So I'm a little late with last week's $5 Tuesday Guys' Movie. So, sue me.
I have things to do. I'm a busy, busy man. Do you know how hard it is to stay hidden from The Wife with her Honey-Do List in hand and enough time to hunt me down because she's retired, too?
...But enough about me.
Buddy J's and my most recent viewing is "The Family." It stars Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer — and a couple of young actors I recognize but don't really know — as a your not-quite-run-of-the-mill Federal Witness Protection recipient-family. (Oh. And incomparable Tommy Lee Jones in what amounts to a throw-away role.) If you like De Niro's relatively recent career swing to comedy, you'll enjoy this movie. And, of course, if she's paired with most any other actor, Pfeiffer steals this show. (Jones's effort, sadly, is wasted.)
This Guys' Movie's a dark comedy, amusing, long on dark, but short on Guys'. Popcorn in hand, I sat down, ready to like this family. But this isn't Steve Martin's 1990 "My Blue Heaven" updated. The filmmakers make it really hard to like this bunch. I left the theater amused and chuckling over several bits. But I probably won't see this movie again until after football season, when I'm bored and it's the only thing on TV — and maybe not even then.
A Guys' Movie? I've seen better. Better explosions. Better gunplay. Better action. Certainly fewer plot inconsistencies. It's as if the movie-makers got lazy and relied on the principle actors to carry the load.
It gets 2-1/2 knuckle sandwiches, one guffaw, a thumbs-up to the actors, and a jolt from strategically placed jumper cables to those responsible for the story and script.
(Guys, if you wanna see a real Guys' Movie, rent "Prometheus."
(Moms, take the kids somewhere else. Pinnacle Mountain if it's nice. This movie carpet-bombs with the F word. Plus, too many kids — certainly the younger ones — won't get the subtleties of the humor. I don't think its "family values" are healthy.)
