Three dumb 2015 comedies that need perfunctory “reviews.” Although I have to say, some aren’t entirely unenjoyable…
The Ridiculous Six…Adam Sandler finally realizes his movies are more “straight to Netflix” than “get me to a theater” and this is the first of several movies he’ll release straight-to-Netflix. Out of the three comedies, this is the one I found most enjoyable–although I’m ashamed to admit that–because I’m a sucker for Westerns, and the talented supporting cast (including Terry Crews, Luke Wilson, Will Forte, Nick Nolte, and about 100 others) seem to be having a genuinely good time with these goofy characters. During certain stretches–like a flashback to Lincoln’s assassination–that good time is close to infectious. Sandler’s comedies have always been bad, but the last few years have seen them become joyless as well (“Jack and Jill” and “The Cobbler”). “Ridiculous Six” is getting back to that joyfully dumbassed Happy Gilmore period, and his fans will probably be thrilled. Grade: C+
Unfinished Business…Vince Vaugh continues his streak of weirdly “aspirational” dumb comedies (“The Internship” or “Delivery Man”) with this film about a small businessman trying to keep his three-man company afloat by going to Germany to secure a huge deal. This film is better than “Internship” or “Delivery Man” but that’s not sayng much. I appreciated the movie’s liberal doses of European nudity and Tom Wilkinson’s laidback number two man, but too much of the movie is completely forgettable or uninvolving. Grade: C-
Get Hard…I have to hand it to Will Ferrell, while other middle-aged comedy stars are content to just keep hitting the “replay” button (like, well, Sandler and Vaughn since we’re talking about it), he seems to be actively trying to reach new audiences. Whether it be a Spanish language movie (“Casa de mi Padre”), hipster goofs on the old-time miniseries (his hilarious take on an Orson Welles-ish type in “The Spoils of Babylon”), smart sitcoms (cameos in “Last Man on Earth” and “Eastbound and Down”) or even a sly satire of a Lifetime movie (the surreally excellent “A Deadly Adoption”). But this team-up with Kevin Hart is his biggest film misfire in ages. It’s just dog-shit, really; the type of “black guy meets white guy” movie that wouldn’t have been funny ten years ago. In many ways, “Get Hard” feels like a 90’s movie forced into an “edgy” 2015 mold (sample jokes about Nazi tits, the N-word, gay brunch blowjobs, and relentless prison rape references all make it seem like the movie is trying too hard to be relevant). Although it’s nice that the movie features the sole positive depiction of a black female/white male couple in a movie this year, it’s still played as an “absurdity,” another sign this script might have been written twenty years ago and only recently gotten made. Grade: C-