That Awkward Moment

Three best friends find themselves where we’ve all been – at that confusing moment in every dating relationship when you have to decide “So…where is this going?”

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Director: Tom Gormican

Writer[s]: Tom Gormican

Starring: Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan

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That Awkward Moment boasts one of the most drawing casts in a rom-com of early 2014. Zac Efron is the eye-candy, Miles Teller is blowing up in Hollywood, finding several roles a year, and Miles B. Jordan is an up and comer with some real talent.

But don’t judge this book by it’s cover.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

A middle-aged husband’s life changes dramatically when his wife asks him for a divorce. He seeks to rediscover his manhood with the help of a new found friend, Jacob, learning to pick up girls at bars.

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Director: Glen Ficarra

Writer[s]: John Requa, Dan Fogelman

Starring: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Analeigh Tipton, Jonah Bobo, Marisa Tomei, Liza Lapira, John Carrol Lynch, Kevin Bacon, Josh Groban

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Typecasting and formulaic film scripts are the most common occurrences in Hollywood. How many times have we seen: the female make-over story? love stories with straight-forward, one-sided occurrences, outcomes, and themes? Steve Carell play a 40-something sad-sack? Ryan Gosling as just a pretty face? The short answer: a ton of times. Another Hollywood production that features most all of those is Crazy, Stupid, Love. But it also features more. A lot more. It takes these commonalities, ideas, themes, and typecasts, and shatters them as the film develops into a new, refreshing take on many different fronts. And that is why it is one of my favorite movies ever, for its laughs, its themes, its style, its writing, and because after six or more viewings so far, I have not come close to tiring of it.

Afternoon Delight

Rachel is a quick-witted and lovable stay-at-home mom. Frustrated with the realities of preschool auctions, a lackluster sex life and career that’s gone kaput, Rachel visits a strip club to spice up her marriage and meets McKenna, a stripper she adopts as her live-in nanny.

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Director: Jill Soloway

Writer[s]: Jill Soloway

Starring: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jessica St. Clair, Jane Lynch

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Afternoon Delight was the first film I heard about from Sundance 2013. I follow Josh Radnor on the social medias, and I saw that he was doing this movie, and the trailer caught my eye and attention. It never really got a big release, so it has taken me a year to finally see it, but I’ve never seen Kathryn Hahn in a leading role, and she’s always friggen hilarious, so the wait was worth it.

A.C.O.D.

A grown man caught in the crossfire of his parents 15-year divorce discovers he was unknowingly part of a study on divorced children and is enlisted in a follow-up years later, which wreaks new havoc on his family.

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Director: Stu Zicherman

Writer[s]: Ben Karlin, Stu Zicherman

Starring: Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins, Catherine O’Hara, Jane Lynch, Amy Poehler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clark Duke, Jessica Alba

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A.C.O.D., or Adult Child of Divorce, is a semi-autobiographical film from Stu Zicherman, who has worked on several shows, but overall is a newcomer to the film scene. He too is an A.C.O.D., and he helped salvage his parents relationship with his brother’s wedding. Ben Karlin, a writer on The Daily Show and Modern Family, helped write the script along with Zicherman. The story follows Carter [Adam Scott], an A.C.O.D., who seems to have his life together: he owns a restaurant, he has a girlfriend of four years, he dresses sharp, etc. But when his parents, who haven’t spoken in years, get back together, it is clear how big of an effect of his parents divorce still has on him and his ideals and motives.

Quick Review: Don Jon

A New Jersey guy dedicated to his family, friends, and church, develops unrealistic expectations from watching porn and works to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love.

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Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Writer[s]: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt [JGL] is now a writer and a director, and he has a lot to say. I find a lot of similarities in tone and intentions to 500 Days of Summer, which also starred JGL. An intriguing look at relationships and sex in the modern world that has a lot that guys can relate to [not sure about the women], but also a lot of lessons to be learned.

A simply made film that is cute in it’s repetitions, but nothing really jumps out and impresses me from a directorial stand-point, but for a first film, it’s interesting to see what the future will hold for such a smart guy.

My Rating

3/4 – Although pepper with a solid amount of things you don’t want your kids to see or hear, Don Jon is a smart rom-com that people can take a lot away from.