Hugo

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  An orphan boy, who lives in a Paris train station (Asa Butterfield), fixes clocks and forms relationships with the other train station dwellers in his effort to figure out how he fits into the machine.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Asa Butterfielld, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Ray Winstone, Jude Law, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Go!  This movie is an instant classic... Which isn't to say that it's not slow and boring at times.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  Sacha Baron Cohen has a small part, and he smiles funny.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  Once I was done dozing off, I did get around to crying a little.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  I would hope so, it's some of the most interesting directing and cinematography I've seen all year.  In fact, I might even give an award to the 2nd unit director.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  This Ben Kingsley guy is going places-- I mean, Asa Butterfield, right, he's the newcomer.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  You spend most of the time wondering how they gave it that look.  This is a beautiful film, and for once, I didn't even mind the 3D.  In fact, because the film is about the evolution of filmmaking in some ways, this was the first time it actually felt justified.  That said, the pacing is really slow for the first half, and that's not the script's fault.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  It gets around to making some interesting points by the end, but let's not give it any Awards.  Agreed?

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Hugo Trailer

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I Melt With You

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  4 44-year-old guys (Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, & Christian McKay) reunite every year for one of their birthdays and take more drugs than seems humanly possible, as they work out their lives.  Let me tell you something about the number 4, in China, it's considered such bad luck, that the elevators don't have any floors with the number 4 in them.  Yes, this does mean that if you live on the 50th floor of a building, your direct downstairs neighbors live on the 39th floor.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay, Carla Gugino, Tom Bower, Arielle Kebbel, Zander Eckhouse, Abhi Sinha, Sasha Grey, Joe Reegan, August Emerson, Rebecca Creskoff, Melora Hardin, Shane Roney

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Proceed wit Caution.  This movie is love it or hate it.  Personally, I did both.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  If you are paying very close attention.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: There is a butt-load of crying in it, but will you relate?  That depends on how much you hate yourself and why.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  Surprisingly it's not yet.  And oddly, this is one overly-arty and borderline boring indy film that I would've voted for in a few categories-- particularly directing.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  Christian McKay often seems to be in a much more melodramatic film than the others.  Jeremy Piven has moments where you begin to see his range, and others where you wonder if he'll ever be anyone besides Ari Gold again.  And Rob Lowe... Is it just me, or is he getting hotter with age.  I never went for him as a kid (I was a rebel), but now, his face is practically inhuman.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  Mark Pellington directs this film as an independent film should be directed.  He shows individuality and a style all his own, without  coming off deliberately pretentious.  His shots are unpredictable and often have you wondering why he chose to shoot from a certain angle, but strangely, this time the thought is never accompanied by a feeling of anger.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  I knew where this film was going to go about 30 minutes in, but it is such a strange place to go that I remained intrigued about how it would manage to go there.  Ultimately the characters' actions as a group are completely unjustifiable, despite the fact that their actions as indivuals make perfect sense.  I have you intrigued, don't I?

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A:  The soundtrack wants me to comment about it, but I'm not going to.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: I Melt With You

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In a Better World

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Two outcast school boys (William Johnk Juels Nielsen & Markus Rygaard) begin to retaliate against the violence and injustice of their assaulters and it goes too far.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, William Johnk Juels Nielsen, Markus Rygaard, Bodil Jorgensen, Toke Lars Bjarke, Simon Maafaard Holm, Odiege Matthew, Elsebeth Steentoft, Anette Stovelbek, Kim Bodnia, Martin Buch

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. As is the case with most of Susanne Bier's films, you have to have a strong stomach and a fair amount of patience to endure it, but if you can, you will find you have a lot of respect for how angry she makes you feel.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Susanne Bier doesn't believe in humor.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Cry for a better world maybe. But mostly, it will inspire you not to have children, because they are the ones who will have to live in this one.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I predict that it will win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, last year.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: If the Academy really felt compelled to nominate kids for acting awards, these are the ones they should've nominated. Both Markus Rygaard and William Johnk Juels Nielsen blow Hailee Steinfeld out of the water. And if their characters had met her in a swimming pool, they probably would've done it literally.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Susanne Bier is one of the original Dogme 95 crew, and 16 years since that Danish filmmaking philosophy was founded, she hasn't seemed to veer too much from it. Some of the rules she still follows are: shooting solely on location and hand held. One of the rules she no longer follows is: The director must not be credited.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Intense, vicious, and true to how quickly sorrow, depression and desperation can turn even the most average of us into destructive psychopaths.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: In a Better World Trailer

