MOVIE REVIEW: WHY HIM? (2016)

From IMDB:

Over the holidays, Ned (Bryan Cranston), an overprotective but loving dad and his family visit his daughter at Stanford, where he meets his biggest nightmare: her well-meaning but socially awkward Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend, Laird (James Franco). The rivalry develops, and Ned's panic level goes through the roof when he finds himself lost in this glamorous high-tech world and learns that Laird is about to pop the question.Written by 20th Century Fox

38 Metascore From metacritic.com

Reviews 17 user | 61 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

Over the holidays, Ned (Bryan Cranston), an overprotective but loving dad and his family visit his daughter at Stanford, where he meets his biggest nightmare: her well-meaning but socially awkward Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend, Laird (James Franco). The straight-laced Ned thinks Laird, who has absolutely no filter, is a wildly inappropriate match for his daughter. The one-sided rivalry-and Ned's panic level-escalate when he finds himself increasingly out of step in the glamorous high-tech hub, and learns that Laird is about to pop the question.

Rating: R (for strong language and sexual material throughout)

Genre: Comedy

Directed By: John Hamburg

Written By: John Hamburg, Ian Helfer

In Theaters: Dec 23, 2016 Wide

Box Office: $11,002,986.00

Runtime: 111 minutes

Studio: 20th Century Fox

TOMATOMETER 40%

Average Rating: 4.9/10

Reviews Counted: 102

Fresh: 41

Rotten: 61

Critics Consensus: Solidly cast but overall misconceived, Why Him? offers the odd chuckle, but ultimately adds disappointingly little to its tired father-vs.-fiancé formula.

AUDIENCE SCORE 63% liked it

Average Rating: 3.6/5

User Ratings: 9,962

If the first time you meet someone and he doesn't have a shirt and has a foul mouth what goes through your mind? ©20th Century Fox

Directed by the man who also wrote for all the Meet the Fockers franchise and the Zoolander franchise...

Why Him? was actually released in the US on December 23rd but is only coming to Malaysia on the 29th. I saw it yesterday, the 27th. Why is it taking this comedy so long? Who knows? Anyway, Why Him? was written in part by the director John Hamburg along with Jonah Hill and Ian Helfer. John Hamburg also wrote for Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), Along Came Polly (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004), I Love You, Man (2009), Little Fockers (2010) and Zoolander 2 (2016). Now with the exception of maybe Little Fockers and Zoolander 2 pretty much all the rest were pretty good and funny and a little better than average. By the time of Little Fockers and Zoolander 2 you've basically seen and heard everything and it's just not as fresh, right? 

On the menu today is smoked bear wrapped in yesterday's newspaper. ©20th Century Fox

So let's get on to Why Him?, which stars Bryan Cranston as Ned Fleming the man who's asking the question, "Why him?". He has a daughter named Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) who is currently in college and to his surprise is dating a man whom he finds out about quite accidentally and hilariously on his birthday while on a video call with his daughter. After this accidental introduction Stephanie decides it would be good for the family to get to know the "new" boyfriend and tells her dad to bring down the family to California over the Christmas holidays. So off Ned goes to California with his lovely wife Barb (Megan Mullally) and son Scotty (Griffin Gluck).

Pinkie swears are very important to Silicon Valley millionaires. That's how they finalize all their contracts. ©20th Century Fox

On arriving in California Steph tries to tell Ned a little about her boyfriend but can't quite figure out how and things get a little harder to explain when they arrive at his home and enter through a hidden entrance. Things get weirder still as they see chickens and llamas on the estate and meet with Gustav (Keegan-Michael Key) the estate manager who previously managed a chain of famous 5-star hotels because he was tired of all the trappings associated with that career and lifestyle.

Anyway, the story pretty much unravels the same way that Meet the Parents does albeit this time it's the father in law to be who is the focus of things and have funny things happen around him and occasionally to him. That's one difference, the other difference is is the future son in law is one of those silicon valley millionaire guys with an unusual personality. So that's the thing that's been updated. And oh yeah, the cussing, lots of cussing. What did you expect from a movie that's also written by Jonah Hill who also helped write for Sausage Party (2016) and stars James Franco? We're just short of Seth Rogen and it would've been complete. If you know what I mean. 

