Category Archives: Genre-ary

Superbad (2007)

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January 13

When I scheduled Superbad for the comedy Genre-ary, I was really not looking forward to it. It has typically been the type of movie that I hate. I was pushing it off as long as I could.

And then…

I really liked this.

I’m as surprised as anyone.

According to IMDB, “Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.”

I found this surprisingly entertaining, with some excellent writing and witty dialogue. The lines were sharp and hilarious and the situations were over the top, and yet not so much that you roll your eyes.

Jonah Hill, who I have never been a big fan of, was really great as Seth, and he was actually quite deep in this loud and obnoxious character. Historically, this is the type of loud character that irritates me, but, for some reason, this was much better than other films with the same type of character. Hill had great chemistry with Michael Cera, who played Evan. His balance against Hill’s loudness worked well.

The film was also debuts of both Emma Stone and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Both actors had solid characters and I do think Mintz-Plasse’s run as McLovin was easily the best running joke of the film.

I do think it was too long. I would have liked to have seen about 10-15 minutes trimmed from the film as the middle dragged on a bit. However, the ending of the film was truly charming and hinted at more than just surface story.

The most over-the-top aspect of the film was the police officers, played by Bill Hader and Seth Rogen. I liked them, but there may have been too much of them over the course of the film. Some of these scenes would be the ones I would trim, but they had a wonderful scene near the end of the film with Mintz-Plasse, as that relationship had been built up during the middle.

This is the style of movie that I usually hate. Crude. Drug and alcohol jokes. Sex jokes. It just goes to show you that a film that is intelligently written, with strong characterization and plot that is legitimately funny even without the crude parts, can still be entertaining and well done. With quality, any style can be fun.

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

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January 12

It was 1942 when this movie came out and it was a brutal satire of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in an extremely funny, dark comedy, To Be or Not to Be.

According to IMDB, “During the German occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier’s efforts to track down a German spy.“

I was surprised to see the opening credits include Jack Benny, who I knew of as a comedic performer from his radio and television show. I did not know that he was also an actor starring in movies. Benny was truly excellent in this film, and he played against Carole Lombard. The pair worked well together, having a wonderful charm and surprisingly solid chemistry. Their comedic timing was spot on and the dialogue of the film was remarkably clever and entertaining.

It is sad to note that this was the final film in the career of Carole Lombard as she was killed in a plane crash one month after the release of the film.

The film, having been released in the middle of World War II, took its shots at the Nazis and the Gestapo, as well as Hitler himself. It was very funny when the head of the Gestapo kept yelling for Schultz, as it brought me memories of Hogan’s Heroes.

It was very funny as well with all of the “Heil Hitlers” going on when everyone would meet. Such ridiculous fun I had to join in.

It did have several moments where it felt like the movie was going to abandon the comedy and turn into a more action centered film, but it never completely gave up the witticisms. Every moment Jack Benny was on screen, the film was hilarious.

Robert Stack was great as Lt. Stanislav Sobinski, which kicked off the entire story. Other actors in the film included Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwell, Sig Ruman, Stanley Ridges, Tom Dugan, Henry Victor, and Charles Halton.

This is an amazing movie, especially when considering when it was made, and I enjoyed it very much. I watched it on HBO Max.

I Used to Be Funny (2023)

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January 11

I Used to Be Funny is a different type of comedy. It is definitely a dark comedy, one that would fall into the dramedy category, and it is a tough watch, because it deals with a couple of serious subjects that you would not expect in a normal comedy. It is handled with a deft hand and directed beautifully by Ally Pankiw.

According to IMDB, “Sam, a stand-up comedian struggling with PTSD, weighs whether or not to join the search for a missing teenage girl she used to nanny.“

That synopsis does not truly fit with the movie I just watched, and that is a good thing. Do not go into I Used to Be Funny with any preconceived notions because it hits harder as it revealed its actual story through the movie.

Rachel Sennott played Sam Cowell, who was a stand-up comedian and nanny. Sennott got her own start as a stand-up comedian as well, before moving along into an acting career. She does a really solid job in this movie, not only with the witty dialogue, but with the dramatic moments too. She had several serious moments in the film and she was extremely believable in each one.

There were some challenges in the narrative with a non-linear storytelling aspect. It was unsure at times when I was not sure what time it was, and you had to really be thinking about when it was.

Other than that, this was a really solid film that was both funny and traumatic. I pulled it up on Netflix this morning to watch it.

Super Troopers (2001)

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When I was trying to decide which genre to use this January in the Genre-ary, I was worried about comedies. One reason I was worried about choosing comedy as the Genre-ary gerne was because when comedy movies go wrong, they can be really tough to watch and I did not want to watch a month of terrible movies.

Super Troopers is exactly the kind of movie that I was worried about.

According to IMDB, “Five Vermont state troopers, avid pranksters with a knack for screwing up, try to save their jobs and out-do the local police department by solving a crime.”

I really disliked watching this movie. There were some funny moments, but I have never been a big fan of stupidity as comedy.

Juvenile dialogue and characters that were, in no way, even slightly believable as police officers. There was little story in the film and the characters were some of the most obnoxious and unlikable characters that I have seen in a long time.

There was a movie where this could have been funny, but this was not it. I grew to dislike this movie more as it progressed and it is why I really was not anxious to watch a bunch of comedies. I hope there are more good ones to come because I can’t take a month of this.

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)

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January 9

Today’s new movie for the Genre-ary was found on HBO Max and it was a sci-fi time travel film called Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. It was a British film that had a definite flavor of Doctor Who.

