My Rating: It was okay. Not good, not bad.
Initial thoughts: So, I was thinking this movie was just going to be another narcissistic project from Ben Stiller that would be short on comedy and long on too many minutes of Ben Stiller.
Nutshell: This movie was just another narcissistic project from Ben Stiller that is short on comedy and long on too many minutes of Ben Stiller. Also, this was a really long commercial for Costco, which I am assuming gave the movie makers tons of money to get this film done. Basically, Ben Stiller works at Costco and his friend gets killed there by an alien. Stiller starts a neighborhood watch to catch the killer and is joined by Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade. Various alien tomfoolery takes place ending with a showdown in the product placement Costco.
Does anybody out there really like Ben Stiller as a lead character? Sure, he made plenty of money with those Museum movies, but I think that was more due to kids wanting to see it over and over again with their excessive need to consume and re consume bright, shiny, shallow crap rather then any Ben Stiller charisma. The last good comedic outing from this guy was Tropic Thunder, and he was the weakest element in it despite having the largest part. Ben Stiller is probably a nice guy, but I don't give a shit about him. His need to make the main character arc about him is tedious. Give it up, man. You have the ability to possibly become a great second string actor if you just hold back and don't try to be something you are not; a leading man. Take a cue from your pops, he can add real flavor to a project by not trying to hog the camera, but I am betting if someone did give him the lead on a project he would know enough to dial it back to make the character likeable, and not demanding of excessively sentimentality in a way overeager attempt to connect with people. Daddy issues, maybe?
And holy shit what happened to Vince Vaughn? That guy's head is just a giant, misshapen biscuit now. But at least *he* can dial it back. Vince Vaughn had a string of films there where he pushed way too far with the unlikeable, overbearing personality and it killed those films. In this one he was just more of a lonely guy looking to connect with other guys for some platonic man time. And it worked. He was genuinely likeable for the most part.
As for Jonah Hill, hmm, it wasn't really hitting with me. We've seen the socially awkward, over-militant, thousand yard stare character before whose purpose was to be funny while making us uncomfortable. This time, though, the awkward one liners came across as just flat with no punch. Just a paycheck, maybe?
Richard Ayoade played his part perfectly. He was a quirky British guy who didn't really fit in super well in suburban America and it worked considering the places his character ended up.
Overall this film wasn't terrible, but it just wasn't good, either. It looked to me like the director, Akiva Schaffer, let the guys run on some improv hoping to find gold, but it didn't pay off and the movie just wasn't that funny for what was supposed to be a comedy. The effects with the alien were not bad, but this wasn't a solid enough alien invasion film to carry the lack of comedy.
Final thoughts: Watch it if you are bored, but don't expect big laughs or a great alien story. If you like any of the actors in this then spend the buck or so on a rental, otherwise, skip it.
Any comments are appreciated!
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