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Shut Eye (2016)
What a Gyp
Thomas Dewey in 1948. The Cubs in 69 and the Phillies in 64. The Falcons in Super Bowl 51. All of these epic collapses are nothing compared to Shut Eye, which for the first 10 episodes is as unique and intriguing as anything I've ever seen on the small screen. But, like the gypsy scammer who paves half your driveway and then hightails to another state with the money you gave him for materials so he could finish the job, Season 2 of the drama is so hackneyed, so, been-there-done-that, and so idiotic in its plotlines and its eventual yawner of a inconclusive conclusion, that you're outraged enough to want to get out the shotgun and look for payback.
The first season ends with a stunning series of crimes at the teenybopper wedding uniting two rival gypsy clans, setting up all kinds of possibilities for Season 2 ; a potential war between the gypsy families, or maybe even between gypsy gangs and Mexican gangs, with the Anglo family caught in the crossfire. But alas, the writers resort to retread storylines focusing on self-help scammers, FBI undercover operations, ominous flashbacks and forebodings, and gangsters betraying each other. And while the acting remains exceptional throughout, none of the storylines are the least bit original, believable, or interesting.
A number of the cast members who helped make Season 1 memorable are inexplicably missing from Season 2. Whether they had the good sense to get out while the getting was good, or for one reason or another were asked to leave, they are the fortunate ones. And while we can feel a little sorry for Jeffrey Donovan, Kadee Strickland, Isabella Rossellini and the other fine actors who had the misfortune to mar their careers by sticking with this woeful piece right to the bitter end, the real victims are we the viewers, who got hooked in Season 1 and couldn't get away from it.
Hangman (2017)
Nothing better to do? Not possible.
Well, I'm stuck at home during this cornavirus lockdown. Bored as hell. So I figured I'd give this thing a shot. I mean, with Al Pacino, how bad could it be? Little could I have suspected....
Right after they come up with a vaccine, or they just rip up the Constitution altogether - whichever they do first - they should find a way to prevent movies like this from being made. Or at least prevent national treasures like Pacino from appearing in them. Or at least give us a financial bailout for the 2 hours of our lives that were just wasted.
Training Day (2001)
Oh Unhappy "Day"
Being nominated for an Academy Award once meant something. While it didn't necessarily guarantee that a motion picture was excellent, you could be fairly certain that it would be at least entertaining; at least a little original, at least a respectable representative of its genre. WINNING an award meant that it was almost surely an instant classic.
My, how times have changed. This predictable, over-the-top, been-there- seen-that police "thriller" is SO exaggerated in its character stereotypes, action scenes, plot lines, and situational crises that it borders on camp. Maybe that's what the makers of this dreadful garbage had in mind when they slapped it together. If so, they failed, but not nearly as badly as if being campy wasn't the intent. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't.
Probably the best that can be said for Training Day is that it isn't quite as execrable as some other cop movies that have come down the pike in recent years. (Take Takers. Please.) But it's among the worst I've ever had the displeasure to sit through. Two thumbs down. I'd give it more, but I only have two thumbs.
Takers (2010)
The Worst of the Worst
Take every idiotic chase, every idiotic character stereotype (crooked cop, rule-bending heroic cop partner, recovering drug addict, Russian mobsters, released convict seeking payback from those who let him go to jail etc etc etc), every idiotic (and nonsensical) plot line, and every idiotic shoot- em-up scene in every idiotic action movie ever made, roll them all up into one, and you get "Takers", probably the worst movie of the worst genre ever invented.
Matt Dillon should be ashamed. Idris Elba should be ashamed. And I am ashamed for wasting two precious hours of my life watching this trash. If you haven't done so already, PLEASE, PLEASE, don't make the same mistake I did. Consider yourself warned.
Mr. Brooks (2007)
You will not be disappointed
More often than not - make that almost always - films billed as "psychological thrillers" turn out to be huge letdowns. Either the basic premises are ridiculous, the plots are contrived, or so convoluted that they're almost impossible to make any sense out of, or the characters are mind numbingly one-dimensional. Such is not the case with "Mr. Brooks".
Kevin Costner stars as Earl Brooks, a successful Oregon businessman who has just been named Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year. But he has a dark, dark, secret addiction that he keeps hidden from everyone except his alter ego, played magnificently by William Hurt. Everyone, that is, until a voyeur (Dane Cook) catches him in the act of gratiying his craving. And the twists and turns the story takes from there, enhanced by the intertwining subplots involving Brooks' daughter (Danielle Panabaker) and the pursuing police detective (Demi Moore) make the story as riveting as anything I've seen in a long, long, time.
