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A pretty typical "middle-aged people throw one last party" flick. Fey and Poehler are very nice together though and there are some solid jokes there, even though not everything works. Rudolph and Barinholtz are respectable in secondary parts. Not the greatest comedy ever, but pretty decent comedy filler nonetheless.
A romcom setup that turns into an action/comedy. The idea is fun enough, but the execution isn't quite as fun or funny as it was conceived to be. Lopez's poor comedic performance has a big part in the film's failure, but the lack of goofy secondary characters isn't helping either. Darcy and Tom invited their families to a private island in the Philippines, where they plan to get married. Tom tried to come up with the perfect wedding, but his plans are thwarted when pirates take over the island. Darcy and Tom are having a little private row when it happens, which makes them the only ones left on the island to save their families. There are quite a lot of obvious jokes that might have worked with a stronger lead duo, but now they fall flat as Lopez constantly fails to deliver a good punchline. The action looks pretty fake too and the film lacks any truly zany characters, but the setting is pleasant and the mood is light, so it's not all bad.Read all
In the wake of glee, it wasn't too surprising to see a film like this gain popularity. I'm not a big fan of US high school/college comedies, nor bad pop music, but with some comedic additions (Rebel Wilson and Elisabeth Banks are gold) the film remains somewhat watchable. If you ignore the music. An all-girl acapella group tries the beat the reigning champions, but time and time again they fail. After a terrible mishap the year before, the group struggles to find new applicants. They're mostly left with a bunch of misfits, but this might be the key to mixing things up and snatching the crown. It's a typical underdog story, with very poor musical performances and a few annoying characters to boot. Kendrick is decent but she can't carry this film, the appeal comes from funny secondary characters, no matter how stereotypical they may be. It's not a great film, but also not quite as bad as I'd feared.Read all