The plot revolves around a socially awkward man (John C. Reilly) who meets a women (Marisa Tomei) with a 21 year old son (Jonah Hill) still living with her who is overly attached to mommy (to the point of being borderline Oedipal) and sees Reilly as a threat to their 'idyllic' existence. Given the concept and actors involved I expected this to to degenerate into a battle of wills as the two principals fight to screw each other in an effort to drive the other one out. While this happens a little bit, it doesn't play out at all like I expected. The first hour is manifested with the type of humor found in shows like The Office, where you're just watching people lacking basic social skills interact and you just can't help but cringe at what they're doing and their general unawareness at how their actions are being perceived. While funny, its still uncomfortable to watch and its a testament to the actors that you still have some sympathy for the characters even after all this is done. The second half shifts a little bit to the aforementioned battle between Hill and Reilly, but rather than having them engage in ever escalating stunts, the film is more concerned with showing the consequences of their actions, and illustrating how screwed up many of them (particularly Hill) actually are. Again not exactly the lightest fare when it comes right down to it. Anyway overall the film is well acted and executed, and does its best to keep what is really a fairly unrealistic premise grounded. Its not the most comfortable viewing experience but at least thats by design.
The A-Team
I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this film. From the opening scenes it embraces the ludicrousness of the whole premise and just runs with it. As Hannibal says at one point in the film "Overstatement is underrated" the film takes the excess of the TV show and turns it up twenty notches. It thankfully doesn't spend much time trying to interject too much seriousness into the proceedings, and the ridiculously overqualified cast (Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlito Copley, Patrick Wilson, and Major Dad's own Gerald Mccraney) make the characters enjoyable to spend a few hours with. Really my only issue with the film is that the fight scenes are poorly staged and shot in a manner akin to the way Paul Greengrass shot green zone (look you have a UFC fighter playing BA for crying out loud, how about pulling the camera back and letting us see what he's doing). Still its light, enjoyable, entertainment and one of the few TV reboots I wouldn't mind seeing turned into a franchise.
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