This week at the movies, we’ve got entry-level hilarity (The Internship, starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson/) and home-invasion terror (The Purge, starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey). What do the critics have to say?
Not content to simply crash weddings, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson infiltrate corporate America in The Internship. Unfortunately, critics say the movie depends almost entirely on its amiable leads to generate laughs, since its predictable script rarely gives them much funny stuff to do. Vaughn and Wilson star as a pair of unemployed watch salesmen who apply for internships at Google and soon are competing against a variety of ambitious millennials for permanent jobs. The pundits say The Internship is an awfully slack comedy, one that produces its share of chuckles but runs a bit too long and often feels like a feature-length commercial for Google. (Check out this week’s Total Recall for a countdown of Wilson’s best-reviewed movies.)
The Purge has ambition: it wants to be a white-knuckle thriller, a pitch-black comedy, and an allegory about the haves and have-nots. That’s a lot for any move to juggle, and critics say The Purge scores some interesting political points before devolving into generic slasher territory. Set in a dystopian future America in which the government allows an annual 12-hour period of complete lawlessness, The Purge stars Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey as a suburban couple who must decide whether to help a desperate intruder who’s on the run from a heavily armed mob. The pundits say The Purge never fully makes good on its intriguing premise, eventually trading satirical aims for rote shocks. (Check out this week’s 24 Frames for a gallery of home invasion movies.)
Dirty Wars, a documentary that explores the United States’ covert military operations, is at 93 percent.
You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!, a drama about a group of actors who gather for a late playwright’s will reading and end up staging a performance of one of his plays, is at 80 percent.
Much Ado About Nothing, Joss Whedon‘s micro-budgeted modern-day reworking of Shakespeare’s comedy, is at 79 percent.
Wish You Were Here, starring Joel Edgerton and Teresa Palmer in a drama about the repercussions of a man’s disappearence during a vacation in Cambodia, is at 76 percent.
The Judy Blume-scripted Tiger Eyes, a drama about a teenage girl dealing with the death of her father and her new environs after her family’s cross-country move, is at 75 percent.
Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie, a doc about the life and influence of the incendiary talk show host, is at 75 percent.
Hey Bartender, a doc about a group of innovative New York City mixologists, is at 67 percent.
The Prey, a French thriller about a convicted bank robber who goes on the run after being framed for murder by his former cellmate, is at 63 percent.
The Rambler, starring Dermot Mulroney and Natasha Lyonne in a dramedy about a man who’s just been released from prison and wants to reconnect with his estranged brother, is at 60 percent.
Rapture-Palooza, starring Anna Kendrick and Craig Robinson in a sci-fi comedy about a couple who must defend humanity from the Antichrist, is at 38 percent.
Violet & Daisy, starring Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel in a thriller about a pair of teenage assassins whose latest target forces them to reconsider their choice of profession, is at 21 percent.
