Confess, filmmakers, you didn’t really want to make this movie. It starts to feel more like a contractual obligation than the passion project it would have been with Smith. When it comes to the mystery, he goes so cavalier that he almost feels apathetic, and the jokes are either over-played (a few punchlines seem literally yelled) or under-played to the point of disappearance. Worst of all, a leading man who has proven he can do this kind of comedy before looks stranded by a director who never figured out this character in either dramatic or comedic terms. This adaptation of the McDonald novel by director Greg Mottola and co-writer Zev Borow simply struggles to find its punchlines too often, getting the occasional pleasant chuckle but lacking the consistent personality of the original. There’s something so dispiriting about seeing talented people drowning in a comedy that can’t find the rhythm of its own jokes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |