Comedy
Comedy movie reviews
Hannah Montana: The Movie Review
As most kids know from watching the TV show “Hannah Montana,” Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) leads a double life as an average teenager, and as the famous pop singer, Hannah Montana.
In the movie, Miley Stewart is becoming too attached to her pop star alter ego, and is letting her popularity of Hannah Montana take over her life. As Miley’s father, (Billy Ray Cyrus) is noticing her arrogant attitude, (and is not happy with it), he steps in to take her back home to Tennessee, and bring her back to reality. Despite her initial protest, she gradually finds fun and adventure in the small town, and realizes the importance of family and friends.
Rating: Four out of five buckets
Release Date: August 18, 2009
MPAA Rating: G
Best Age Group: 4+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
Talking Points:
The movie stresses strong family values. Though Miley’s upset with her dad when he wants her to take a break from her career, she ultimately respects her father’s decision, and apologizes.
There is a huge enthusiastic fan base for the TV show- this group will love the movie.
Two girls behind me ( ages 9 and 11) were thrilled with the movie. They were singing and giggly throughout the movie. When I interviewed them after the movie they were ecstatic, they said they were going to see the movie again.
The premise of the movie is similar to “Sweet Home Alabama”: where a big city girl goes back to her home town, and realizes how pleasant and comforting it really is.
Taylor Swift and Rascal Flats sing in the movie, which kids will enjoy.
Older girls and most boys may find it a little corny.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Hannah has a cute relationship with Travis ( a cowboy). He is drawn to Miley, not Hannah’s popularity. They flirt, kiss a little, but nothing inappropriate.
Violent Content: Mild
- Miley trips over fences, falls off chicken coops, and gets hit on the head several times, while trying to escape a nosy reporter. Not too violent, more silly.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- Characters say words such as; “geez,” “heck” and “dang.”
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Overall it’s a fun, entertaining movie, which emphasis the importance of good down to earth values.
Great movie for girls ages 4 and above- I give it 4 buckets.
The Hangover Part 2 Review
Yuck, and not that funny. In this sequel to The Hangover, we see the same group of guys; Phil, Stu, Doug and Alan, however this time Stu, the straight-laced dentist, is getting married, and all the wedding festivities are in Thailand. The gang’s last wedding events were all too fresh in Stu’s mind, so he refused a bachelor party. However, after being humiliated by his father-in-law to-be at the rehearsal dinner, Stu and the guys, along with Stu’s 16 year old soon-to-be brother-in-law, Teddy, head to the beach for a bonfire, and ONE cold beer. About twelve hours later, we see Stu, Phil and Alan waking up in a disgusting hotel in Bangkok, completely disoriented. They’re shocked when they see Stu, with a tattoo on his face, Alan’s shaved head, and a monkey in the bathroom. Moments later they realize one very important thing….Teddy, (Stu’s soon-to-be brother-in-law), is nowhere to be found. Sound familiar? This sequel to The Hangover may have a different bride and groom, and a different location, however the storyline is the same, though not as humorous, and believe it or not, even more disgusting.
Rating: One out of five buckets
Release Date: December 6, 2011
MPAA Rating: R
Best Age Group: Adults
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive
Talking Points
I’m not a prude. I liked The Wedding Crashers, Bridesmaids, and even first Hangover movie, but I did not like this movie at all. It was one disaster after another, with crass, gross humor.
This movie is so inappropriate and disgusting for not only teenagers, but adults as well. I read in a review that Zach Galifianakis, the actor who plays Alan, told comingsoon.net, “It is so bad in parts that I told my mom she is not allowed to see it. I forbid, forbade, forbid her from coming.” That says it all if the main actor won’t even let his mom see the movie.
Sexual Content: Excessive
• While retracing their steps from the previous night, hoping to find Teddy, it’s revealed, and later shown, that Stu had sex with a hermaphrodite prostitute.
• Between the various flashbacks shown throughout the movie, and the photos in the closing credits, we see the guys taking drugs, we see various sexual encounters with naked men and women, and we see Stu having sex with his hermaphrodite prostitute.
• There are also many crude sexual comments and crass references throughout the movie.
Violent Content: Mild
• A photo of Teddy cutting off his finger while drunk.
• During a car chase, the guys hit a hanging pig that bursts open, we see blood all over Stu.
Crude and Profane Language: Excessive
• The f-word and every other word is used throughout the whole movie.
I reviewed this movie for teens that want to see these popular R rated movies. They may not see it with their parents at the theater, but they just might want to see it when it comes out on video. I don’t recommend The Hangover Part II for teens or adults. It’s so disgusting I wanted to take a shower after the movie.
Gnomeo and Juliet Review
This is the story about two feuding families, the Montagues (the blue family), and their next door neighbors, the Capulets (the red family). This story is based on Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy, but in this movie the characters are garden gnomes. The two families bicker and battle throughout the whole movie, while Gnomeo, (member of the blue family), and Juliet, (member of the red family), secretly fall in love.
Rating: Three out of five buckets
Release Date: May 24, 2011
MPAA Rating: G
Best Age Group: Any age
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
See a clip of my review, plus the review of Just Go With It!
