That's My Boy

Staying true to one’s craft may be more important in comedy than any other type of performance art. A comedian must walk the never-ending stage between appeasing their core audience and evolving their material to stay relevant. It would not be an egregious statement to say that Adam Sandler has completely and utterly ignored that concept. Although the "Jerry Lewis" of our time has definitely branched out of his comfort zone with serious and even critically acclaimed roles in “Punch Drunk Love,” “Spanglish” and “Reign Over Me,” the silly meat and inane potatoes that elevated Sandler to superstardom have been in recent danger of turning old and moldy.

To his defense, there really is not an abundant distinction between flops like “Jack and Jill” and successes like “Mr. Deeds.” In that way, Sandler is undervalued as one of the most consistent performers in Hollywood. Critics have hated just about every single comedy he’s produced, even all-time classics like “Happy Gilmore.” But Sandler has stayed loyal to his ample and core audience throughout his career, perhaps even to a fault. The factor that may be moving the “relevant” needle away from Sandler is that the young and vivacious audience that skyrocketed him to “comedy god” status in the late ‘90’s, has grown up. Their taste may have changed with age, and the new generation’s funny bones are not easily tickled by punching out a game show host. So what can he do to keep his fans happy, appeal to the contempo “Apatow” crowd, and evolve as a comedian without pulling an “Eddie Murphy?” With his latest film, “That’s My Boy,” Sandler for the first time turns to a restricted rating to help free up his creativity.

In his early teens, Donny Berger (Adam Sandler) was the “victim” of a sexually aggressive teacher, Ms. McGarricle (Eva Amurri Martino, "Californication"). During their consensual escapades, the two are literally caught with their pants down and Berger immediately becomes a hero for his premature conquest. As Ms. McGarricle gets sentenced to 30 years in prison, now pregnant with an adolescent’s child, Berger becomes an 80’s pop icon; his face splashed on the cover of teen magazines and his life the subject of a “Lifetime” style TV movie. After Berger’s “15 minutes” are up, he finds himself broke and estranged from his son, Todd aka, Han Solo Berger (Andy Samberg, "Saturday Night Live"), who has committed his life to escaping everything and anything to do with his infamous father. When Donny is about to go to prison for tax evasion, he finds an opportunity to exploit himself to make some fast cash, but the deal is contingent on him getting Todd involved.

Adam Sandler has appeared in plenty of R-rated films before, he’s even been a producer on a few comedies under the category, but never has Sandler himself starred in one of his consummate Happy Madison productions beyond the edge of PG-13. In “That’s My Boy,” that fact manifests itself like a kid who just learned his first swear word. Practically every joke is an attempt to shock the audience. Some do achieve this goal while others fall flat, very flat, but that’s not something foreign even to Sandler’s most heralded films. The unfortunate byproduct of delving into new R-rated ground is that “That’s My Boy” is going to be compared to higher quality films of the same class. Sandler can definitely go “toe-to-toe” with the best in the business in terms of pure raunchiness, as anyone who’s ever heard his early Grammy-nominated comedy albums can attest. And even though he can get away with some big laughs surrounding a few surgically added heartfelt moments on the PG-13 level, “That’s My Boy” is severely lacking in terms of strong characters and plot points when compared to films of the same ilk.

As usual the cast is flooded with all of the Happy Madison regulars, but recently Sandler has been growing his band of merry men to include many of the current “Saturday Night Live” cast and a few eclectic “what’s he/she doing in this film” choices as well.

Disappointingly, co-star Andy Samberg, who has been so closely compared to Sandler for the similarity of their names and their musical comedy on SNL, largely plays “Abbott” to Sandler’s “Costello” for most of the film. The idea for a film based on the premise in which Sandler and Samberg portray some kind of inappropriate father/son relationship is definitely intriguing, but by Samberg playing the “straight man,” it neuters part of that appeal as he never really gets a chance to showcase his comedy prowess to what is probably the biggest mainstream audience he’s ever had.

There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and although it was definitely entertaining to watch Adam Sandler in a no-holds-barred type of comedy setting, “That’s My Boy” culminates as more of a novelty act, depriving fans of the two co-stars the madcap baton-passing story they rightfully deserved.