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Happythankyoumoreplease

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A twenty-something slacker (Josh Radnor) finds a lost kid (Michael Algieri) on the subway, takes him home, and separately, all his friends fall in love.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Josh Radnor, Malin Akerman, Michael Algieri, Zoe Kazan, Kate Mara, Pablo Schreiber, Tony Hale, Peter Scanavino, Richard Jenkins

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's one of those sweet and slightly quirky indy darlings that's easy to love because it pretends to be edgy, without actually being deep or angry enough to turn any viewers off.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: There are some legitimately quirky moments of dialogue.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you believe in love it might, because men will say absolutely anything to get laid, and they won't mean any of it in the morning.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It won the Audience Award at Sundance, so obviously it's better than I think it is. Or maybe, when people are at Sundance, they get caught in a storm of pretentious movie mediocrity, and in order to survive, grow a pair of "Sundance Goggles," where they become so intoxicated by the energy of being in the same room as bigwigs and pretending they can afford to be there, that suddenly, really average movies starts to look like models.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Josh Radnor demonstrates why he is the star of a hit sitcom. Malin Akerman is one of my favorites in everything, and Zoe Kazan is as interesting an actress as Kate Mara is bland.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: If Josh Radnor did one thing right, it was to cast only men who are less attractive than he is, making himself look comparatively studly... Oh, and he also proves that Zack Braff isn't the only schlubby, neurotic sitcom lead who can direct a decent indy film about aimless twenty-somethings trying not to get their hearts broken.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The dialogue is cute enough to trick you into thinking Josh Radnor writes his own words on How I Met Your Mother, but the romantic storylines feel like they've been done in every indy rom-com ever made. The one saving grace is the story about taking home a stray kid, but that ends up feeling secondary to the romance, and ultimately, the kid doesn't really cause the guy who takes him in to change in a memorable way.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: Many of you will love the indy soundtrack, easily sampled in the trailer.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Happythankyoumoreplease Trailer

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Tiny Furniture

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: After graduating from college, Aura (Lena Dunham) moves back in with her mom and tries to find herself.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunhan, Jemima Kirke, Alex Karpovsky, David Call, Merritt Wever, Amy Seimetz

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Stop! This film has been all the rage at Sundance and on the indy scene, even to the point where Judd Apatow hand-picked the writer-director, Lena Denham, to develop a television pilot with him, because he was such a big fan. You can imagine my curiosity about a movie that could draw the attention of the most important comedic auteur of my generation... but if I'm honest, I have to say that I totally didn't get it.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: It's supposed to, but it didn't make me.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It makes me want to cry to see such acclaim go to a film that has a few redeeming qualities, and a few interesting turns of phrase, but ultimately is about nothing and goes nowhere.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Don't ask me, I'm out of the loop on this one.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I was unable to take my eyes off of Jemima Kirke when she was on screen. She is talented and beautiful enough to claw herself all the way to the A-List. Lena Dunham, on the other hand, who stars in her own film, has my mind in a pickle. Due to the dialogue that she herself wrote, her friends in the movie constantly tell her that she looks great and is so pretty, but the girl I was looking at was borderline homely, and hadn't even brushed her thin, matted hair in the back. Normally, I might give her a pass for that because she can't see it in the mirror, but on movie sets you have a hair person, who can see the back of your head, so there's really no excuse besides that she wanted to look ugly with bad hair. Worst of all, her character isn't particularly good-looking on the inside either. She is whiny and selfish, entitled, and manipulative. All I can say is she never would've gotten this role if she weren't sleeping with the director.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Some of the shots are interesting. Especially the extraneous ones Dunham shows of herself getting dressed in see-through clothing, showering naked doggy-style, and walking around with no underwear on. Why she thinks anyone wants to see that is just further proof of how much I don't get this movie.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The one thing this movie does well is capture that after-college angst of being lost and aimless and living at home like a big loser. But at some point I found myself desperately wanting to leave the theater. Maybe it was too cold in there, maybe I had realized the movie was going nowhere, or maybe I had simply realized that I didn't care whether the movie was going anywhere. I stuck it out, though, just so I could tell you with certainty that the ending does not make the rest of the viewing experience feel worthwhile.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: If anyone has seen this and got it, please share your insights. I really would like to know what's so great about this story.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/tiny-furniture/10033725/trailers

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The Romantics

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A girl (Katie Holmes) is asked to be the maid of honor as the love of her life (Josh Duhamel) marries her best friend (Anna Paquin).

