ChrisThilk Blog

Is Ira & Abby believable? Not in the slightest. Is it fun and funny? Absolutely.

The movie tells the story of a neurotic Jewish guy who, in the middle of a very upsetting day, finds a woman working at a health club who immediately takes a liking to him and convinces him to marry her just a few days after their initial encounter.

The success of the movie at pulling off such a conceit is dependent on the charm of the two leads, as well as the supporting cast. Luckily everyone here, including Fred Williard as the father of the bride and Robert Kline as the father of the groom, is up to the task, pulling off the many convenient plot twists and turns with precision and gusto. There’s nothing lazy in the filmmaking and that gives the movie a tight, peppy beat that, if you allow yourself to go with it, is very easy to get caught up in and be entertained by.

Oh, and if you’re looking closely, you’ll recognize Jon Hamm - Don Draper from “Mad Men” - in the role of the scruffy ex-husband of Abby.

Semi-Pro isn’t nearly as funny as it should have been, but it’s much funnier than some people have made it out to be.

The story of an egotistical and out-of-touch ABA team owner in 1976, Semi-Pro is basically an excuse for Will Ferrell and a few of his friends to goof around and wear some insanely big wigs.

Comedies like this are completely subjective depending on the whims and attitudes of the viewer. But what struck me, and which I’ve pointed out to others, is that “retard” is thrown around at least a few times in the movie as a clearly derogatory term. This film didn’t stoke the bubbling outrage, though, that Tropic Thunder has recently. Perhaps it’s because there isn’t something as clearly meant to stir offense as the Simple Jack component of Tropic, but if the protests were really about the word’s usage, it’s odd to me that Semi-Pro didn’t begin some sort of outraged discussion about the word’s usage. And it’s not like we’re talking about a great deal of time having elapsed - this was just four or five months ago.

I always enjoy Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind on a variety of levels. First, there’s the watching of a batch of actors who truly know where their towels are to an extent that they can largely make a movie up as they’re going along. Then there’s the level on which I admire the editing of the footage that was shot into a coherent story. Finally there’s the mental image that follows every scene of the cast breaking each other up and requiring another take to try and play it straight.

Of the three Best in Show probably works the best in terms of being an actual movie. The characters are the best developed and it’s played straight for the most part, only rarely diving into overt gags. The other two are filled with more “funny” moments as opposed to letting the humor bubble up from the outrageous situations the characters find themselves in.

Still, though, all three are a treat to watch. Plus, watch Christopher Guest through the films and you’ll see how scary good an actor he really is.