Charlie, an unemployed PhD teacher, (David Schwimmer) takes a job at a huge call center in small town Oregon where he meets Gus (Simon Pegg). After Charlie almost immediately gets fired, Gus convinces him to meet him at a bar and listen to his foolproof get rich scheme, which involves blackmailing a pedophilic pastor (is there any other kind in Hollywood?). Charlie needs the money to support his daughter and wife, a local cop (the ridiculously hot Natascha McElhone) so he reluctantly agrees. Of course, everything that can go wrong, will . . .
Schwimmer and Pegg make a pretty good comedic duo, and there’s a colorful cast of characters surrounding them. It’s not exactly hilarious, but it’s occasionally amusing. The unpredictable twists and turns inherently part of this type of film are great for awhile, but eventually strain credibility. You’ll want to shake nearly everyone and slap some sense into them. The ending is a bit rushed, but the filmmakers blessedly keep the film’s running time down to 86 minutes - important for a film that basically takes place over the course of one night. Pegg remains one of my favorite comedic actors, though his films without Edgar Wright have been mostly lacking. Schwimmer struggles to break out of the Ross-ness of his persona, but that’s partly because of the similarities of the characters, both goofy, aloof, and underachieving. C+
It’s available on Netflix instant, DVD, and it’s been playing on the Starz stations recently.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Big Nothing - C+
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2 comments:
You can't get enough Pegg. He's about 1/10th as funny as Ricky Gervais.
I had not heard of this until one of the appraisers asked me about it. The European one, I think. Gervais is funnier than Pegg (especially in timing and improvisation) but Gervais is also a smug a-hole. His latest HBO comedy show ridiculed America, calling us a 3rd world country. But Britain is in much worse financial shape than us. I can only take that stuff so much and didn't make it past the 10 minute mark.
I love Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, both hilarious and very well made, but Pegg isn't nearly as good without his co-writer and director Wright (much like Wes and Owen aren't as good when separated).
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