"Mr. Brooks" is a cut below "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder", probably the two best of the genre ever made. But to even be mentioned in the same sentence with two such masterpieces is high praise indeed.
Margot at the Wedding (2007)
Insanity Hates Company
Margot at the Wedding? Margot at the Nuthouse would have been a more appropriate title for this multi-car traffic pileup that, much like the real thing, you can't help watching even though you hate yourself for doing it.
Well, you won't really hate yourself. If you want to see true self hate, just sit back and watch. Nicole Kidman stars as Margot, a neurotic New York City writer who's returning to her hometown with her neurotic son Claude (Zane Pais) to attend the wedding of her neurotic sister Paula (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Malcolm (Jack Black), a neurotic loser who also happens to be a bit of a pedophile. He's such a loser that Margot (kettle, meet black - no pun intended) tries to persuade Paula not to go through with the wedding, even though Paula and Malcolm seem to be the perfect dysfunctional couple. I mean, when every relationship in your life has been with a crazy person, whom do you expect to marry? Then there's the deceased abusive father, the crazy mother and obese third sister (to whom thankfully, we're never introduced), and Paula's daughter who's obsessed with homosexuality.
And it's not just the family that's nuts. The psychotic, anti-social, child abusing neighbors next door, whose son is a homophobic bully who takes a bite out of Claude's face, make Margot and kin look almost normal by comparison. Not to mention Margot's writer friend and love interest, who cruelly and inexplicably humiliates her at a book signing. And his nymphet teenage daughter, who fondles pre-teen Claude while babysitting him and his cousin.
About the only one in the whole movie who is even marginally sane is Margot's ex-husband, played by John Turturro. And he wants Margot back, so how right can he really be?
The things that go on in this movie are so bizarre that it's hard to believe that they approach anything that might be realistic. How many pre-teens tell their moms that they masturbated the night before? How many moms tell their pre-teen sons to wear a condom if they're going to have sex with the babysitter? How many pre-teen boys ask their moms if they can sleep with them, even if they do look like Nicole Kidman? But having been relatively normal and around relatively normal people for most of my life, I guess it's not for me to judge if the crazy actions of crazy people in a crazy movie are beyond anything that could happen in a real, although admittedly crazy, world.
Duane Hopwood (2005)
Duane Hopwood - Very, Very Good
There is always more to a human being than meets the eye. But it's a rare film that provides any kind of depth to movie characters, who are all too frequently one-dimensional drones - good or bad, mean or nice, caring or indifferent. Duane Hopwood is that rare film that delves deep below the surface of each of the main characters.
David Schwimmer plays Hopwood, a divorced Atlantic City father who works as a pit boss at Caeser's. Our first impression of him is one of revulsion. He's driving drunk, pounding a beer while bobbing and weaving down the highway. And if that wasn't bad enough, after he's pulled over he reveals to the cop that his 8 year old daughter is asleep in the backseat.
As the film develops, though, so does Schwimmer's character. Hopwood is really a caring father, albeit one who's alcoholism has gotten the better of him. His compassion - at least when he's sober - extends not only to his two daughters, but to his ex-wife (Janeane Garafaolo), a friend who needs a place to stay (Judah Friedlander), his elderly gay neighbors, and even an obnoxious loudmouth at the casino, much to Hopwood's eventual detriment.
Garafaolo appears at first as a miserable, angry, shrew, but her character develops as well, revealing a struggling single mom whose kids are her primary concern.
At the end of the film, the ex-wife and the kids have packed up and left New Jersey for South Carolina with her new beau, and Duane has been fired from his job. It's not at all clear if he will be able to get on the wagon, deal with the departure of those for whom he cares the most, and put his life back together. But there is a ray of hope. And we're left rooting for him.
SubUrbia (1996)
Superb SubUrbia
According to Thoreau, the masses lead lives of quiet desperation. Which in turn leads to a paralyzing self absorption or self pity that most of us don't recognize until it's too late, if at all. And that is the theme of this extraordinary film.
