TAGGED AS: Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we’ve got scheming employees (Horrible Bosses, starring Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston) and talking animals (Zookeeper, starring Kevin James and Rosario Dawson). What do the critics have to say?
Plenty of folks slog through dead-end jobs with contempt for their employers. Fortunately, few of us would ever entertain the possibility of murdering our boss, but that’s the setup for Horrible Bosses, which critics are calling a gleeful, cheerfully silly and dirty comedy that’s perfect for our troubled economic times. Jason Bateman stars as a middle manager who’s been emotionally tortured by his malevolent boss, a situation he shares with two of his after-work drinking buddies. All three conspire to kill their bosses, using Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train as the model for their plan, but soon our heroes find themselves in way over their heads. The pundits say the Certified Fresh Horrible Bosses doesn’t quite push its wicked premise to the limit, but it’s consistently funny and boasts a terrific cast (including Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, and Jamie Foxx in sharp supporting roles) making the most of sharply-written roles. (Check out this week’s Total Recall, in which we run down some of cinema’s most memorable workplaces.)
Remember Dr. Doolittle? Charlotte’s Web? Babe? There are plenty of solid family movies that feature talking animals. Unfortunately, critics say Zookeeper is unlikely to join that group, since it does so little with its premise and instead relies on shopworn physical humor and bland plotting. Kevin James stars as a beleaguered zookeeper who wants to move on from his job. But the animals, desperate for him to stay, reveal a long-suppressed secret: they can talk. Hilarity ensues. The pundits say Zookeeper is well-meaning, but it’s not particularly disciplined, resulting in a comedy that features a bunch of gags but few genuine laughs.
Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness, a doc about the great Yiddish author and playwright, is at 100 percent.
Project Nim, a doc about the groundbreaking scientific experiment to raise a chimp as a human child, is at 97 percent.
Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, a documentary about the rise and fall of the legendary Native Tongues hip hop crew, is at 92 percent.
The French import Rapt, a thriller about a businessman whose kidnapping is just the beginning of his problems, is at 89 percent.
Catherine Breillat‘s The Sleeping Beauty, a feminist retelling of the classic fairytale, is at 71 percent.
Septien, a dramedy about a trio of Tennessee brothers with issues and secrets, is at 58 percent.
Ironclad, starring Paul Giamatti and Brian Cox in a bloody historical drama about a group of Knights Templar defending a fort, is at 39 percent.
The Ward, starring Amber Heard in a horror film about a mental patient haunted by a phantom, is at 40 percent (check out director John Carpenter‘s Five Favorite Flms here).
The Ledge, starring Terrence Howard and Liv Tyler in a thriller with a theological twist, is at seven percent.
