OMG You Guys!

The title of this post refers to one of the uppity numbers from the stage musical Legally Blonde. Based on the popular Reese Witherspoon movie, the stage show is pure fun! You can't help tapping your toe and smiling during the entire show. It's happy and pink and funny and sweet...and better than the movie!

Elsewhere, the new TV season is upon us. Unfortunately, I'm too lazy to add any new shows to my repertoire, so I'm relying on my old stand bys - The Biggest Loser, Law & Order: SVU and NBC's Thursday night line up. It's too early to say how the season will go, but I'm optimistic. I'm looking forward to the October 8th episode of The Office when Jim and Pam finally tie the knot! The Emmys were last week...yea! Hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, this year's show was leaps and bounds better than last year when the show was hosted by awful reality show hosts (OMG you guys. See? It's catchy!). I wasn't overly excited about any of the winners (again because I don't watch many of the other shows), but I still enjoyed the broadcast. And at least 30 Rock won again.

Jennifers

I think Jennifer's Body has a clever premise: high school cheerleader turns demon, personifies evil and not just high school evil. There's a lot of good possibilities there. And in the hands of the woman who gave us Juno (honest to blog!)? Slam dunk, right? No. Gosh, no. Jennifer's Body is a mess. It's not entertaining, it's not funny, it's not cheeky or clever. I can't tell if the director and Megan Fox (gag!) butchered Diablo Cody's script or if the script was just that awful to begin with. I'd like to think it wasn't.

Love Happens packs a wallop of an emotional punch. Aaron Eckhart (the charming and beautiful) plays Burke Ryan, a widower and self help guru who can't follow his own advice. While teaching a seminar in Seattle, he meets Eloise (Jennifer Aniston), a local florist who helps him to realize he's "really messed up." But in a good, I can work with this kind of way. Love Happens is a great looking picture. The cinematography, the Seattle scenery, even the wardrobe is splendid. There is a love story here, but the bulk of the story deals with grieving the loss of loved ones and the complexities of that task - hence the emotional punch. It's not one of the best romances of recent memory, but Love Happens is unique and alluring because of Eckhart and Aniston.

The Informant!

This is a tricky little movie to sell...or describe for that matter. Based on a true story, Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre, a big wig at the agricultural firm ADM who turns informant for the FBI when he learns his company is involved with price fixing. Got it? The Informant! is a quirky, funny picture that definitely succeeds because of Damon. He is great as Whitacre and I have to say that my favorite parts were his absurd and random thoughts. Classic!

All About Steve

For those of you who know me, you know how hard it is for me to not be 100% in love with a Sandy Bullock movie. I'll be honest, All About Steve looked awful. I was not so secretly hoping it would be quietly released straight to DVD and bypass any theatrical embarrassment. Aside from the delayed release date and the unfunny previews, I could smell Steve a mile away because of its writer - Kim Barker. This is the woman who was responsible for the colossal waste of time that was License to Wed. Who gave her another writing job? What kind of actors would agree to be in a movie written by this person? Do they not use imdb? Do they not do research? On what planet is the phrase "from the writer of License to Wed" a good thing? Whew. Now that I've gotten all of that off of my chest, let me say that All About Steve is not entirely awful, although the things that are wrong with it, I blame on the uneven screenplay. I found the character of Mary Horowitz (Bullock) to often be annoying. And why does she have a lisp? What purpose does that serve? Steve is the kind of movie that's silly and just wants to make you smile and feel good about who you are....and for the most part, mildly succeeds.

Oh, and I saw Extract again. :)

Extract

I was able to catch an advance screening of Extract this week. This movie is a great comedy. It's not the kind of movie that has you belly laughing, but it is pretty funny throughout. I wouldn't say it's as good as The Hangover, but it's definitely one of the better comedies of the year.