Viewed in
2010
Formats
DVD
Premise
I think the title says it all.
Liked
The comedy and the performances.
Disliked
The implausibility .
Thoughts
When I first saw the trailers, I rolled my eyes. Turns out it was pretty good.
There was no doubt that the premise was ridiculous. I liked that the movie did not bother apologizing for it, and in a couple of cases, just winked at the camera about it. Thus, I shut down that part of my brain, and rolled with it.
What surprised me was the film's effort into creating distinct, believable characters that I would care about. John Cusack once again he showed how effortlessly he carries movies regardless of the quality of premise. Also, Craig Robinson and Rob Corddry were excellent as the other two friends.
The jokes definitely earned their R rating, as it was filled with drugs, sex, and adult dialogue. It was a little gross at times, but the gags were well-executed and sometimes creative. They made me laugh with pop culture references, lowbrow, and some camera-winking.
One last thing I liked was the shoutouts to the 1980's without being in my face. There were some funny movie references as well, including Red Dawn posters, Crispin Glover, Chevy Chase, and Cusack being at a ski resort a la Better Off Dead.
The biggest flaw for me was the implausibility of some of the plot points, even after I had decided not to think about time travel paradoxes and the silly premise. Also, from a karma point of view, I had trouble accepting Corddry's last act.
Thanks to the strong comedic performances and good dialogue writing, the film makers succeeded in making me forget the ludicrous premise, and enjoying a nice, funny story about starting over in life.
What I would change
Saved money by not bothering with the CGI climax. You could have accomplished the same story-telling without the unnecessary costs.
Personal
I was sad that someone beat me to the punch in putting up a mother-lover joke onscreen, even though I had written a similar one a decade ago.
