Okay, so this time I’m not reviewing books, but films. I had a bit of a film binge last weekend. It’s something I do from time to time when I’m not sure what I want to read or if I’ve just come off of a big TV show binge watch. I don’t often highlight the films I’ve been watching or mention the shows I’ve been watching but I really do love them. I’m subscribed to 3 different streaming services (yes, three, no one has time to watch those things, but I pay for three) and I spend a lot of my freetime watching these things. When I started my blog it was never my intention to exclusively be a book blogger. In fact, I wanted to talk about anything which interests me, it just happens to be books are my main focus. So, without further ado here are some mini reviews of a few films
Obvious ChildGenre: Comedy, Drama, Rom-Com
My Rating:
For aspiring comedian Donna Stern, everyday life as a female twenty-something provides ample material for her relatable brand of humour. On stage, Donna is unapologetically herself, joking about topics as intimate as her sex life and as crude as her day-old underwear. But when Donna winds up unexpectedly pregnant after a one-night stand, she is forced to face the uncomfortable realities of independent womanhood for the first time. Donna's drunken hook-up - and epic lapse in prophylactic judgment - turns out to be the beginning of an unplanned journey of self-discovery and empowerment.
I wasn’t sure going into this film. It opened with the main character, Donna, doing her stand up act and I wasn’t laughing. Not at first. The film was also a bit slow to begin. Donna was wallowing in her break up and being the crazy stalker ex, but after her stand up break down, then I started laughing. I began to really like her, and as soon as she met the male lead, Max, then I started to like her. The entire first interaction through to their first night together was simply fun. They danced they joked and they felt like real people and I loved it.
This film is a comedy, but it is also a painfully honest film. Donna ended up pregnant after a drunken one night stand, she is unemployed in New York, she had to make the decision to have an abortion. I know what you’re thinking, what on earth kind of film is she telling us we should watch? But please, bear with me, it is actually really good. It’s funny and honest, Donna’s parents are amazing and I loved how she was with her mom. Her mom obviously wanted to help Donna get on track with her life but Donna obviously viewed it as interfering, and that is just how you are with family
This won’t be a film for everyone, I accept that, but it was a great little indie film that had heart, although it could definitely have been more.
AdmissionGenre: Comedy, Romance, Drama
My Rating:
Straitlaced Princeton University admissions officer Portia Nathan (Tina Fey) is caught off-guard when she makes a recruiting visit to an alternative high school overseen by her former college classmate, the freewheeling John Pressman (Paul Rudd). Pressman has surmised that Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), his gifted yet very unconventional student, might well be the son that Portia secretly gave up for adoption many years ago. Soon, Portia finds herself bending the rules for Jeremiah, putting at risk the life she thought she always wanted -- but in the process finding her way to a surprising and exhilarating life and romance she never dreamed of having.
I love Tina Fey, she is hilarious. I have loved her since the days I started watching 30 Rock and I remember always hunting out more films from her. I had heard about this film last year and was intrigued because it starred both Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, both favourites of mine, but I admit the actual premise of an admissions offer discovering she had a connection with one of the applicants didn’t hook me so I never searched it out. Fast forward a year and it’s on Netflix and I am obviously going to watch.
This film was funny, and I was thrilled to see Lily Tomlin starring as Tina Fey’s mom. I first discovered Lily Tomlin watching Grace and Frankie and she was funny then and she was just as good in this. She was the perfect distant single mother to Fey’s overly organised structured character. And the interaction between in Rudd and Fey was just as hilarious.
I admit, at moments I cringed from second hand embarrassment in this film, but it was a fun and easy comedy and I would recommend it to anyone as a fun evening watch with friends.
Two Night StandGenre: Comedy, Romance
My Rating:
After an extremely regrettable one night stand, two strangers wake up to find themselves snowed in after sleeping through a blizzard that put all of Manhattan on ice. They're now trapped together in a tiny apartment, forced to get to know each other way more than any one night stand should.
I actually invested in this film and the next film, a rarity for me. I am glad I did. Two Night Stand is a perfect rom com, the kind you don’t get enough of anymore, at least I never notice them coming out anyway. I didn’t really realise who was in it, but when I saw Analeigh Tipton was in it (I loved her in Crazy Stupid Love as the teenage baby sitter) I knew I was going to get a good amount of humour.
This is the kind of film you watch with your girlfriends giggling and laughing and generally having a great time. It is an easy watch. Teller and Tipton have excellent rapport as Megan and Alec going from an awkward one night stand to being stuck snowed in together. All the expected things happen with the pair, and a couple of unexpected things. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a perfect Sunday pyjama watch for their weekend. It also made me kind of wish it was winter for snow and winter fun. It’s hard to review because I am a sucker for a cheesy rom com, and that is what it is, but less cheese than most.
Say When (Laggies)Genre: Comedy, Romance
My Rating:
Megan's approaching 30 with a good degree and a boyfriend in hand, but when he proposes at her friend's wedding and everyone seems to think that the best way to advance in her career is to take a seminar where you find out what animal you are, Megan's understandably feeling lost. After meeting teenagers who want her to buy them beer, Megan is drawn into 16-year-old Annika's simpler life. She ends up moving in with Annika and her single father, juggling the life of a teen and that of an adult, two romantic interests, and the feeling of lagging behind.
Boy, can I relate to this film. It is all about Megan, Keira Knightley, who still works as her dad’s sign girl and hasn’t managed to move forward in life despite being 28. She is proposed to by her long term boyfriend and discovers her dad cheating and doesn’t know what to do. She ends up doing the very mature thing of driving off in a panic and meets Moretz’s character, Annika, where she buys her and her teen friends alcohol and somehow ends up hanging out and getting drunk with them. She spent far too long refusing to grow up so she carries on hanging out with these kids, even going so far as to stay at Annika’s house by lying and saying her lease had expired and she was waiting for her apartment to be ready. Whilst staying there she meets Annika’s father, Craig.
This entire film is about Megan learning to grow and let go of the past and help herself move forward in life. It was a fun feel-good film for me. It was a bit farfetched and I did get a bit frustrated at Knightley’s character, but I loved the interaction between her and Rockwell.
And that is all from me. I hope you enjoyed this little diversion from my usual posts and if you have any film recommendations for me please let me know in the comments, I am a huge fan of films and will watch almost anything.
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