The plot revolves around a group of middle class suburban kids a couple of years removed from high school. Jeff (Giovani Ribisi) is a college dropout who lives in his parent's garage. Tim (Nicky Katt) is a former high school football star who did a brief stint in the Air Force before chopping of part of a finger to get a disability discharge. Buff (Steve Zahn) is a stoner who's life revolves around his next buzz and his next sexual conquest. The trio whiles away their aimless lives drinking at their old high school hangout - a convenience store now run by Pakistani immigrants. In addition, there's Jeff's girlfriend Sooze (Aimee Carey), a budding artist; her friend BeeBee (Dina Spibey), a recovering alcoholic; and an old high school buddy named Pony (Jayce Bartok), now a major rock star who drops by the old stomping grounds while in town for a show. Of the group, only Pony and Sooze have any ambition in life - Pony is well on his way to achieving his dream, and Sooze is preparing to move to New York to pursue her career.
Except for those two, and the convenience store owner who is studying to become an engineer, every character in the film suffers from a kind of inertia that prevents them from taking charge of their lives and achieving any meaningful success or happiness. Tim has seen the third world, but has no sympathy for its inhabitants or appreciation for how good he has it. Buff is mired in perpetual adolescence. BeeBee lives vicariously through Sooze, and, despite her own sordid history, cares little for the substance abusers she tends to as a nurse's assistant, .
Then there's the liquor store clerk whose life revolves around the local high school football team, and Pony's slutty manager (Parker Posey) the rebellious poor little rich girl who went into the music business against daddy's wishes. Jeff is the one character in the film who is truly sensitive to the plight of others, but he is immobilized by his own self-pity. That is, until one night on the town with Pony when he realizes that he indeed controls his own destiny, and decides to strip away his shackles (represented by his clothes) and move to NY with Sooze. But, ironically, it's too late... Sooze hooked up with Pony while he was experiencing his revelation.
At the end of the movie, the Pakistani store owner belittles Jeff and his buddies for being so stupid as to throw away all of the opportunities they are afforded by living in the greatest, most prosperous country on earth. But he, like everyone else, is blind to the desperation of those around him. Desperation that can engulf even the lives of those in the land of plenty. Thanks to the mesmerizing script by Eric Bogosian, the outstanding direction by Richard Linklater, and the performances of the stellar cast, the audience gets the message loud and clear.
Mystery Train (1989)
Thank you, Thank you very much
There are three things I can honestly say I've never experienced. A bad pizza, bad sex, or a bad movie with Steve Buscemi in it.
This typically quirky Jim Jarmusch film consists of four overlapping stories whose characters, for better or for worse, all end up one night in a rundown Memphis hotel. A young Japanese couple making the rock and roll fan's obligatory pilgrimage; a recently widowed young Italian woman; a New Jersey transplant who's run out on her lover and is making her way back home; and three friends, including the latter's brother and her drunken, depressed ex, who have gotten themselves into a "situation".
It's not just Buscemi - all members of this extraordinary cast, which includes Joe Strummer, Elizabeth Bracco, Rick Aviles, and two wonderful Japanese actors whom I've never heard of - plus the laugh out loud script, make this film a treat.
Transamerica (2005)
TriteAmerica
Usually, a terrific soundtrack like the one in TransAmerica, which features the likes of Dolly Parton, Heather Myles, Ralph Stanley, and the Old Crow Medicine Show is enough to make an otherwise mediocre film marginally entertaining, or at least watchable. But it would take a whole lot more than that to save this snoozer.
