing (to me anyhow).

4 stars

Dinner for Schmucks

my first thoughts of this film is that it was an absurdist comedy. Not the sort of film you would consider seeing coming out of mainstream Hollywood.

Steve Carrell plays Barry a strange freak with a heart of gold, he is befriended by Paul Rudds character Tim, who needs to find a "schmuck" to bring to a grotesque dinner party that his powerful work colleagues regularly hold - the winner is the colleague who brings the biggest schmuck. This is based on a french film by the name of The Dinner Game, but apparently is no where near as cruel in its depiction of it's Schmuck, indeed Barry could just suffer from a form of autism.

To me the film is a collection of gags and strange characters that wouldn't seem out of place in a sketch show, and that's about as cohesive as the scenes get. the film lurches from one sketch to another, albeit very funny, but they are with the same characters, and they do start to get tiresome. The characters are so , strange an so surreal that it seems impossible that they could live in such a normal world as the rest f the characters live - which is fine in a sketch show, but with the fleshing out of all the characters and situations it seems to clash and pulls you out of the film.

so in all in all a collection of funny characters and sketches but struggles as a coherent film.

2 stars