Talking Points
This is a cute, entertaining movie, with some nice messages. The two families are seeking revenge against each other throughout the movie, however, the film stresses how miserable they are in trying to seek revenge. It takes Gnomeo and Juliet’s love affair to help the families forgive and forget.
Adults will love the music; classics from Elton John, who is the executive producer of the film.
The movie is similar to Toy Story in that the gnomes only come to life when people aren’t watching them.
The movie is a nice way to introduce youngsters to Shakespeare. My son and I talked about the story of Romeo and Juliet on our way home from the movie.
Violent Content: Mild
- The gnomes battle and fight continuously. One gnome seeks revenge by getting a powerful lawn tractor that rips down their fence, and destroys the families lawn and gardens. However, it’s not too scary for little kids.
Profane/Crude Language: Mild
- Slight potty humor. One gnome says, “Let’s go kick some grass!”
I interviewed kids ages 4 to 12 after the movie; they all loved it, and thought it was funny. Parents loved the innocence about the film. However, my eleven year-old son thought it was stupid and predicable.
This G-rated movie is targeted for young kids, and they do a good job of keeping it sweet and innocent. Adults may get a little bored, but with Elton John’s music playing parents will be thoroughly entertained.
Frankenweenie Review
“A dog is man’s best friend,” that was the case for a young boy named Victor. The day his dog, Sparky, ran into traffic and died, was the day that changed Victor’s life. Feeling sad and depressed, Victor came up with the idea to bring his best friend back to life by an experiment he learned in science. Victor succeeded in resurrecting his dog, however he didn’t succeed in keeping it a secret. When Victor’s friends and family discovered that Sparky was alive, chaos began as many other kids tried the same experiment on several deceased animals. Frankenweenie is based on Tim Burton’s original 30 minute short film from 1984, however I read the film was never released because it was too scary for kids.
Rating: 2 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: January 8, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 10+
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive and Disturbing
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? No
Talking Points:
This is a dark creepy movie, though at times very heartwarming. When Victor’s dog dies, his mom tells him, “When you lose someone you love, you never really lose them. They just move into a very special place in you heart.” A great parent/child discussion.
The idea of bringing a pet back to life is a confusing concept for kids.
This film was in black and white, which made it even more disturbing.
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive
- It’s disturbing when Victor resurrects Sparky. The dog is shocked, it reminded me of charging a car battery, though it was a cute dog with bolts screwed in his head.
- Kids found or dug up animals and brought them back to life. These animals became scary, destructive creatures.
- A turtle becomes a monster and crushes cars and smashes buildings.
- A rat becomes a large beast that claws people.
- A cat, holding a dead bat in his mouth, is transformed into a creepy flying creature that hisses at people.
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
- We see animals drinking from a keg of beer.
Will Kids Like It? No
- It wasn’t a suspenseful, scary movie..it was an old time horror film.
It’s Halloween season and your kids may want to see a scary, gory film; however with the subject matter of resurrecting your deceased, beloved pet, might not be the movie for your child. I recommend Hotel Transylvania, especially for younger kids who want to see a good Halloween flick.
Easy A Review
This is the story about Olive (Emma Stone), an intelligent, cute, high school senior. She’s not popular, and many of her peers don’t even know who she is. That all changes the day she tells her gossipy best friend a fib. Olive didn’t want to go camping with her friend, so she told her that she had a date with a college boy, and that she also had sexual encounter with that boy. What started out to be a small lie, got out of control. The story spread through the school, and pretty soon Olive was not only noticed, but she was now know as the “school slut.”
Rating: Three out of five buckets
Release Date: December 21, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 16+
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent Content: None
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Talking Points:
This is a great lesson for kids…not to lie. This movie demonstrates how rumors fly, especially with today’s technology; facebook, twitter, texts, and cell phones.
Olive has a great relationship with her parents. Though her parents were very open about sex, even Olive’s mom made some suggestive comments about her own sex life. However, Olive was close to them and they wanted her to do the right thing.
The movie is humorous and entertaining, mainly because of actress Emma Stone (Olive), who is a natural comedian.
Sexual Content: Excessive
There are many sexual comments and references throughout the whole movie. To name a few:
- Olive agrees to pretend to have sex with a boy in her class that’s gay. This boy is constantly being picked on by the school bullies, so he wants to boost his reputation. Olive staged a sex act with this boy at a party. This involved the couple going to a bedroom, Olive removed her underwear and stuffed them in the keyhole, followed by a lot of sexual noises, while kids at the party were listening. This was a very uncomfortable scene, especially with kids.
- We see Brandon, Olive’s gay friend, in bed with another guy.
- There were also many verbal references to sex including discussions about virginity, orgasms, masturbation, group sex…they covered it all. We also heard about sexual diseases, in detail.
I read that “This film aspires to the same sort of feel-good vibe that John Hughes films (Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day off) usually generate.”
Profanity: Moderate to excessive
- Maybe a little too much for a PG13 rating.
Overall, I liked the movie, and so did my husband. Though with the suggestive comments and sexual content, I feel that this movie is inappropriate for kids, and pre-teens. I would recommend it for girls ages 16 and up. I may bring my fourteen year old daughter, but I want to go with her and have a discussion after the movie. I compare this movie to Juno, a good movie and storyline; one that could spark a great parent-child conversation.