Felicity Huffman stars as Stanley/"Bree", a male in his/her late 30s or early 40s who is desperate for a sex change operation. Just as he/she has gotten final psychiatric approval for the change - although why they're giving him/her such a hard time about it, and why he/she waited this long in life to get it is beyond me - he/she finds out that he has a teenage son named Toby (Kevin Zegers) in New York who's in some kind of trouble. So of course our hero/heroine rushes off to bail him out of jail, posing as of all things a member of a church group, so that the boy doesn't suspect anything. Of all the criminals in all of the jails in the world, this do-gooder picks this one. And he/she is so touched by the boy's story - he's a drug addict/male prostitute/general lowlife - that he/she agrees to take him back to California with him/her so that the kid can get his start in porno movies. What a dad/mom! And this street-wise punk doesn't even suspect that "Bree" is a guy or that he/she has any ulterior motive. Anyway, he/she buys a clunker from one of Toby's lowlife friends, and the transvestite and his/her offspring take off on a merry adventure across America (get it - "trans"America. Too clever.) And oh, the adventures they encounter along the way! At least the ones I was able to stay awake for. An Indian named Calvin ("that's an odd name for a Native American" remarks Phoenix-raised "Bree" - just a sample of the idiotic dialog throughout) who has a crush on him/her, a transgender friend who just happens to be hosting a transgender party when they arrive, an eight year old in a restaurant who is the only person in this whole ridiculous farce who realizes there's something odd about "Bree's" sexuality, and a hippie who steals their car. And streetwise Toby remains clueless as a fire hydrant until he happens to interrupt picking his nose long enough to notice his traveling companion taking a non-retromingent leak. Finally, they get to "Bree's" family home in Phoenix, and that's where the stereotypes REALLY kick in. The overbearing, homophobic Christian mother, the emasculated Jewish father (figuratively, of course - I suppose there's some symbolism there somewhere), the recovering drug addict sister. And when "Bree" tells them who Toby is, well, grandma quickly begins making up for 17 years of lost doting. She finally tells "Bree" she'll pay for his/her sex change operation, but only if he/she leaves Toby with them. And still this idiot kid can't figure out that there's something more to their concern for him than their Christian son/daughter's church work.
That is, until "Bree" finally spills his/her guts about their relationship, but not until, in one of the most disgusting and perverted scenes this side of John Waters, Toby makes a pass at him/her and proposes marriage! And to make matters worse, he/she tells Toby not only that this freak who's about to get his/her penis inverted is his dad, but he's not really part Native American as he presumed, and is actually (gasp) one-quarter Jewish! Oh, the humility!. Oh, the shame! But it's OK, "Bree" assures him, it's not the "right" quarter - whatever that means.
Incredibly, though not surprisingly, this movie was nominated for all kinds of film industry awards. I guess all you have to do in Hollywood these days to get critical acclaim is to make a picture about trans/gay/lesbian/bi/etc people. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But in the case of films like TransAmerica, there isn't much right with it either.
Grand Theft Parsons (2003)
The Angel's Last Ride
"Grand Theft Parsons" is the story of the kidnapping of Gram Parsons' body by Phil Kaufman, his friend and road manager, to fulfill the country music legend's wish to be cremated in the California desert. Thanks in large part to terrific performances by Johnny Knoxville (as Kaufman), Christina Applegate, and Michael Shannon, and side splitting cameos by Mary Pat Gleason, Jonathan Slavin, and Clint Culp, writer Jeremy Drysdale and director David Caffrey manage to pull off the rarest of feats a factually based black comedy that not only succeeds, but triumphs, hilariously yet tastefully.
The tale begins with Parsons' drug overdose in the cheap motel in Joshua Tree, California. Kaufman dupes the reluctant Larry Osterberg (Shannon), a drug addled, yoga practicing hippie, to drive the latter's psychedelic hearse to the LA airport to pick up what Osterberg thinks is an empty coffin. The comedic chemistry between these two, as they encounter crisis after crisis trying to snatch the body and bring it back to Joshua Tree, is perfect - reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy. Among the obstacles they have to contend with are Parsons' gold digging ex-girlfriend (Applegate), who needs a death certificate to cash in on an informal will leaving her everything, and Parsons' father (Robert Forster), who has flown from New Orleans to pick up the body.
The movie is not without flaws. The Applegate role is purely fictional, and Parsons' real father died when he was a boy. But these characters add humor to the plot and depth to the characterization of Parsons (like all 70s rock stars, he was considered something of a womanizer), so they can easily be overlooked in the name of artistic license. And, there are some parts of the story that are not credible at all. I doubt that a body could be loaded for transport without a valid death certificate, and I've never seen a hotel bathroom that could be locked from the outside. But these are minor cavils.
Whether you're a Parsons devotee (like me), or have never heard of him (like my father, with whom I watched the film), I can just about guarantee that you'll enjoy "Grand Theft Parsons".
Seven and a Match (2001)
With Friends Like These...
