The Incredible Jessica James: Movie Review

Not as incredible as she thinks she is.

The Incredible Jessica James is only partly a misnomer. The title Jessica (played by The Daily Show’s Jessica Williams) thinks of herself as incredible. She also likes to use many other adjectives to describe how wonderful she is, but it doesn’t take long before the audience just finds her annoying and incredibly insufferable. Oddly the movie around her is mostly non-descript. An unremarkable comedy-drama mixing together a little quarter-life crisis with a romantic comedy.		2017 Directed by: James C. Strouse Screenplay by: James C. Strouse Starring: Jessica Williams, Chris O'Dowd

3 Nights in the Desert: Movie Review

A slow, mysterious piece of reflection in the desert.

Anna (Amber Tamblyn), Travis (Wes Bentley) and Barry (Vincent Piazza) are three thirty-something former friends, former band-mates and 10 years removed from when their band was up-and-coming and on the road to success. Now, Anna is still a singer, Barry is a lawyer and married, and, as the title suggests, are spending three nights in the desert at the urging of Travis who has not moved on as well as the others.		2014 Directed by: Gabriel Cowan Screenplay by: Adam Chanzit Starring: Amber Tamblyn, Wes Bentley and Vincent Piazza

Laggies: Movie Review

Comedy and romance and adults growing up.

Megan (Keira Knightley) is approaching 30, but doesn't seem to have her life figured out the way her friends do – but that's because her friends are naming their baby girl Juppiter and her boyfriend think it's okay to propose at her friend's wedding. In addition, her father's having an affair, and everybody's encouraging her to attend a career seminar where the most important part of professional success is figuring out what animal you are.		2014 Directed by: Lynn Shelton Screenplay by: Andrea Seigel Starring: Keira Knightley, Sam Rocwell, and Chloe Grace Moretz

Obvious Child: Movie Review

Surpassing the romantic comedy genre with hilarity.

Obvious Child stars Jenny Slate as Donna Stern. She’s an aspiring stand-up comedian, and night after night she bares her soul for everybody to see who she is, to relate to her, to laugh at her, and to laugh with her. Her material is certainly risqué but it’s also just life. She challenges everybody with acknowledging the facts of life and then just laughing at the absurdities of it all.		2014 Directed by: Gillian Robespierre Screenplay by: Gillian Robespierre Starring: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy and Gaby Hoffman

Camp Takota: Movie Review

Going back to camp with three funny and entertaining women.

Camp Takota starts in the city where Elise (Grace Helbig) has a handsome fiancée and is dutifully working in the publishing industry before she finds success as a writer. Then that all comes crashing down and through a series of drunken phone calls, finds herself returning to work at the all-girls camp she used to attend as a kid. The opening is surprisingly very funny and Elise’s flaws are front-and-center, making her likable and entertaining.		2014 Directed by: Chris Riedell, Nick Riedell Screenplay by: Lydia Genner, Mamrie Hart and Michael Goldfine Starring: Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart and Mamrie Hart

About Alex: Movie Review

About an ensemble that gives a new generation a film to call their own.

About Alex is advertised as The Big Chill (1984) for Millennials or Gen Yers, but in an effort to not sell this film short, it’s for anybody who was too young to be able to call The Big Chill their own. The main actors are all over 30 and the social media references weren’t over-done. It also boasts an indie cast to die for. I’m a big fan of pretty much all of them and they are cast perfectly for their skills.		2014 Directed by: Jesse Zwick Screenplay by: Jesse Zwick Starring: Jason Ritter, Nate Parker, Aubrey Plaza, Max Greenfield and Maggie Grace

The Pretty One: Movie Review

An uneven beginning gives way to a cute and sweet story of love and finding yourself.

