Paul (***1/4)

What if all of our clichéd notions about aliens—elongated bodies, flying saucers, government cover-ups, anal probes—well, not anal probes—are all based in reality? That’s one premise of this genial comedy from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who were behind the parodies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The British duo wrote the film (with Greg Mottola directing) and star as nerdy pals vacationing in America, attending Comic-Con and hitting the road in an RV.

This doesn’t some much parody sci-fi films themselves as our notions of aliens, nerds, and possibly British people. The alien, Paul, with whom they have a close encounter seems a lot like a regular guy, or like Seth Rogen, anyway, who provides the voice. (He looks a lot like E.T., but there’s a reason for that.)

IMDB link

viewed 2/24/11 at Ritz East [PFS screening] and reviewed 3/22/11

The King of Ping Pong (***)

The title of this Swedish drama portends something a little jollier than a pudgy adolescent’s anxieties. And yet there’s also some lightness in this story about teenage Rille, the older—but more socially awkward—of two brothers. Rille craves the attention of the his intermittently attentive father, who seems to have more of an affinity to the popular Erik, despite, as it turns out, there being some question as to his paternity.

Only while playing ping pong does Rille feel a sense of competence and authority, but even that gets undermined as things develop. Cowriter-director Jens Jonsson goes for a certain quirkiness rather than emphasizing the pathos in Rille’s plight. The story meanders at first, but a well-drawn main character, good performances by the child actors (all first timers), and Jonsson’s strong use of the snowy countryside mostly make up for the deficiencies.

IMDB link

viewed at Ritz East (Philadelphia Film Festival) and reviewed 4/3/09

Norbit (*1/2)

? A meek man (Eddie Murphy) marries a bossy fat woman (Eddie Murphy) whose brothers are secretly scheming to buy the restaurant/orphanage where he grew up from its elderly Chinese owner (Eddie Murphy) and turn it into a “titty bar.” Thandie Newton plays the major character not played by Murphy, a skinny childhood sweetheart who reenters his life along with her new fiancée (Cuba Gooding Jr.).
+ The lengthy, silly prologue, set in the orphanage, sets you up for a series of lame pratfalls that, thankfully, never come. Norbit is actually a reasonably appealing character, although you wonder how he acquired the quasi-lisp Murphy’s given him, since it’s not apparent in the childhood scenes. He’s something like Forrest Gump if he were a little smarter and the movie he was in was a lot dumber. Murphy’s mimicry skills serve him well when he plays the racist yet kindly Mr. Wong, who provokes very occasional snickers.
- Who would have thought that Eddie Murphy would have looked at Martin Lawrence and gotten jealous of his fat suit? This will only be hilarious if you think Lawrence’s Big Momma movies needed more fat jokes. Momma, and Murphy’s rotund Nutty Professor, were essentially positive characters, but “Rasputia” is a pure villain, and the main figure of fun as well. Rasputia can’t fit behind the wheel of the car, Rasputia’s passionate lovemaking style breaks the bed until it’s reinforced with concrete, Rasputia’s rolls of fat hang so low you can’t see if her bikini has a bottom, etc. You’ll get the idea very quickly. Everything else is nearly worthy of a second-rate sitcom.
= *1/2 Not quite the worst movie to open in the first two months of 2007, but not funny by a long shot. Take the kids if you want them to learn to mock fat people, call women “bitches,” and think of pimps as someone to seek out as friends. Give me The Adventures of Pluto Nash (Murphy’s 2002 megaflop) any day. Seriously.

IMDB link

reviewed 2/16/07