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Malin Akerman, Adam Brody, Dianna Agron, Jeremy Strong, Rebecca Lawrence, Candice Bergen, Elijah Wood

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Stop! I was all set to moderately like this movie until the ending, which was like when a guy is torn between the woman he's marrying and the woman he loves, and then it rains... Oops, spoiler alert.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Yes, it's like Rachel Getting Married, but with jokes.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It might have if you got to find out what happened.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I'd like to give an Irony Award to the Casting Director, who placed 5'8'' Katie Holmes next to hobbit Elijah Wood in scene after scene, and picked Anna Paquin for a character that is continually referred to as "enviably gorgeous," when she's clearly the least attractive woman in the movie. Even Candice Bergen at 64 is sexier.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Once I got over the fact that Katie Holmes is fake-married to Tom Cruise, I began to enjoy her performance. But Malin Akerman (as always) and Adam Brody were the ones with the chemistry.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Several shots are visibly grainy as if they had to push the exposure in post-production.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Galt Niederhoffer has way too much experience to think it's okay to tell a story without an ending.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-romantics/10024556/trailers

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Dinner for Schmucks

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A bunch of a-holes invite a bunch of idiots over for dinner, once again proving that a-holes tend to be idiots.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Jemaine Clement, Stephanie Szostak, Lucy Punch, Bruce Greenwood, David Walliams, Ron Livingston, Larry Wilmore, Kristen Schaal, P.J. Byrne, Andrea Savage, Lucy Davenport, Christopher O'Dowd, Jeff Dunham, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Fischler, Rick Overton

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Though the ending is sweet and redeeming, the middle becomes increasingly more and more stressful, as one mishap leads to another and then another, until you can hardly stand to see anything more go wrong. Granted, a lot of people find great humor in their on-screen counterparts' misery.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: If you loved either Meet the Parents or Anger Management, you will find just as much schadenfreude here.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but it might cause you an anxiety attack.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Horror Film of the Year. Trust me, you'll be yelling things at the screen like, "No! Don't go in that room!"

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I don't know if it's just the fake teeth, but Steve Carell manages to create a character who's an idiot in a totally different way than the multitude of other idiots he's played. I mean, sheesh! When it comes to idiocy, he's magnificently versatile!

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Jay Roach gets paid $10million a movie-- he'd better do a good job!

Q: How is the story/script?

A: As one of the only people in America who saw the original French movie, Le Diner de Cons, I can honestly say that... I don't remember anything about it. Not because the American version is so much better, rather because I saw it back in the 90s, and who can remember anything from the 90s? Not me. Nonetheless, the American version has a lot more story, a lot more heart, and a lot goofier jokes. One thing the two movies do have in common, though, is that there is a dinner where everyone brings an idiot.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: The mouse art is incredible. The production designer deserves to be curated.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/dinner-for-schmucks/28119/trailers

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Hot Tub Time Machine

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Four guys (John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clarke Duke) get transported back to 1986 in a hot tub that's a time machine, and as they try to retrace their steps, so as not to disrupt the present, they figure out where their lives went wrong.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clarke Duke, Sebastian Stan, Lyndsy Fonseca, Crispin Glover, Chevy Chase, Collette Wolfe, Lizzy Caplan, Charlie McDermott, Aliu Oyofo, Jake Rose, Brook Bennett

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Why the Hell not?!

