Comedy, Reviews, Hannah McGill
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The Stoker (Kochegar)
17 May 2013
A strange, dark and clever Russian black comedy with an unexpectedly forceful moral message
Edinburgh’s beloved Filmhouse cinema has chosen an unusual and intriguing curio for its first release as a distributor. Directed by the prolific Alexey Balabanov - known for his unflinching but darkly comic fables of the Russian criminal underworld…
Bernie
18 Apr 2013
Jack Black and Shirley Maclaine star in this nicely-mounted but ultimately oddly bloodless comedy
We’re all familiar with the clear-cut outrage that follows a heinous crime perpetrated by a dark, twisted monster against a dewy innocent – but what if it’s the other way round? What if someone hugely popular does something terrible to someone widely…
Much Ado About Nothing
26 Feb 2013
This lo-fi project from Joss Whedon is an elegant adaptation of the Shakespearean play
It’s not classed as one of Shakespeare's hard-to-categorise 'problem plays', but there’s plenty that’s problematic in this mid-period comedy. The traducement, rejection and humiliation of the innocent Hero, for instance – and her capitulation thereto…
I Give it a Year
4 Feb 2013
Abysmal, humourless newlyweds comedy starring Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall and Anna Faris
Nat (Rose Byrne) is a shallow, uptight career girl. Josh (Rafe Spall) is an insensitive, laddish boor. For reasons we don’t glean, since it all happens during the opening credits, they get married, and proceed to be vile to one another, until, within…
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
3 Oct 2012
Sincere and witty coming of age drama staring Ezra Miller, Emma Watson and Logan Lerman
Were space aliens to seek an insight into Earth society via the portal of American pop culture, they might be forgiven for coming away with the impression that boy adolescents bear the upper hand in most things. Blame The Catcher in the Rye, perhaps…
The Campaign
27 Sep 2012
Half-hearted political comedy starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis
The director of Meet the Parents answers a not-exactly gaping need here: welcome to another comedy in which Will Ferrell plays a particularly pompous and idiotic member of a profession prone to pomposity and idiotism. One does begin to fear that the…
Revisiting: Husbands
18 Sep 2012
Cassevetes' scripted comedy drama veers from the ridiculous to the sublime
It’s hard to star rate this one, on account that it veers from the ridiculous to the sublime with little shilly-shallying in between. As married men in the aftermath of a friend’s untimely death, John Cassavetes (starring and directing), Peter Falk and…
Liberal Arts
10 Sep 2012
Gentle indie romcom from How I Met Your Mother's Josh Radnor
A successful and beloved US sitcom star delves into his soul, and finds there a story of revisiting one’s past, coming to terms with one’s mistakes, and getting it on with a gorgeous, playful, precociously wise young woman. That was how the world got…
Ruby Sparks
7 Sep 2012
Thoughtful, engaging romcom from the makers of Little Miss Sunshine
The directors of Little Miss Sunshine deal once again with the clash between romantic idealism and vulgar, messy reality, in a thoughtful, engaging romcom that draws great work from its central pairing. Paul Dano – Little Miss Sunshine’s mournful…
Jeff, Who Lives at Home
18 Apr 2012
The Duplass Brothers' slacker comedy bears too much resemblance to its underachieving protagonist
(15) 83mins No one would have believed in the last years of the 20th century that of all the stars to emerge from Judd Apatow’s extraordinary talent nursery Freaks and Geeks, the household name would end up being Jason Segel. He’s not as gorgeous as…
