John Cena is a movie star. Or at least a comedic force to be reckoned with.
Cena's on-screen daughter, Geraldine Viswanathan, is the real scene-stealer though.
Meanwhile, Ike Barinholtz does his thing (which I find incredibly funny) while broadening his horizons (he has a particularly sweet scene with his on-screen daughter as played by Gideon Adlon) and Leslie Mann does her shrill, but comically effective bit where we laugh at her even if we don't necessarily like the character she's playing.
This is to say, Kay Cannon's directorial debut delivers big, consistent laughs and does so without getting too caught up in the mushy moments.
Blockers has its cake and eats it too.
B-
Much like in
I, Tonya, director Janus Metz and writer Ronnie Sandahl seem keen to explore the fact the sport around which their movie centers is not all about winning, but more the way in which people win. Unlike that biopic though,
Borg vs McEnroe is never truly able to find its groove despite clearly wanting to be a meditative character study. The psychological aspects are undoubtedly fascinating, but these figures and their story should also be more captivating than what is presented in this informative if not necessarily entertaining piece.
C
Writer Tony Gilroy (the
Bourne franchise) and director Brad Anderson (
The Machinist) recruit a solid cast including Jon Hamm, Rosamund Pike, Mark Pellegrino, Shea Whigham, and Dean Norris to tell the story of a few CIA operatives caught in the crossfires of a civil war that must send a former U.S. diplomat to negotiate for the life of a friend he left behind. Dropped in the perfect timeframe of early April and into a larger number of theaters than I expected,
Beirut received generally favorable reviews and yet-somehow, I wasn't able to swing it at the time. This will be corrected soon as I'm always up for some quality adult dramas with Mr. Hamm.
Speaking of sophisticated adult dramas starring Rosamund Pike you can also pick up
7 Days in Entebbe today. Directed by José Padilha (the
RoboCop remake), written by Gregory Burke (
'71), and starring Daniel Brühl alongside Pike the film is inspired by the true events of the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight en route from Tel Aviv to Paris, and the most daring rescue mission ever attempted. This one received less favorable reviews upon release, but I'm still slightly intrigued by the film if not for the story, but for how it might compare to
Beirut and determining what factors make one stronger than the other outside the likely obvious reasons. Here's to hoping this one shows up on Netflix or Amazon Prime soon.
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