Thursday, September 23, 2021

You Again: The Characters Are Not the Only Ones Who Are Bitter

 

*The first draft of this review was written in 2010.

You Again: The Characters Are Not the Only Ones Who Are Bitter

As a 30 year-old when "You Again" was released, I could not help but find it tough to stomach movies about weddings. Let it be known that it is not a chick flick thing because "The Hangover" is a feature that I am a detractor of.

It may have just been an age thing for me since the mad cap comedies like "Wedding Crashers" and "American Wedding", two features whose release dates sandwiched the loss of my virginity, were enjoyable. Early/mid twenties, society was not expecting anything of me in terms of settling down.

If we ignore Morton, Illinois's expectations of its children, this Kristin Bell feature is a bit of screwball nonsense. The difference from the two predecessors in the focus on a women's perspectives. Features from the aughts were based around mature themes. "Bridesmaids" is still a year away, so we were not overly accepting of girls behaving badly yet. Thus, "You Again" did not offer anything to draw me in. Its PG-rating did not help.

This was a flick Mom wanted company to view, and I do not turn down free popcorn. I am not saying that is wise because most things still have a price to pay.

Marni returns home for her brother's wedding, unaware that his fiance made her life a living hell in high school. She wants to come to terms with this, but her adversary, Joanna, insists that she does not remember her. Looking out for her sibling, Marni believes she must prove that his wife-to-be is hiding some, perhaps a lot of things from her past.

To make matters worse, her mother is having to come to terms with the fact that her high school rival is Joanna's aunt. Competition and chaos threaten to consume this glorious ceremony. We should just hope that the amount of causalities will not be too high.

"You Again" is a conglomeration of all things chick. Weddings, high school drama, Betty White as the uber cougar, all of this is enough to make any "straight" guy squirm. This movie tries to do too much, and I think the target audience will even call bullshit on the narrative.

The premise of the wedding is secondary to high school politics. This is not necessarily a bad idea, but adolescent politics have been done so well before this. If you do not meet that bar, the film will be a dud. "You Again" does not have the ups to reach that.

To make up for this, they compensate with screwball elements from the trailers that kept me away from "Bride Wars". That feature at least had actresses that I could have a vested interest in (I am still not sold on Anne Hathaway, but she has some seeming worthwhile projects). I am not saying that I do not care about all of these performers, but I think Jamie Lee Curtis is more than a punchline (and yogurt).

In 2010, girls and slapstick just did not work. It is not believable in this feature and any comedian will tell you that. Women tend not to put themselves in harm's way for a laugh. Their characters in general prefer devious methods to inflict harm for humor, and that does not work when the rating is PG.

"You Again" is a film that is not what it should be. It is a wedding flick, so it should be sweet. Instead, they make their leads a bunch of idiots. The idea of the Special Olympics is sweet, but that does not demand laughs. At least the handicap benefit from that event. No one benefits from "You Again".

howardhawkshollywoodannex.tumblr.com - The 1,001 Best Movies 1914-2019
howardhawkshollywoodannex.tumblr.com - The 1,001 Best Movies 1914-2019



Wednesday, September 22, 2021

The Disgruntled's $200 Wrestling War and The Current Real Champions of Wrestling

 *Blog post was started on September 22, 2021.

It is a good thing that I never shut up, at least for the sake of my blogs. I would be in trouble if computers ever gained sentience. The only thing that I seemingly communicate with would probably tell me to shut the hell up. Ironic that it has a Chris Jericho background.

If I can deal with the tedium of optimizing the appearance of NinetyForChill, so can the keyboard and mouse. Of course, stubbornness is considered by many to be one of my dominating traits.

Being in a world without cable (A little hacking and its actually more of an inconvenience.), it may be said that I am behind on the news. What it actually is that by reading it instead, the trigger for satire and angst have cannot be pulled as easily. I suppose this is a good thing when it comes to dealing with my mom when I call or visit. If I am not worked up about something in the news, then the odds of me being in an argumentative state is lessened.

