MOVIE - Tammy

R (1:36)

Wide Release 7/2/2014

Viewed

RT Critic: 24  Audience: 39

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot - and I didn't intend to!

Directed by Ben Falcone (I think he's Melissa McCarthy's husband)

Warner Brothers Pictures

Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates - and more great actors in smaller parts

My comments: I thought this movie was going to be crass and stupid, but I went to it anyway, simply anticipating a great cast.  And I greatly enjoyed it!  Yes, touches of stupid AND crass, but only touches.  There was lots of "being human" here, too. A 3-generation story.   Melissa McCarthy is SOOO cleverly funny!  And the music was terrific - wouldn't mind the soundtrack.

Reviews: Tammy (Melissa McCarthy) is having a bad day. She's totaled her clunker car, gotten fired from her thankless job at a greasy burger joint and, instead of finding comfort at home, finds her husband getting comfortable with the neighbor in her own house. It's time to take her boom box and book it. The bad news is she's broke and without wheels. The worse news is her grandma, Pearl (Susan Sarandon), is her only option-with a car, cash, and an itch to see Niagara Falls. Not exactly the escape Tammy had in mind. But on the road, with grandma riding shot gun, it may be just what Tammy needs.

Movie - The Big Wedding

R (1:29)

Wide release April 26, 2013

Saw it at Crossroads Sat. afternoon 5/25/13 (Happy Birthday, Steve...)

Comedy

RT Critic:  8% Audience: 69%

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot

Directed by Justin Zackham

Lionsgate Films

Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Topher Grace, Katherine Heigl, Robin Williams, Amanda Seyfried

My thoughts:  The Big Wedding was a frivolously fun movie to watch on a Saturday afternoon.  There were lots of good ha ha's and many gentle chuckles...and even a few snorts coming from me.  What a fantastic cast to be able to watch, some famous names and a few new faces that were quite delightful.  You could tell exactly what was going to happen, there were no surprises at all, but that was okay...that's not the kinds of movie it was.  The setting - a huge house on the edge of a clear, calm lake on a perfect summer weekend (by watching the credits I think it was somewhere in or about Greenwich, CT).   I enjoyed the movie a lot.  And Topher Grace was adorable.

Fandango/Rotten Tomatoes synopsis:  A charmingly modern family tires to survive a weekend wedding celebration that has the potential to become a full blown family fiasco. To the amusement of their adult children and friends, long divorced couple Don and Ellie Griffin (De Niro and Keaton) are once again forced to play the happy couple for the sake of their adopted son's wedding after his ultra conservative biological mother unexpectedly decides to fly halfway across the world to attend. With all of the wedding guests looking on, the Griffins are hilariously forced to confront their past, present and future - and hopefully avoid killing each other in the process

Movie - The Company You Keep

R (2:01)

Opened April 5, 2013

Viewed at ElCon Friday, May 3, 2013

RT Critics: 54  Audience:  50

Cag:  4/I really liked it

Directed by Robert Redford

Sony Pictures Classics

Robert Redford, Shia LaBoeuf, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Julie Christie, Chris Cooper, Richard Jenkins, Stanley Tucci

I did not know the cast - other than Robert Redford - until I saw the movie unfold.  Each new cast member, most old favorites, made me take in my breath and giggle for just a moment, that's how much I enjoyed seeing all of them.  The story was interesting and totally kept my interest for all two hours, except for one scene near the end - between Redford and Christie - that was too long and drawn out.  Shia LaBoeuf was super in his role.  And I loved his glasses!

Fandango Summary: A single father's upper-middle class life as a lawyer in upstate New York is shattered when his past as a radical activist member of the Weather Underground is revealed and he is accused of having been the triggerman at a deadly bank robbery years before. Forced to go on the lam, the man evades law enforcement while searching for the one woman who can prove his innocence.