THE MOVIE ANARCHIST

This is one that I clearly didn’t give the credit it deserved the first time I saw it.  I said it was OK, but essentially the same joke was repeated in three locations.  However, after watching it at least 10 times in the past two weeks, I undoubtedly was wrong.

Yes, the broader story is totally predictable, but at least it does what it’s supposed to do.   Aaron (Jonah Hill) deals with every obstacle thrown in his path, and ultimately he gets Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) to the Greek Theater.   If you haven’t seen this yet I wouldn’t consider that a spoiler since, as I said, it’s totally predictable.  There’s a shit-load of alcohol, drugs and sex from start to finish.  It’s pretty funny, but it’s nothing special.  In fact the “joke” is unnecessarily repetitive.

Now, after many more viewings, I highly recommend this movie, but I think you have to watch it a few times to really appreciate it.  The core story is a vehicle to present us with an extraordinarily clever script with countless one or two-line quips that are flawlessly delivered by Jonah Hill, Russell Brand and Sean Combs.  Their facial expressions are spot on.  P-Diddy, surprisingly, was excellent, and had a rather large part in the film.  I just finished watching it again, and even though I have seen it many times, I kept hitting the rewind button to make sure I didn’t miss anything.  It seems to me that there is a lot more going on than you can see if you only watch this once.

Seriously, watch if a few times, listen carefully to the dialog and look at their faces.  It’s not the best movie ever made, but it’s genuinely funny; and I don’t mean that in a slap-stick way.  It’s because of clever writing and good acting.

7/9

Please leave a comment.  I’d love to know what you think.