Unfortunately, my coworker next to me just has to watch their too far right for YouTube commentators. I make it a point to avoid walking in on Mom watching cable channels that are being sued by Dominion. This is not a bank where I can say that I am going on a security check to deescalate me from shouting at the moron.

Hospitality is a far more rewarding job, provided ownership/management wants to impress their guests. There are not enough Lumiere's in the world. That is both in terms of being hospitable and effective French accents. I did not know that Jerry Orbach was the original voice. Do I need to watch the "Beauty an the Beast" remake to follow up on the curiosity expressed in the last podcast when I just have to accept that Ewan McGregor has no means of equating or exceeding that performance?

A little career chatter, some movie talk, I think we can get back to the task of issuing the best wrestling championships again. If you need a little more insight in where my head is at, Malort seems to make me less emotional on a weekend bender inspired by screwing up an interview for my podcast. I still cannot believe I forgot how time zones work. This means that I cannot be too harsh on my uncle who sends out holiday greetings when he wakes up in Buffalo. How can you fault him when you did the same to some bloke on Long Island?

The Disgruntled's $200 Wrestling War and The Current Real Champions of Wrestling:

With AEW Grand Slam and WWE Extreme Rules occurring this week, coming up with the DRCW Unified Legit Men's Doubles World Championship may have to take a back seat. With Sheamus and the Young Buck's losing their championships, declarations of their successors is needed. I have a good feeling that the things will not change over this week's events, but you cannot count on the booker who represens the Northeast.

As I was typing that out, I thought about the hub bub over Kenny Omega facing Bryan Danielson tonight at Grand Slam on free TV ($4.99 on Fite with a VPN). If WWE wants to try spinning a yarn about why AEW is not for wrestling fans, they could say it is the cost to watch it. The WWE Network via Peacock gives you so much content and pay-per-views and only costs fans $60 a year. You have to buy each $50 pay per view with AEW. The AEW narrative is better, but why dedicate your weekends to them, especially when they will give away matches to pop a rating.

Because you want to support them, ensure the wrestling business thrive. How novel a concept.

The 90th and Current Disgruntled's Real World Heavyweight Champion:

AEW's World Champion Kenny Omega (2)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated placing him at the top spot makes this difficult to argue.

The 48th and Current Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:

AEW World Champion Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D.

With how the Becky Lynch return was booked, I do not think this can be argued.

The 150th and Current Disgruntled's Real World Tag Team Champions:

AEW's Rey Fenix and Penta El 0M, The Lucha Bros.

Randy Orton and Riddle lack the chemistry. Do we really want to approve of The Usos since they only hold the Smackdown Tag Team Championship to make their cousin shine? It also serves as a shield against disciplining Jimmy who is a repeat offender PR wise.

The 48th and Current Disgruntled's Modern Poser Champion:

WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns (3)

Reigns winning is just easy booking. His biggest threats were part-timers and indie darlings who were never going to be put over a WWE product. Until he can have five-star matches, he cannot be held above Kenny Omega.

The 153rd and Current Disgruntled's OCHO Champion
(WWE US, IWGP US, Television, Intercontinental,
North American, X Division, TNT, National) 

AEW TNT Champion Miro (2)

If only Darby Allin title reign would have featured all its defenses before Sting arrived, we could have forgotten the fact that WWE forgot about even booking Apollo Crews and Sheamus. When you ask about who the Intercontinental Champion is, I bet half of the viewers would not guess Shinsuke Nakamura.

There does not seem like there is an end in sight for the former Rusev's reign. Sammy Guevara is less believable than Eddie Kingston, so it may surprise us if he does dethrone the Redeemer.

As for Damien Priest, his first high profile defense is going to be in a triple-threat match. I suspect that he will retain on Sunday, but with Jeff Hardy there to eat a pinfall, Sheamus may have just traded the title. He is not Mr. Perfect or The Miz who can make the title his identity, so it will be a while before WWE has a true champion on their roster.

Pinterest @dawnhoig
Pinterest @dawnhoig