“The Pretty One” is the story of identical twins Laurel and Audrey (Zoe Kazan), except Laurel is told she should look more like Audrey. Following the death of their mother, Audrey moved to the city and Laurel retreated farther into herself. This leaves one twin more rejuvenated looking hot and modern while the other is just a mess. Audrey wants Laurel to change, Laurel doesn’t know what she wants.		2013 Directed by: Jenée LaMarque Screenplay by: Jenée LaMarque Starring: Zoe Kazan, Jake M. Johnson

Brightest Star: Movie Review

A meandering romantic drama about losing love and finding yourself.

“Brightest Star” is an indie romantic drama about the journey of winning back the love of your life versus finding yourself. The Boy (Chris Lowell) loved Charlotte (Rose McIver) and lost Charlotte, and now he’s lost himself and will do whatever it takes to get her back. That’s right, our lead character doesn’t have a name but every other main character does. If you haven’t figured it out yet, he doesn’t know himself very well.		2013 Directed by: Maggie Kiley Screenplay by: Maggie Kiley and Matthew Mullen Starring: Chris Lowell and Rose McIver

The Lifeguard: Movie Review

Quarter-life crisis character study with dramatic depression and comedic maturation.

The Lifeguard is Leigh (Kristen Bell), a 30-year-old girl who quits her job in New York and comes back to Connecticut to try and find herself. It’s a quarter-life crisis character study where our protagonist was successfully able to get past her teen years but stalls when she's unable to embrace adulthood. Leigh is convinced that her life didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to and so she has gone back to her high school life.		2013 Directed by: Liz W. Garcia Screenplay by: Liz W. Garcia Starring: Kristen Bell, David Lambert

Girl Most Likely: Movie Review

A girl has lost her way and comes back home with quirky comedy.

“Girl Most Likely” is Imogene (Kristen Wiig); a girl once likely to become the next big playwright in New York City, now she’s desperately hanging on to the upper-class lifestyle convinced that it’s all about who you know, where you live, and who you are with. A failed attempt of a fake suicide attempt sends Imogene back where she came from. All the way to New Jersey.		2012 Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini Screenplay by: Michelle Morgan Starring: Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon and Darren Criss

At Any Price: Movie Review

A small character study that doesn’t lead to anything as interesting as it should.

At Any Price is a small Midwestern film about a small Midwestern family in a small Midwestern town. It translates well for any farming community. It also translates well for any character study fans, but it’s the thrilling elements that should have been heightened to make it a better movie overall. The continual build-up of the interactions between father and son don't lead anywhere you'd expect, and don't really lead anywhere you'd want.		2012 Directed by: Ramin Bahrani Screenplay by: Ramin Bahrani and Hallie Elizabeth Newton Starring: Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron

Frances Ha: Movie Review

Frances moves in annoying circles and gives the film too little direction.

At first glance, Noah Baumbach seems to have taken a cue from Woody Allen with his latest, “Frances Ha”. It’s in black and white, with a classical and jazz music score, and it stars his new actress muse Greta Gerwig. In fact, co-written by her. But then the movie starts and it becomes clear why no critics were comparing him to Allen. It just doesn’t have the same feel or tone as a Woody Allen movie. I’ll use the term immature.		2012 Directed by: Noah Baumbach Screenplay by: Noah Baumbach, and Greta Gerwig Starring: Greta Gerwig

The Oranges: Movie Review

A plethora of actors show how to make a dysfunctional family dramedy funny.

“The Oranges” centers on two families, each with mom and dad and former teenage daughter (now a twenty-something daughter), living across the street from each other in West Orange, New Jersey. It’s kind of like a dysfunctional family dramedy except the families really do function normal enough and well enough prior to the beginning of the plot. And also it’s a comedy. It poses some fairly serious questions but presents them all in a light-hearted, humorous fashion.		2011 Directed by: Julian Farino Screenplay by: Ian Helfer, Jay Reiss Starring: Leighton Meester, Hugh Laurie, Alia Shawkat, Oliver Platt

Sexy Evil Genius: Movie Review

So far from genius, the insanity of Nikki undoes the good character and acting work that came before.

