Now-a-Dollar April 20 | Buzz Blog
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Thursday, April 19, 2012

A&E / Culture

Now-a-Dollar April 20

Posted By on April 19, 2012, 9:00 AM

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A pair of wild high-concept "comedies" come to local second-run theaters this weekend, both inspiring more head-scratching than belly-laughing. ---

This Means War finds two CIA field agents (Tom Hardy and Chris Pine) competing with both fair means and foul for the same woman (Reese Witherspoon). There was every opportunity to turn this into a romantic-action comedy that still had some heart, but it offers nothing resembling real, sympathetic characters to carry us through the preposterous situations. It just barrels ahead, oblivious to whether or not a viewer actually cares about who ends up alive, or who ends up with whom, or why.

And yet it still offers more humanity than Project X, which turns the faux-documentary tale of a high school nerd's house party gone out of control into a smug exercise in combining Risky Business and John Hughes with Jackass. The problem isn't that it's socially irresponsible; the problem is that it's just not funny, unless the inherent hilarity of a dwarf punching people in the nuts can still work its magic on you.

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About The Author

Scott Renshaw

Scott Renshaw
Bio:
 Scott Renshaw has been a City Weekly staff member since 1999, including assuming the role of primary film critic in 2001 and Arts & Entertainment Editor in 2003. Scott has covered the Sundance Film Festival for 25 years, and provided coverage of local arts including theater, pop-culture conventions, comedy,... more

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