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: At first I was worried, as the audience around me laughed and I didn't. But when I finally did get around to laughing, they were big belly laughs.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Some of those 80s fashions might make you cry. Especially when you realize that they're not that different from the stuff that's coming into style right now.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Not so much an award as whatever the opposite of that is called. You see, while the movie takes place in 1986, the notoriously funny 80s styles that the film features are actually from 1982. I imagine the film was written in hopes of exploiting 1982's New Wave style, but it probably took several years to sell, get packaged, and get made, so they had to move the date forward or the main characters would've been pushing 50, if you do the math (which I did). At the same time, there's no point in doing a time travel theme to the 80s, if you're not going to highlight the beautiful colors and shapes that make up the look of 1982, so they cheated. But I was there, and I know the truth.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Sebastian Stan plays a dead-on 80s bad guy, and gets you wondering how the acting back then got away with being so bad. And if Rob Corddry hasn't broken out for you yet, this movie should do it. He's got most of the funny lines.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Steve Pink does a great job of spoofing 80s movies, from the two-dimensional good looking preppy bad guy who always wants to pick a fight for no good reason to the abundant gratuitous bouncing bare breast shots that used to be in every movie about teenage boys. Remember those? And remember how our parents used to let us go see them? Yeah, times have changed. You just can't make movies about teenage boys who have the power to pop open women's shirts with their eyes, anymore. (P.S. if you're too young to remember Zapped, I suggest you rent it. If nothing else, so that you can better understand why Generation Xers turned out the way we did. We grew up on movies like that.)

Q: How is the story/script?

A: While you can predict a lot of what's going to happen, the writers create original dialogue by following convention and then taking it back as soon as they've done their due diligence to the convention. So that the joke becomes, "We know how this scene is supposed to go, and we're going to make you think we're going that way, but we're not really going to go that way. Instead, once you're comfortable with your little convention, we're going to go much further, in a potentially offensive direction, that you didn't have the guts to predict." After you've seen it, think about what I'm saying. Preferably while under the influence of magical mushrooms. It will make perfect sense.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/hot-tub-time-machine/37538/trailers

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The Messenger

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A wounded war hero (Ben Foster) comes back from Iraq with 3 months left to serve and is assigned to join the team of soldiers who inform the next of kin when their loved ones have died in battle.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Steve Buscemi, Jahmir Duran-Abreau, Yaya DaCosta, Eamonn Walker, Lisa Joyce

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! This film manages to gut-wrenchingly portray the atrocities of war, without ever showing a single frame of the atrocities of war.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: What is it about Woody Harrelson that makes his most disturbed characters come off so funny? I guess there's a fine line between hilarious and clinically insane.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you don't cry, you might just be hilarious (as defined above).

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Woody is up for Best Supporting actor at the Oscars, as are the screenwriters, Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon. They're all also nominated for Spirit Awards, along with Samantha Morton. Meanwhile, Ben Foster comes off like one of the most overlooked performances of the Awards season. And I'll tell you why I think he was overlooked... Because (at least in this movie) he looks like Owen Wilson.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: All the actors have so much going on underneath the surface that you empathize with them, without ever imagining that you might be able to relate to the inner torture of what they're going through.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The directing is not particularly noticeable, except when the camera holds a little too long on several shots of Ben Foster staring off at someone he feels compassion for.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The dialogue is understated in exactly the right way. It doesn't give you everything, but it never leaves you hanging. At some point in the second half, the story meanders onto a different course than it originally set off on, and the movie starts to feel about 10 minutes too long, but in the end you forgive it, because it still feels important and new. How is it that this is the first time that anyone has ever thought to tell the sad story of the poor soldiers who are tasked with reporting the worst possible news to loving families, day in and day out?

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-messenger/36286/trailers

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Where the Wild Things Are

( Guest Review by Russ)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book, nine year-old Max flees home after getting into trouble, and takes a journey across the seas to a forest inhabited by wild creatures, where he becomes their self-appointed king.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Max Records, Catherine Keener, Pepita Emmerichs, Steve Mouzakis, Mark Ruffalo, James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, Michael Berry Jr., Chris Cooper

