Step Brothers 

106 minutes, Rated R

Comedies have progressed over the years, going from random funny scenes all tying together by an almost pointless plot, to incredibly elaborate story lines where the humor is strategically placed.  Step Brothers, written and directed by Adam McKay is stuck somewhere in between. 

     Brennan (Will Ferrell) and Dale (John C. Reilly) are both 40-year-olds who have refused to hleave or get real jobs, preferring to mooch off their indulgent parents.  When Brennan's mom (Mary Steenburgen and Dale's dad (Richard Jenkins) tie the know, the tow are forced to shar a room, dealing with it about as well as real 12-year-olds would.  Just as Dale and Brennan finally become friends, thanks to a shared loathing for Brennan's younger brother Derek (Adam Scott) and the local kids who think they're both losers, they're faced with adult life when their parents announce their retirement.  They organize a band in their attempt to handle the future, but they do it about as well as you would expect from two guys who treasure their samurai swords and do karate in the garage. 

     However, the plot of Step Brothers is more irrelevant than it is in most comedies but thats not really a bad thing.  Just as some of the Saturday Night Live skits did, Ferrell, Reilly and McKay have made a character-driven comedy in which no one really needs to grow or develop in order to be interesting. Unlike counless SNL spinoff movies though, the technique actually works here.
     Step Brothers throws a handful of interesting characters into situations and steps back to see what happens.  There are moments when the prospect of watching two grown men act like spiteful adolescents for 106 minutes seems a big ask, but despite some obvious flaws, Step Brothers remains a hugely enjoyable, well constructed slice of Saturday night entertainment, leaving Ferrell's position as one of the reigning kings of comedy secure for a while longer.  

    

http://www.amazon.com/Step-Brothers-Single-Disc-Unrated-Edition/dp/B001G5T6GW

you can purchase the movie here. 

     The Hangover

It's a concept so simple I'm amazed no one has ever done it before; three guys take their groom-to-be friend to Vegas, spend a wild night on the Strip, and wake up the next morning unable to remember a single thing.  But while it may sound simple, the story line is complex and well thought out, constantly surprising the audience.  Over the past 30 years, comedies have gradually developed more intricate story lines while still maintaining the humor.

100 minutes, Rated R. 

     The Hangover is witty and remarkably engaging, each character bringing a different element to the film.  Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) wake up in a trashed hotel room with no recollection of the night before; there's a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the kitchen, and Doug (Justin Bartha), the groom, has gone missing.  They're an unlikely mix- a handsome schoolteacher,an uptight dentist, and a mentally unstable loafer- and their developing relationships help the comedy flow from one situation to another.
     The Hangover is a very funny film. It takes the standard notion of a boys' night out and turns it into a part gag fest, part "what comes next" mystery. There is a darkness to director Ted Phillips take on the script.  The genuine sense of the danger that comes across about the nights events were clear, but it doesn't take away from the humor.  It does, however, make the eventual revelations about what happened all the more unexpected.
     Regardless, the movie truly belongs to longtime stand-up comedian, Galifianakis.  As Alan, Doug's soon-to-be-relative, this man purse carrying, socially awkward human being is so completely and utterly disconnected with reality.  When arriving at the hotel, Alan asks if its the real Caesars Palace, and then asks  if  the hotel is pager friendly. When finding a baby in their room, he tells the others to check its collar.  He steals the movie away from Cooper and Helms, who both did outstanding jobs.
     Yet the most important thing about the move is just how side-splitting it is.  Phillips piles on the jokes, never once letting us come up for air. It was easily one of the funniest movies of 2009.  A sequel to the film came out in 2011, and now there will even be a third Hangover set to come out in May of 2013.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hangover-UNRATED-Bradley-Cooper/dp/B001UV4XEM

you can purchase the film here.

   

CaddyShack

98  minutes, Rated R

         Every winter my family visits my grandparents in Florida.  Due to the fact that they live in a country club, I have been forced, on several occasions, to take golf lessons.  Needless to say, golf is not my sport.  However, it is an easy sport to spoof in a movie, which is exactly what Caddyshack does.  Despite its ridiculousness, it does accurately resemble the sport to some extent  There is always the snobby player or players, the really good golfer who is almost too humble, and the young kid who plays golf with the old guys.
           What started as a coming-of-age story revolving around young caddy Danny Noonan (Michael O'Keefe) turned into an outrageous comedy. Unfortunately,  that did happen at the expense of the film's lack of foundation in the script; it cant seem to figure out whether to focus on Dannys quest for a college scholarship, or the comical clashes between the cultures of the Bushwood Country Club's elitist members and its working class staff; the snobs vs the slobs.  The film also involves its A-list of comedy kings (Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield) to improvise and deliver bits of hilarity, but it's as if these four actors could have existed in their own movie.
          The constant re-writes and volumes of footage from this movie created a difficult task in editing. The first cut of this film clocked over four hours long, due to the hesitation to edit out so much comedy.  After a series of studio edits that followed, the result seemed more like a set of skits than the story of a caddy.  To intertwine the scenes together they had to go back and film an entire plot line featuring Bill Murray and a gopher puppet.  Doug Kenney, one of the writers , and the writer of Animal House, openly despised the final version of the 98 minute outcome of the movie.
         The story itself is rather disjointed and simple, but rarely interferes with the delivery of humor, as if in place just to get the actors to cross paths.  But the oddball characters are the best part of the nonsense.  It's infrequent for three vastly different comedians to have such fitting performances together without trampling on each other's skits.  Caddyshack is less a narrative than a string of insanely humorous moments inhabited by unforgettable characters.


http://www.amazon.com/Caddyshack-Chevy-Chase/dp/B00004RF8A
This is where you can purchase the movie

Animal House

109 minutes, Rated R

“My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.”  That’s what the boys of the Delta House fraternity plan to do in National Lampoons Animal House. The movie accurately portrays almost every high schooler’s fantasy of how college life is supposed to be; wild parties, and plenty of shenanigans with almost no consequences.

            Freshman Larry Kroger (Tom Hulce) and Kent Dorfman (Stephen Furst) are looking for a fraternity to pledge, but after being rejected by the stuck up Omega’s, they decide to stop by the Delta House. Before even stepping inside, they are greeted by half a mannequin thrown out the window, and the movie shifts from a polite comedy, to a rude and vulgar film that you would never want to watch with your parents.

            Despite being on “double secret probation” from Dean Wormer (John Vernon) and the threat of being expelled from school, the Deltas fight for their right to party. Here, the Delta House frat brothers are the slobs, led by Otter (Tim Matheson) and Boone (Peter Riegert),the smart ones, and are joined by troublemakers like Bluto (Belushi) and D-Day (Bruce McGill). The snobs in this film are the Omegas, who will do anything and everything to get the Deltas off campus.

            Comedies seem to have a different type of humor than they did 30 years ago, Many people that have seen the movie recently argue that the humor isn’t comparable to comedies nowadays. However, Animal House paved the way for future films, with its anything-goes spirit and free-for-all atmosphere. And, in spite of what you might've heard, it's still awfully funny.

The film is 109 minutes and rated R.