"Seven and A Match" is about a group of college friends meeting for a weekend at the rural Maine home of Ellie (played by the adorable Tina Holmes) several years after graduation. Ostensibly, she invites them over for a reunion, but her real motive is to hatch a plot to torch the place. You see, Ellie's parents were killed in a car accident, and have left her no money, a mountain of debt, and a fat insurance policy on the house. Even though they're Yale graduates, none is very successful in either their private or professional lives. Besides being broke, Ellie's only serious relationship is a platonic one with a live-in guy friend (Daniel Sauli) whom she bosses around. Sid (Eion Bailey) is a struggling actor with latent sexual identity questions whose father is threatening to throw him out of the house unless he becomes an investment banker. Peter (Adam Scott) is a struggling gay writer who can't find a meaningful relationship. Whit (Heather Donahue) is about to jump into a marriage she's so unsure about that she doesn't invite her fiancé to the get-together, or even reveal her engagement to her friends. Blair (Petra Wright) has never gotten over a long-ago affair with Sid, and has brought along her clueless boyfriend (Devon Gummershall), a New Haven "townie". It doesn't take the septet long to start insulting, humiliating, and seducing one another. Well, at least none of them is a felon - poor Ellie can't find anyone to burn down the house for her.
I can honestly say that I really enjoyed this film. But after seeing it, and considering the two Yalies who represented us in the last presidential election, I'm more convinced than ever that my kid's going to a public university.
Elephant (2003)
Pointless Drivel
"Elephant" is a fictional re-creation of the 1999 Columbine shootings. Only with some differences. For one, the film takes place in a Portland suburb rather than a Denver suburb. (To those of us who live in the Southeast, a difference without a distinction.) For another, the shooters in the film have a homo-erotic attraction to each other, something that was never alleged, at least to my knowledge, in the Columbine episode. But the primary difference is that during and after Columbine we were inundated with psychological profiles of the killers and in-depth interviews with the families of the victims, so that real emotions - anger,empathy,understanding,grief - were felt by all us. No such character development is present in this movie. Well, we learn that the perpetrators of the massacre are alienated; one is picked on in science class, and the other likes pancakes. Of the other students, we learn the following - three are bulimic; one is a lifeguard whose girlfriend is overly jealous; one likes photography; one works in the library and doesn't like to show her legs; one is black; one is in a gay/straight club; one thinks she can sing; and one has an alcoholic father and a tall brother. AND THAT'S IT!!! Its not even clear in all cases which ones survive the massacre and which ones don't. And what's more, other than our basic human instinct for the preservation of life, WE DON'T CARE!!!!
At the end of the credits, the usual disclaimer appears: "The characters and events portrayed in this film are purely fictional and any similarities to real people and events are purely coincidental blah blah blah blah blah." Which seems pretty ridiculous for a movie so obviously based on a real tragedy. Since this film gives no insight at all into the mindsets and personalities of any of the characters, though, one would be hard pressed to make a case otherwise.
Female Trouble (1974)
A dark, campy satire
John Waters certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, but those who appreciate his sense of humor and his sense of bathos will love this film, and won't be satisfied (or fully appreciative of it) until they see it multiple times.
The fabulous Divine stars as Dawn Davenport, a juvenile delinquent turned stripper/petty thief/hooker/abusive mother turned shrewish wife/model/celebrity turned mass murderer turned death row inmate, and pulls the multiple transitions off flawlessly. (He/she also transitions into the role as the father of Dawn's daughter Taffy, the result of a Christmas day quickie - one of the most disgusting and hilarious sex scenes ever captured on film - at least for public viewing.) While Divine, Mink Stole (as teenage Taffy Davenport), and David Lochary (as Donald Dasher, the beauty salon owner) are the only actors with real ability, the rest of the oddball cast complements perfectly the oddball storyline and dialog.
I saw the film as a satire of life in America (or maybe life anywhere) - its obsession with celebrity, scandal, and materialism at the expense of family, faith, and true self-fulfillment, conveyed on film as only John Waters can.
Clay Pigeons (1998)
Entertaining, But Flawed
Clay Pigeons has all the ingredients of a first rate film; Outstanding acting by Joaquin Phoenix (before he became a superstar) and Janeane Garafaolo (before she became a left wing stooge); Vince Vaughan in one of the great performances of his or any career; a leitmotif of outstanding country music that perfectly sets the mood throughout the picture; laugh out loud dialog; and, last but not least, gorgeous half-naked women.
Alas, the movie's shortcomings, from start to finish, are too great to overlook. The incident upon which the whole plot depends is a suicide that the victim has made to look like a murder by Clay (Phoenix), who had been having an affair with the dead man's wife. Never mind that the victim's fingerprints are all over the gun - Clay panics and pushes the victim and his truck over a cliff rather than admit to the affair and report the truth. What makes this decision all the more ludicrous is that we later learn that the sheriff and Clay are old buds. When evidence from two murders that happen consequential to the initial incident point definitively to Clay as the killer, the sheriff still refuses to believe that he is guilty.