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Incredibly imaginative, strikingly visual and very true to the spirit of the book, this adaptation will most likely please a lot of fans. But it’s simply not for everyone and despite the fact that it does a good job in filling out a fifteen-page children’s book into a feature-length film, it still drags at times.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The wild creatures Max stumbles upon have a lot of humor to them, both visually and in their dialogue.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: There is a lot of melancholy in Max’s journey, but only one moment might bring some tears, and even then, I’m not so sure it will for most.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It’s a gorgeous and imaginative-looking film, so it will probably be nominated for all the visual type awards.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Max Records, who plays Max, is excellent. Apparently, this is his acting debut, but he’s clearly a natural. There’s no mugging or over-acting and that goes a long way toward relating to Max’s journey and inner struggle. The Wild Things’ voices are all perfectly cast to inform their expressive faces and even though the physical actors in the creature suits will not get much mention, they also do a fantastic job.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: We’ve come to expect a lot from such a visual filmmaker as Spike Jonze and he’s definitely on his game once again. It’s easy to tell how much he loved this book and story because there are no compromises and it really feels like Sendak’s drawings have come to life right from the page. The movie also stays true to the internal plight and struggle of a nine-year-old boy and that comes though in every single detail Jonze puts on screen (including the fantastic opening shot which ends on a freeze-frame of the film’s title, so don’t be late). But it is maybe that central focus that makes the movie less mainstream. In other words, if you want a Pixar-movie-‘feeling,’ then go see a Pixar movie. At a Q & A after the screening, Spike Jonze spoke about some of the details of the six-year odyssey of making this movie which only made it that much more impressive. But it also made me wish he could figure out a way to make his movies a little faster because six or seven years is too long to wait for a new Spike Jonze film.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The script is really impressive especially when considering the source material it’s based on. In fact, it’s almost shocking that a major studio would greenlight this particular version of such a popular children’s book. In keeping with Sendak’s original intent, Jonze and co-writer Dave Eggers keep a laser-like focus on how Max’s adventure would play out in detail, and everything works. In the hands of a different director/writer, this story could have become a typical effects-laden Hollywood extravaganza, but not this version. Both emotion and imagination are given equal weight in the story and maybe the biggest compliment I could give the writers is that it plays out as if written by a nine-year-old boy. And trust me, that’s a major compliment in the context of what this film is trying to accomplish.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/where-the-wild-things-are/24823/trailers

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Funny People

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A famous actor (Adam Sandler) is diagnosed with a fatal disease, so he goes back to his stand-up comedy roots and hires an aspiring comedian (Seth Rogen) as a joke writer, but we all know that secretly, he's really hired this assistant to be his only friend.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, RZA, Aziz Ansari, Torsten Voges

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! This realistic comedy about a serious subject matter is not as funny or broad as Apatow's usual fare, but it's not meant to be. In fact, if it weren't for all the jokes about male genitalia, this might almost pass for a movie by James L. Brooks.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: A lot more than a movie that some people are calling a "drama" should. And strangely, some of the biggest laughs come from easy listening singer, James Taylor.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Probably not, but Rogen has a pretty funny crying scene at The Palm restaurant. He ruins The Palm.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: If Apatow is truly trying to follow in the footsteps of James L. Brooks-- which I believe he very consciously is-- then Academy Award nominations are definitely in his mind's eye. The only thing standing in his way now is his inner teenager. You know, the one who insists on using every male character to describe all the facets of having a dingaling and every imaginable thing that can be done with it. Audiences like those jokes, but the Academy has a hard time taking them seriously.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Back for seconds, the Apatow sisters, Maude and Iris, once again steal every scene they're in. Everyone else pretty much repeats their usual shtick-- which is a good thing, since we all seem to like it so much. And there's something about Jason Schwatzman in this one that isn't quite so abrasive. You still won't like his character, but it's not as easy as it looks to hate him.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: In the opening scenes, you can tell that Apatow is trying to step up his game and be seen as more than just a comedy guy. But his existing success has put him in a position where the studios can no longer tell him to keep his movies under 2hrs, which is too bad for him, because at 2 1/2 hours, it would have been a better film if someone had forced him to rein it in.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The portrayal of the loneliness of being a rich and famous person is touching and relatable, even to those of us who are not famous. But the extended running time comes from having an indulgent story structure, which tells one story, and just as we think the film is going to wrap up, launches into a whole second story, introducing several important new characters, and going in a direction that is interesting, but not necessary. Had these two stories been intertwined, the film would have been both shorter and stronger.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/funny-people/33221/trailers

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