"The Dilemma" of Having Kevin James in Your Movie

This past weekend saw the release of two of the more higher anticipated January films. The Green Hornet which seems to have been advertising its release for the past year and The Dilemma, the academy award winning director Ron Howard's film disguised as an Adam Sandler production. 

Movies to me are all about expectations. If I expect a film to be great, it has to be outstanding for me to truly fall in love with it. The same can be said for when I expect a film to be terrible, it has to be especially awful for me to hate it. Well needless to say, this weekend was a turd filled movie going experience.

The Green Hornet- When I heard about this movie it didn't make sense. A comic book movie starring comic stoner Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Pineapple Express) and directed by the artsy-fartsy director Michel Gondry (Eternel Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Science of Sleep.) The combination was intriguing, but I never knew how or if it would work.

It didn't. The film is a very bumpy ride. At times the action is fast paced, the lines are funny, and the story is interesting. But every time the film would gather some steam it kept running into moments of clutter and boredom. I think there was an attempt to create a love story subplot, it fell flat. I think there was a try to develop a relationship of father and son, it failed. And I think there was an attempt to chronicle a unique friendship, it bombed.

If we were supposed to relate and feel for the characters, this film did it all wrong. Rogen is alright as the slacker, party boy Britt Reid, but his antics and repetitive moments of "douche-ness" don't particularly make you root against his death.
Unfortunately this movie is solely an eye-piece. It is something that is nice to look at; your marvel at the prettiness, but in the end there is no emotional depth, nothing to relate to, and you would never take it home to the parents.
Nathan rating: 2 stars

The Dilemma- Oh man! This movie made me angry! Excuse me while I go on a rant here... I am sick and tired of movies that show characters using little to no common sense and expect the audience to understand their decision making while knowing all along that the only reason the characters act the way they do is to give the movie an extra hour and half. It is a blatant insult to our intelligence.

Ok, you may be lost. But allow me to give you examples. Like in a teen movie where the guys make a bet to turn a girl pretty, then said guy falls in love with newly attractive girl but refuses to mention the bet. Then girl finds out about bet from someone else, everything is ruined, we get 30 more minutes of drama, then everything works out.  BUT, if he would have be up front at the beginning, or 5 minutes into it, everything would have been OK. But, wouldn't that be a boring movie!?

Well, The Dilemma is like this. As known in the previews Vince Vaughn stumbles upon his best friend's (Kevin James, (BAD!)) wife cheating on him with a much younger man. Instead of telling ANYONE, Vince Vaughn looks for the best way to do it, and further ruins his life, my patience and the entertainment value of this movie. For the first time that I can remember I wanted to scream at the screen in the theater "JUST TELL HIM!" at least 3 or 4 times. Man, this film made me angry!

I must say one thing, Vince Vaughn is one of the few if not the only redeemable quality of this film. He does flash moments of actual solid, dramatic acting. It is just too bad he had a hunk-o-crap script to work with. Just a bad movie that makes you want to punch something.
Nathan rating= 1 star