Story: 5.0
Acting: 5.0
Writing: 6.0
Captivation: 6.0
Replay Value: 6.0

Total = 5.7 out of 10

Reger Rant - 6/7/12

"Celebrate good times, come on" has been played at countless sporting events and gatherings over the years and always brings smiles, joy, and weird dance moves from people.  However, with Tuesday's victory by Scott Walker in the Wisconsin Recall Governor election, that line has never rang so true.

I know a lot of you are thinking "Wisconsin, who cares?", but this goes much deeper than that and hopefully serves as a blueprint and roadmap to our economy rebounding and many of us enjoying the kind of prosperity that has been missing in the past couple of years.

The Issue:  Two years ago, Scott Walker (R) took over as Governor of Wisconsin, a traditionally Democratic state.  He was dealt a very difficult hand.  The state was essentially going bankrupt and there was no end in sight.  They had a debt of $3.7 billion and unemployment was at an all time high.  He immediately sat down and weighed his options.  When he looked at every government program, he came to the same conclusion, that the Labor Unions of the state were milking the tax payers dry and something had to be done to reverse this course or we could not survive.  Public schools were facing the possibility of layoffs, program cuts, and an increase in class sizes.

The Solution:  So Walker stood up and made the tough decision to do what was best for the people of the state of Wisconsin, he stood up to the union thugs and told them that enough was enough.  He took away their right to collective bargaining and he forced teachers and other union workers to contribute to their health insurance and pensions ( quick side note:  The average public school teacher in Wisconsin makes a $60,000 salary and got 100% of their health insurance and pensions paid for by taxpayers prior to Walker's cuts).  Walker's plan called for teachers to contribute 12% of their insurance and 12% toward their pension and froze salary increases for 2 years.  Most, if not all of us contribute a much greater percentage of our health insurance and don't even have pensions.

The aftermath: After these changes were announced, you would have thought that Micheal Vick just took these peoples' family dogs and was heading towards the live wires.  There were massive protests.  There were organized walkouts from school (fyi- this only hurt the children).  There were union leaders (who, by the way, make millions every year and live in huge mansions, while acting like they represent the "common man") busing people from other states to protest, and the Democrats in the House literally left the state and hid out in Illinois, because there is an obscure law that states that a vote couldn't be taken unless the members were within the state borders.  This reaction also triggered recall proceedings, which ended up costing the tax payers over $10 million.

The results:  Since Walker's measures were instituted, just in the past year, the state has been able to erase the entire $3.7 billion deficit and are now functioning at a $150 million surplus.  Not a single teacher has been laid off.  No extracurricular programs have been cut (as a result of this program), and class sizes have remained stable.  As a further result and because tax money could be allocated to other areas, over 30,000 net jobs have been created (that is the jobs created minus the jobs lost, which is the true indicator.  Obama likes to talk about jobs created in the country, but fails to mention jobs lost and unemployment claims).  Unemployment has dropped dramatically and the state's overall outlook is very positive moving forward.

The impact:  Because Walker actually won by a higher margin than he was elected by, it shows that most people support these tough decisons that work.  At the same time, it shows that the union strongholds that cripple many other states budgets have been weakened dramatically.  What you are going to see is other states following this blueprint for success and hopefully the federal government as well.  We are on our way back guys.  But it takes great leaders like Scott Walker to get things done.  So, now is the time to celebrate.

Prometheus

Everyone loves a prequel, right? Ok, not everyone, but at the very least they provide fodder for the die-hard fans of some of the most established and loved movie franchises of all time. They also serve to extend and renew a classic film’s relevancy to the next generation while appeasing the appetite of its loyal core by finally answering endlessly debated theories concerning antecedent plot points to the main story. And although the creators of Prometheus protest, perhaps too much, that the film is not a direct prequel to 1979’s epic and groundbreaking Alien, and that Prometheus creates its own new world and grand mythology, it still fails to answer vital questions from either facet.

An alien humanoid being in Earth’s distant past voluntarily ingests a biological black liquid which quickly kills him, breaks down his body and transforms it into what appears to be a new type of DNA that fertilizes the floor of a massive river. Flash forward to the year 2089; archeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2009) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green, Devil, 2010) discover cave drawings all over the world depicting the same star constellation. Since the final drawing predates any human ability to map out such a distant star system, they can only conclude that highly advanced beings had once visited Earth and they might actually hold the key to the beginning of the human race. Funded by the Weyland Corporation, the pair joins a crew aboard the vessel Prometheus to visit the mapped locations from the drawings and make contact with our supposed creators.

