Harold and Kumar and Baby Mama and Speed Racer

Over at Cinematical, you can check out my interview with Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, writers of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and writer/directors of Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. CLICK HERE for that. 

Oh, and as for the movie...

HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY (A-)

I am friends with the gentlemen who wrote and directed HAKEFGB, and when I got to check it out a few months back, I was actually nervous. If it sucked, suddenly our time together would be massively awkward and weird. Plus, I know Hurwitz reads this site, and would be expecting me to review the movie. Lot of pressure. Thankfully, the movie is genuinely hilarious, even funnier than the first. I don't even have to lie here, which is such a relief. It is a gloriously "R" rated movie, and it is absolutely filthy and funny from start to finish. You get huge laughs that mingle dick jokes with sharp satire. You get a surprisingly moving and borderline genius poem about love and math. You get a movie-stealing supporting turn from Rob Corddry. And most importantly, you get a shit-ton of graphic nudity.

So go see it! It is far, far better than its box office archenemies...

BABY MAMA (C+) 

She thinks the breast pumps are glasses! But they're breast pumps! They should go lower on her body! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAFUCKINGHA! 

Baby Mama is the definition of an average comedy. All movies funnier than Baby Mama are good comedies. All movies less funny than Baby Mama are bad comedies. It does just enough to choke out a couple laughs and hold your attention. Nothing more. Nothing less. I found Tina Fey immensely likable here, if never quite believable as a woman who desperately wants a child. Amy Poehler fares worse, shifting between a Britney Spears impression and a "real" character without warning. The biggest chuckles (which are still small chuckles) come from the supporting players -- most notably Steve Martin and Sigourney Weaver. Not something you need to rush out to see, but it is great to see a comedy that actually gives jokes to women.

SPEED RACER (D+)

No. No, Speed Racer.  

I was one of the few in my peer group to hold out hope that Speed Racer would be cool, everyone else has been tearing it apart for weeks. Well, everyone else...you were right. Visually, it is certainly impressive. It plays like Pikachu having a seizure while banging Rainbow Brite on a bed covered in Ring Pops, Nerds, and Sweet Tarts. The final race is awesome. But it is bogged down by the same problems that made the Matrix sequels such miserable slags. It is insanely long, and no movie where a monkey throws poop should be allowed to cross the two hour mark. It is exhaustingly over-plotted. Emile Hirsch, so great in Into the Wild, is a colossal bore here, and pretty much everyone else follows suit. The Wachowski Brothers (Sisters?) are brilliant visual stylists, but they should start leaving the writing to others. This is certainly an original, and it should be commended as such, but at times it is so extreme and weird and off-putting, it plays like Southland Tales for kids.