THE HOUSE Review

It's a sad day when one of your comedic icons who you grew up watching seemingly puts the nail in their proverbial comedy coffin, but that seems to be where we're at with Will Ferrel's career. Ferrell needs another Adam McKay collaboration and stat. After a rather stale streak post Anchorman 2 (which I loved) that has included Get Hard, Daddy's Home, and Zoolander 2 I was personally hoping for something of a turn in what would be Ferrell's first R-rated comedy since Get Hard which also happens to be the directorial debut of Andrew Jay Cohen who has written or co-written the screenplays for both Neighbors films as well as last summer's rather surprising Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. Needless to say, Cohen and writing partner Brendan O'Brien have crafted a premise that is a perfect jumping off point for a Will Ferrell comedy, but it's pretty clear from the get-go that this is going to be one of those comedies that falls into the cheaper-feeling, amateur hour-type category. The House was never going to reach the intelligence levels of Ferrell's work with McKay, but it isn't able to even touch something like Blades of Glory which too felt cheap, no doubt, but was so consistently outrageous that it held itself up. Rather, The House is a movie that would have been a hotly-anticipated comedy five to eight years ago as it is the first time Ferrell has been paired with the ever-endearing Amy Poehler, but as things stand today there are seemingly no other marquee movie stars left besides *maybe* Kevin Hart, but even he has to be in the right vehicle for the box office to reward him. Ferrell is the last of a nearly dead breed and you can see the wear on his exterior as he sleepwalks his way through The House. It's not only a little sad to behold, but disappointing in that I've previously always looked forward to a Will Ferrell comedy and even if no one else in the world might understand why-I was still excited for The House in hopes that Cohen might offer a new voice in the comedy world, someone who was hungry to jump start what has felt like an unusually stale output from the likes of Ferrell and his normal co-horts over the past few years, but instead of reinvigorating anything Cohen has made a film that fits snuggly between the letdowns that have been Ferrell's last few films.

First Trailer for THE HOUSE Starring Will Ferrell & Amy Poehler

There was a time when a new comedy starring Will Ferrell was something of an event. Those golden years between 2004 and 2010 when Ferrell and writer/director Adam McKay would team up every other year or so to dig up comedy gold yielded some of if not the actor's best roles (of course, I'll always have a place in my heart for Stranger than Fiction, but that wasn't broad comedy and is beside the point). Since McKay has moved on to slightly more prestigious endeavors with films like The Big Short it has seemed Ferrell has more or less given up any ambition of creating anything above middle-brow comedies as his output post-Anchorman 2 has been little more than depressing (Get Hard, Daddy's Home, Zoolander 2). All of that taken into consideration, I've been a Ferrell fan since his days on SNL and became even more faithful after seeing the original Anchorman countless times in theaters at the impressionable age of seventeen during the summer of 2004. While Ferrell might not pull the crowds or excitement he once did I can still appreciate the mans presence in a comedy and when paired with the likes of Amy Poehler and the funny no matter what he's doing Jason Mantzoukas there is no reason for my interest not to be piqued. Making his feature directorial debut here is Andrew Jay Cohen who helped to co-write both Neighbors and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, both of which I certainly enjoyed. The odds are in this things favor, certainly, but as with many a comedies it's hard to tell how good this might turn out to be or just how much of a stinker it will actually be. I don't think the premise really gels here or is even outlandish enough to mine for legitimate laughs, but hopefully the script has more up its sleeve than it appears and that the cast is on their A-game. The House also stars Nick Kroll, Allison Tolman, Michaela Watkins, Ryan Simpkins, Jessie Ennis, Rob Huebel, Cedric Yarbrough, Jeremy Renner, and opens on June 30th, 2017.

THE GIFT Review

In 2008 I was really beginning to dig into all kinds of films, exploring more of the independent material that was coming to light than ever before. I remember 2008 mainly for the remarkable summer at the theater that it was, but I also find it easy to recall a small film from a pair of brothers that was making waves. It was a little film called The Square that was co-written by a guy named Joel Edgerton and directed by his brother Nash. As far as I'd heard, it was a solid contemporary example of film noir and concerned itself with betrayal, revenge and cheating couples. It was a film that I felt somewhat more interesting for checking out simply because I was willing to go out on a limb and see what this buzzed about Australian production had to offer and indeed it was a well-executed thriller. I came to recognize Joel for his work over the next few years in Animal Kingdom and what could be considered his break-out American film in Warrior that led the way to him starring in more major Hollywood productions. It seems after building some solid ground beneath him in the industry though, Edgerton has returned to the thriller genre to write and direct for the first time. With The Gift, Edgerton has delivered a tense and slow-boiling psychological drama that stems from a thesis of how an idea can take hold of a person and tear them down. From the moment we meet Edgerton's Gordon Mosley we can sense that there is something slightly off about the guy, but having Edgerton play his own creation lends the perfect tone to what could have otherwise been an over-the-top showing that would lessen the effect of the final act in the film. That is all to say this product feels like the result of a singular vision, a focused and finely tuned story with specific characters and even more labored over depictions that come to show the audience how both credibly and expertly such genre pieces can be pulled off with the right amount of skill and vision. Edgerton feels at the top of his game here and with this technically being his feature directorial debut, I can't wait to see what he does next.