The funniest thing in BEWITCHED is an oddly touching attachment Will Ferrell’s character, Jack Wyatt, develops for a bottle of ketchup he picked up during an off-screen interlude in New Mexico. It’s barely mentioned, but there it is in a couple of scenes, clutched tenaciously the way a kid clutches his blankie in times of… Read More »
TALLADEGA NIGHTS — THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY
I can’t think of a film more rife with product placement than TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY. Yet, this backhanded homage NASCAR, not to mention every sports film cliché ever devised, requires nothing less to make one of its many satirical points. Hence the eponymous Ricky doesn’t just sport the name of a… Read More »
STRANGER THAN FICTION
In STRANGER THAN FICTION, Will Ferrell bravely sets aside the manic side of his personna in favor of that personna’s innate sweetness. It’s a bold move and one that is not without charm, but it’s also one that should have been better served than it is by a script that takes far too long to get… Read More »
BLADES OF GLORY
Having taken on Christmas and NASCAR, Will Ferrell takes the next logical step with a typically loopy take on the seamy underbelly of competitive figure skating. The only obstacle he had in his way was making a farce that would be the equal of the doings in the real world of competitive skating. Tonya Harding,… Read More »
SEMI-PRO
SEMI-PRO is a title that is more than apt for the film to which it is attached. It is a work made up of random bits and pieces in which Will Ferrell has been wedged into an insipid sports story. There is no discernible attempt to make the two disparate elements, Ferrell’s absurdity and the… Read More »
THE OTHER GUYS
A rambling script that never quite takes the aim it meant to at the rarified world of high finance proves little impediment to THE OTHER GUYS, an uneven comedy redeemed by the inspired casting of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as cops with nothing in common paired up on a career-making case. Forget the brief,… Read More »