Four strangers are mysteriously brought to a Los Angeles bar by a femme fatale-style ex-girlfriend they all have in common. That kind of set up for “Sexy Evil Genius” can be hit-or-miss; it's an especially odd case when it hits and misses in the same film. First we meet Zach (Seth Green) he's Nikki's old high school flame, and then we meet Miranda (Michelle Trachtenberg) from her recent lesbian days and she knows the most about Nikki. Primarily that she killed her last boyfriend. Uh, oh.		2013 Directed by: Shawn Piller Screenplay by: Scott Lew Starring: Seth Green, Katee Sackhoff, Michelle Trachtenberg, Harold Perrineau and William Baldwin

Free Samples: Movie Review

A directionless character in a mostly directionless film supported by
good actors and some funny lines.

Jillian (Jess Weixler) is a Stanford law-school drop-out reeling from her recent life choices with no direction for her future. Free Samples is one day in the life of Jillian. Covering for a friend, she’s forced to work at an ice cream truck handing out free samples of ice cream or ice cream-like substances. She doesn’t like it to say the least, but she doesn’t like much in her life.		2012 Directed by: Jay Gammill Screenplay by: Jim Beggarly Starring: Jess Weixler, Jesse Eisenberg, Halley Feiffer, and Jason Ritter

On the Road: Movie Review

Disappointing trip to the Beat Generation with drugs, sex and emptiness.

On the Road is an adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s novel, which in turn, is an autobiographic written tale of Kerouac and friends, the fellow Beat writers; scattered but stylish. Life would speed up with drugs and alcohol, slow down for a night with a beautiful woman, speed up when it was time to hit the road again, and slow down as they fail to find themselves where they thought they would be.		2012 Directed by: Walter Salles Screenplay by: Jose Rivera Based on the novel by Jack Kerouac Starring: Sam Riley, Garret Hedlund, Kristen Stewart and Tom Sturridge

The Giant Mechanical Man: Movie Review

A quirky, indie romantic comedy with just enough charm.

“The Giant Mechanical Man” is for those who feel lost in life. Janice (Jenna Fischer) can’t hold down a job, has no place to live, and has only one person to turn to: her sister Jill (Malin Akerman). She wishes she didn’t have to turn to her. Janice wants something more in her life; she doesn’t know what, but she knows it’s not what Jill envisions for her.		2012 Directed by: Lee Kirk Screenplay by: Lee Kirk Starring: Jenna Fischer, Chris Messina

Lola Versus: Movie Review

The new generation of girls who don't have anything better to do than complain about love, sex, life and sex again.

Lola (Greta Gerwig) has a hard time finding her place in the world. So does the film. What starts out as a romantic comedy-styled drama, turns into a sex comedy, and then tries to find its way as a character study. But the character of Lola will turn off some before the film gets going and bore others who have already solved her life’s problems.		2012 Directed by: Daryl Wein Screenplay by: Daryl Wain, Zoe Lister-Jones Starring: Greta Gerwig

I'm Yours: Movie Review

A barren, lonely, depressed road trip to nowhere interesting.

“I'm Yours” starts in Manhattan. Rich, indulged, whiny profligates are complaining about their job on Wall Street. Robert (Rossif Sutherland) gets to hook up with the hottest woman at the bar, because apparently he deseerves to. Daphne (Karine Vanasse) is the hottest girl at the bar, and she's mysterious. And that is the entire introduction to the characters.		2011 Directed by: Leonard Farlinger Screenplay by: Leonard Farlinger Starring: Rossif Sutherland, and Karine Vanasse

Take This Waltz: Movie Review

A marriage and its possible demise as seen from three artfully crafted characters.

“Take This Waltz” is a relationship drama, a romantic comedy, or a character study, depending on how you look at it. It's about marriage; it's about the individuals in a marriage; it's about the individuals involved in the destruction of a marriage; and it's about one individual in particular. It's funny, sad, and revealing. It's heartbreakingly hilarious, conflictingly optimistic and pessimistic, and perfectly Canadian.		2011 Directed by: Sarah Polley Screenplay by: Sarah Polley Starring: Michelle Williams, Luke Kirby and Seth Rogen