Everything else about the story is pretty ridiculous, too. How did the murder weapon get into Clay's fireplace? And, wouldn't the murderer have placed it in a more obvious location, since his whole point was to set up Clay? How does Clay know where to find the murderer when he escapes from jail? How does Agent Shelby (Garafaolo) know where to go, and why would she go alone after a serial killer who's about twice her size? Why does Clay misdirect Shelby when she gets there? Why is the last bit of trickery, when Lester(Vaughan) thinks he's taking a ride to New Mexico with "Robert" necessary? And on and on.
If you're looking for a night's worth of entertainment, you can do a lot worse than Clay Pigeons. The problem is, Clay Pigeons is a lot worse than it should have been.
Metroland (1997)
Wonderful Metroland
All of us, as we age, recall the choices we've made in our lives that led us to the place we are currently. Inevitably, there is at least a tinge of regret and wonder about how our lives would be different if we had chosen an alternate path. The self-doubts become starker when we meet up with old friends who took that different route.
That is the theme of Metroland, which takes place in suburban London in the late 70s. Chris (Christian Bale) is a middle class husband and father approaching middle age who commutes to an office job in the city. The excitement has waned from his marriage to Marian (Emily Watson), and he has constant reveries about his first girlfriend (Elsa Zylberstein), and the good times he had as a young single man in Paris during the late 60s. The longing for those days intensifies when he is visited by his old friend Tony (Lee Ross), who has remained single, traveled the world, and boasts of a string of exotic affairs. Sensing Chris's restlessness, Tony tries to provide him with a taste of the swinger's lifestyle. This temptation confounds Chris all the more, and things don't crystallize until Tony ultimately makes a pass at Marian.
There is nothing about this film that doesn't work. The writing is superb; the acting outstanding; and the story extremely entertaining, in that the situations are those with which we can all relate. According to the credits, "Metroland" was funded in part by proceeds from the English national lottery. This is one gamble that paid off handsomely for everyone.
Life During Wartime (1997)
Alarmingly awful
What begins as a fairly clever farce about a somewhat shady security monitoring company turns, almost instantaneously, into an uninteresting and completely inane murder mystery. David Arquette and the great Stanley Tucci try mightily to make this train wreck watchable, but some things are just not humanly possible.
What, for instance, causes Gale to turn suddenly from a sweet motherly figure into a drunken shrew at Tommy's parents house? Why would Heinrich, although admittedly a sleezebag, want to destroy the business to which he devotes his life, by robbing and possibly murdering his customers? Why does the seemingly sensible Tommy believe that Heinrich could be a murderer (based almost entirely on a dream), and even if that were believable, why wouldn't he go to the police? And why didn't Gale activate the alarm when she got home, especially after scolding Howie about it being off? Of course, all of these events are necessary for the plot (and I use the term very, very loosely) to unfold. And it might be forgivable if it resulted in even the slightest bit of comedy. But everything, from Howie's description of his date rape, to the coroner's misidentification of Gale, to the final "joke" about Gale and Howie still being dead, is more tasteless and pathetic than anything else.
I checked the box indicating that my comments contained "spoilers", but there's nothing more I or anyone else could do to spoil this thing that already stinks to high heaven.
In Good Company (2004)
Don't invite this "Company" (spoiler)
This is another of those shallow, unrealistic, comedy-dramas that, unlike most of the others, is actually watchable (thanks largely to Scarlett Johannsen). But at its core it is banal and predictable.
While there are some fairly amusing moments (although the only one that comes to mind is when Dan's younger daughter grills Carter when he visits their house), the characters are one-dimensional, the dialog and character interaction are unrealistic (e.g., Dan's behavior when he confronts Carter and Alex at the restaurant, Teddy K's inability to respond coherently to Dan's question at the all hands meeting, and Kalb's decision not only to advertise in the magazine but to buy the whole company because Dan beat up Carter). While the acting is pretty good, the idea of Johannsen ever falling for a skinny wimp like Topher Grace strains all bounds of credulity.
Bottom line, unless you're obsessive about Scarlett Johannsen (which is perfectly understandable), life is too short to waste two good hours on a piece of fluff like this.