2009
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Matt Bush, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Reynolds
Director: Greg Mottola
Runtime: 107 Minutes
Distributor: Mirimax
Rating: R

Glancing at the premise for this retro, semi-autobiographical yarn from Superbad director Greg Mottola you would be forgiven for assuming that this is the first of many knock-offs taken from the current king of comedy, Judd Apatow, at the hands of his very own mini-me (sort of what happened to Eli Roth after he started banging around with QT). You would be mistaken. For while this does retain some of his mentor’s stoner sensibilities, it breaks free from the vein of crudeness and bromantic shackles that have come to define the Apatow brand, electing instead to keep things sweet and simple, a decision which ultimately serves this movie very well.

Ironically thanks in large parts to the aforementioned Apatow and the catapult that was Superbad, the shadow of Michael Cera looms large over indie starlet, and Mottola stand-in, Jesse Eisenberg; the ganglyness, the knowing deadpan delivery, and the comedic of the awkward pause. Comparisons are inevitable, but to be fair to Eisenberg, he did it first and he does it better.

Click here to read the full review at JustPressPlay.net.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 11:39 pm and is filed under Comedy/Romance, Feature Films, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.