What is the correct reaction for when a wet and clearly-naked-under-his-kaftan dress man sits on your bed and then tells you that there's a computer always listening to what you're doing? ©20th Century Fox

So here's a few things I enjoyed.

• Like Ned and the Flemings. Fun to watch Bryan Cranston in a comedic role again. Megan Mullally was adorable. Scotty was ok. Steph was ok too. 
• The story was average. Not bad. Not super good or super funny either. It has its moments.
• Like Gustav. 

Why is a dead moose trapped in it's own urine considered art? ©20th Century Fox

A few things that didn't impress.

• Not impressed with James Franco's character. That whole Silicon Valley millionaire start-up weirdo just isn't all that interesting. Doesn't really bring anything new to the story. Well not much anyway. And the cussing. Really? It stopped being funny after the first f*$k. 

 So Ned goes to Laird's office to talk about hacking into his network. I guess he forgot about the fact that someone is always listening. ©20th Century Fox

Why Him? is, to be honest nothing special. It has its moments for sure and you'll laugh but you won't remember it a half hour after you've walked out the cinema. If people ask you about it, you might say it's funny and you might recommend it but you probably won't go into much detail. Unless you're a fan of the comedy that James Franco and friends are known for. You'll enjoy Bryan Cranston if you're a fan of his and it's a nice throwback to the days when he did comedy. But nothing in this movie will make you rant and rave about it to your friends and family. Also, this may not be suitable for the whole family. 

Who isn't turned on by a cartoony portrait of humping capybaras? ©20th Century Fox

What this movie is is a quick laugh after a long day or a long week. A movie to watch when you just don't want to think about anything. Sort of like every comedy that James Franco has been in or Seth Rogen or Jonah Hill. It's very little substance but lots of juvenile type humour to appeal to the frat boy or sorority girl in you. If you consider yourself an adult then maybe don't watch this movie. And since I sort of guessed that this was going to be the case I set my expectations pretty low. So that's why I'm giving this movie a 3 out of 5. 

Check out the red band trailer below. 

A GREAT BIG THANKS TO KLIPS.MY AND 20th CENTURY FOX MALAYSIA FOR THE PREMIERE PASSES TO WHY HIM?

MOVIE REVIEW: STORKS (2016)

From IMDB:

Storks deliver babies...or at least they used to. Now they deliver packages for global internet giant Cornerstore.com. Junior, the company's top delivery stork, is about to be promoted when he accidentally activates the Baby Making Machine, producing an adorable and wholly unauthorized baby girl. Desperate to deliver this bundle of trouble before the boss gets wise, Junior and his friend Tulip, the only human on Stork Mountain, race to make their first-ever baby drop - in a wild and revealing journey that could make more than one family whole and restore the storks' true mission in the world. Written by Warner Bros.

63 Metascore From metacritic.com

Reviews 2 user | 31 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

In this animated children's fantasy, two storks (voiced by Kelsey Grammer and Andy Samberg) reveal the truth about their job delivering babies to new parents.

Rating: PG (for mild action and some thematic elements)

Genre: Animation , Comedy , Kids & Family

Directed By: Nicholas Stoller , Doug Sweetland

Written By: Nicholas Stoller

In Theaters: Sep 23, 2016 Wide

Runtime: 87 minutes

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

TOMATOMETER 53%

Average Rating: 6/10

Reviews Counted: 45

Fresh: 24

Rotten: 21

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

WANT TO SEE 94% want to see

User Ratings: 12,460

STORKS OPENS ON THE 23rd OF SEPTEMBER WORLDWIDE. IF IT DOESN'T OPEN ON THE 23rd NEAR YOU, CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHEN IT OPENS.

Guess which one is the odd one out and the orphan here. ©Warner Bros. Pictures

From the studio not the people that gave you the LEGO Movie...

So a few days ago I went to watch Storks but since I am a major procrastinator I'm only writing down my thoughts about it today which is actually the day it opens worldwide. Storks which stars among others Kelsey Grammer as Hunter the current head honcho at Cornerstore.com located on Stork Mountain, Andy Samberg as Junior the up and coming Stork slated to take over from Hunter, Katie Crown as Tulip as the only human working at Cornerstore.com, Jennifer Aniston and Ty Burrell as Sarah and Henry Gardner owners of Gardner Real Estates and parents to Nate voiced by Anton Starkman is a story about how Nate's desire for a baby brother changes everyone's life.