The notion that Alien was merely a “jumping-off point” for Prometheus is a severe understatement. No matter how much director Ridley Scott (Alien, 1979) and writer Damon Lindelof (Cowboys and Aliens, 2011) assert the notion. This film is deeply rooted in the same universe as Alien and is embeded with much more than just light references, beginning with the film’s homage to the Alien opening title sequence. However the declaration that Prometheus explores brave new ground, separate from Alien, is true as well. Ridley and Lindelof boldly tackle the age-old question, “why are we here?” But it’s only bold if you are actually going to try to answer it. And not only answer it, but create a massively clever sci-fi explanation that fits into the logic of the story’s reality. To tout the beginning of humanity as the centerpiece of the plot and then not come through with some sort of satisfying answer is not only cowardly, but it drowns the film in a flood of disappointment, leaving it up to the audiences’ imaginations or even more infuriating, a contingent prequel-sequel.

A disappointing script is not the only weakness that plagues Prometheus. Director Ridley Scott is no doubt one of the best in the business, but it has been 27 years since Scott has tackled a pure sci-fi project in the director’s chair. And unfortunately it shows. He’s still a master of creating fantastic suspense but the trailers for the film play a much scarier tone than it ever actually reaches. In his defense though, Scott did not have very strong material to work with. The writing comes off as stunningly amateurish and even downright sloppy, citing egregious errors with novice science facts that can be checked with a simple Google search. And even though the characters are doctors and scientists who reside almost 100 years in the future, they emulate the same “scary movie” behavior as the kids from Camp Crystal Lake.

Adhering a bold font on the ineffective dialogue is a very awkward and unfitting score, which couldn’t be farther from the unmistakable instrumentals that helped make Alien a sci-fi masterpiece. Some scenes during the film’s climax take a proverbial ice bath, as the music dulls the intensity level from Alien to Avatar.

To his credit though, in an attempt to give Prometheus a scene to rival that of the iconic “chest buster” from Alien, Scott conducts a masterful symphony of techno-biological horror involving Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw. No it won’t be recalled as one of the greatest and shocking moments in the history of film, but it surely will not be filed under “miscellaneous” in audiences’ grey matter anytime soon.

The cast is composed of very solid actors but their characters are products of the extremely shallow script. Noomi Rapace is obviously supposed to be the “Ripley” of the film, following a similar path as Sigourney Weaver’s legendary character from the Alien franchise, but perhaps the casting department hired the wrong “girl with the dragon tattoo.” Even though her actions depict an extremely strong will and vivacious survival mentality, her demeanor and emotion just doesn’t match up. This was perhaps a conscious choice to separate Rapace’s character from Weaver’s, but it simply does not play as genuine in the impossible and horrifying circumstances surrounding Elizabeth Shaw.

Charlize Theron (Meredith Vickers) and Idris Elba (Janek) are definitely attributes to the overall story, but with the two-dimensional material allotted to them, their potential was limited with an extremely low ceiling. Vickers’ secret is completely transparent very early on in the story but Scott still adds in a “big reveal” that will shock absolutely zero audience members with or without an aptitude for sci-fi. And Janek is the good-guy pilot who only cares about the safety of the ship and it’s crew, but perhaps his most important role to the film is that his personality is the most relatable and represents every “common man” back on Earth, connecting the audience to a foreign planet light years away.

Shining through though as usual is Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, 2011), playing the android David. Fassbender is unequivocally mesmerizing as the incredibly sophisticated robot that serves as the parallel between how the engineers of humanity look at their creations and how we as humans look at ours. It’s unfortunate that this character had to be wasted in this film as Fassbender could easily pull off a feature story surrounding David. In the beginning of the film David is the sole being manning the ship in its 2-year journey across space. The scenes of him just running his daily errands and learning about humanity through movies and language programs are so compelling it’s almost unfortunate that the crew had to wake up at all.

Sci-fi fans will not be completely disappointed with Prometheus. The visuals and effects are outstanding and there are some very awe-inspiring scenes, although they do resonate more on the horror aspect of sci-fi. But if you’re going in to this film as a loyal fan of the Alien franchise, do not expect it to answer many of your big questions and be prepared for a facehugging implantation of new hypotheses to digest.

Story: 6.0
Acting: 6.5
Writing: 5.5
Captivation: 6.5
Replay Value: 6.5

Total = 6.2 out of 10