This is Hunter, the boss. He's going to retire soon and spend the rest of his days bullying little bird. ©Warner Bros. Pictures

It starts with Hunter who calls on Junior, Cornerstore's best delivery stork, to his office to inform him that he's chosen Junior to replace him as the CEO at the next Stork-Con event. But there's a catch, Junior needs to fire Tulip the orphan the only human who works at Cornerstore. Tulip became an orphan when the Jasper (Danny Trejo) the stork that was supposed to deliver her to her parents decides to keep her and during the standoff between him and the other storks he drops the homing beacon that shows her home smashing it to pieces.

Guess what Nate is missing here. ©Warner Bros. Pictures

Nate Gardner on the other hand has parents who are too busy to pay him any attention and since he has no one to play with him at home and a chance peek at a pair of brothers gushing about how they love each other in the next car on the way to dinner, Nate decides he'd like a little brother. Not just a brother mind you, a brother with ninja skills. His parents deciding not to take him seriously especially when he begins to talk about how easy it is, because all babies come delivered by storks, tell him they'll talk about it later. Nate while playing/rummaging in the attic some days later discovers quite conveniently a brochure for what the storks used to do and how to get them to deliver a brand new baby. 

Can you tell why Junior has that look on his face? ©Warner Bros. Pictures

So Nate follows the instructions and a baby shows up and the now defunct baby department at Stork Mountain where the only employee there is Tulip who has been assigned by Junior to take charge of the mail room. The appearance of the baby puts a huge wrench in Junior's ascension plans so they both team up to get the baby delivered before Hunter finds out and well before Stork-Con. In their delivery baby adventures they meet a crazy wolf pack with amazing team work lead by an alpha wolf (Keegan-Michael Key) and a wannabe beta wolf (Jordan Peele). Spied on by a somewhat goofy pigeon with lofty dreams named Pigeon Toady (Stephen Kramer Glickman) and finds out what truly happened on the day that Jasper dropped Tulips homing beacon.

This is a pigeon and he's a toady. ©Warner Bros. Pictures

That being said here's a list of things I enjoyed.

1. The voice acting. Everyone does a pretty good job. 
2. The animation. It's beautifully done.
3. The wolf pack. They were a surprise and they were silly fun.
4. The babies. They were adorable.
5. The ending. That was a surprising heartfelt moment.

Oh, look. Creepy penguins. ©Warner Bros. Pictures

Things I didn't find so enjoyable.

1. The story. It seemed to be a little unfocused. There's the balance that they strike between telling Junior and Tulip's adventures and what Nate does with his parents but you don't really end up investing much in either. 
2. The humour. There's a few laughs, much too few laughs. For an animation that obviously seems to be targeted at kids there's little fun to be had. There were kids in the cinema that I was watching this in but I didn't hear much gleeful laughter from them. Most of the silly giggles came in the scenes with the wolf pack. 
3. Something feels a little forced. Not too sure whether it's the relationship between the characters or the humour or maybe both. 
4. The end sequence where Hunter gets his comeuppance seemed a little too serious and grim for a movie like this. Not too sure who they were trying to impress with that one, can't be the kids.

Guess what they put in here. ©Warner Bros. Pictures

Overall this was a pretty "Meh" experience. The elements are all there but it just doesn't come together all that well. Shiny and cute visuals and a story that doesn't seem to draw you in and because of that no matter what the capable cast does it sorts of ends up a little as I said, unfocused. Who is this movie for? The kids or the adults? Sitting there watching it I have to say I don't think neither seem too impressed by it. So that being said I'm going to give Storks a fair 2.5 out of 5. Maybe the really young kids who are amused by colourful characters on screen might find it fun. Maybe.

Check out the combined trailer below. 

BIG THANKS TO KLIPS.MY, WARNER BROS MALAYSIA AND TGV CINEMAS FOR THE PREVIEW PASSES!