According to IMDB, “While drinking at their local pub, three social outcasts attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum.“

This was a decent little flick. It may not have been amazing and awe-inspiring, but it was engaging and fun. Anything with time travel can be problematic, but I think they handled that fairly well. I liked how the time travel future scenes in the bar were laid out and how they came back around at the end.

I am not sure I love the three lead actors. Chris O’Dowd was solid as Ray and I thought the desperation of Dean Lennox Kelly as Pete was good. I am not sure how I felt about Marc Wootton as Toby. The three of them had some good scenes as a trio, especially in the men’s bathroom.

Anna Faris was time traveler Cassie and she had an easy chemistry with Chris O’Dowd. I’m not sure I bought them as a couple, but they were solid together during most of their scenes.

The future scenes were all fun and creative. The variety of the futures that we saw were pretty decent and kept us guessing.

It was an easy watch that moved briskly and was engaging enough. It was not a perfect film, but it was harmless as a watch some afternoon or over the weekend.

The Other Guys (2010)

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January 8

I did not have a review of this movie on EYG, but I know I saw the opening of The Other Guys with Samuel L. Jackson and The Rock. I did not remember anything else about this movie, so it is quite possible that as soon as Jackson and Johnson were done, I stopped watching.

I have never been a huge Will Farrell fan, but I have liked a few of the films he has been in and there has always had great word of mouth.

Sadly, there was just too much garbage in this film for me to enjoy it.

According to IMDB, “Two mismatched New York City detectives seize an opportunity to step up like the city’s top cops, whom they idolize, only things don’t quite go as planned.”

There were some funny bits, but there was so much ridiculousness in here that I just could not get into the story. I did not like either character that was the lead. Mark Wahlberg was nothing more than a yelling and screaming jerk who I had a lot of difficulty getting behind. Will Farrell’s cop was a little different at least, but he also found his moments to be cruel, specifically to his wife, played by Eva Mendes.

I do not know why when we have comedy movies about police detectives, the secondary partners are always gigantic assholes? I know that is about all Rob Riggle can play, as I swear every time I see him in a movie, he is playing the same character. His partner was Damon Wayans Jr. and he was at least not quite as obnoxious.

Why would Michael Keaton take the role as the police chief who is constantly coming down on our lead characters? I do not think you could get more cliche than that.

Why do so many people believe that comedy in this type of film substituted by stupidity in characters is the way to go?

I did enjoy the work of Steve Coogan, but there was nowhere near enough with him. I am also not 100% sure what his character was doing. It was very convoluted and messy.

I had hoped that this would be better than I thought it would be, but unfortunately, it was not. I should have turned it off again after Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson were done. That was the highlight of the night.

Sherlock Jr. (1923)

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January 7

Going back over 100 years for today’s Genre-ary film, I picked up a rental on Fandango at Home for Sherlock Jr., a classic black and white, silent film starring Buster Keaton.

When I was doing the DailyView, I watched some Buster Keaton films, but I found that I preferred the Charlie Chaplin ones. Both were similar in their silent, comedic slapstick manner, but I just found Chaplin more appealing, more charming overall. However, after watching Sherlock Jr., I may have to reassess my opinion.

Buster Keaton was gold in this movie, giving a magnificent performance in both physical comedy and remarkable stunt work.

According to IMDB, “A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend’s father’s pocket watch.”

Some of the things that this film accomplished in 1923 was simply astounding. Some of the stunts were superior to what I thought it could be done.

The dream sequence of the projectionist was sensational. The dream sequence where Keaton was the amazing detective Sherlock Jr. and it was funny, it had amazing choreography and slapstick comedy.

Of course when we say silent films, we mean that there is no one we can hear speaking. The is a constant musical score playing over the imagery of the movie. The soundtrack was composed by Timothy Block and his score was perfect for the speechless film. It was light-hearted when it needed to be, it was silly at times, and it was dramatic at the appropriate moment. The score truly helped to make this a classic film.

I thought Buster Keaton was special in this movie and the film was so much fun. I can see why it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1991.

Alan Partridge (2013)

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January 6

I went back to HBO Max for today’s Genre-ary film and it was considerably better than yesterday’s. Alan Partridge was hilarious, clever British style humor that truly was a joy to watch.

According to IMDB, “When famous DJ Alan Partridge’s radio station is taken over by a new media conglomerate, it sets in motion a chain of events which see Alan having to work with the police to defuse a potentially violent siege.”

Alan Partridge is played by Steve Coogan and this film featured his brilliant wit and great dialogue that was as funny as it was intelligent. Colm Meaney co-starred with Coogan as Pat Farrell, one of the DJs that got canned when the new media conglomerate took over the radio station. Little did Pat know, Alan Partridge had a hand in helping to make the decision.

Alan was being put into so many crazy situations with this siege that you could tell what a fantastic character this guy was… and that was with him being a jerk in much of the film. Even though he was selfish and putting himself first, I could not help but love Alan.

Apparently, Alan Partridge was a character originally on a television program in England. It would be an interesting thing to see, just to compare the comedy with the film.

I really enjoyed this movie and I loved the character of Alan Partridge.

Miss Pinkerton (1932)

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January 5

We head back to 1932 today for the Genre-ary to a film called Miss Pinkerton. The 1932 film was viewed on HBO Max.

To be fair, it is labeled as a comedy/mystery/thriller, which is why it made its way on to the list for this year’s Comedy Genre-ary. Thing is…. there is not much of a comedy to it.

According to IMDB, “A hospital nurse is recruited by the police to watch a household where a suspicious death has occurred.“

Joan Blondell played the titular character, Miss Pinkerton, which was an alias she took on to help the police with their case. She was actually a nurse named Miss Adams. Blondell had some good presence as the lead of the film, but there was not a ton to the film.

The story of this movie is fairly convoluted and messy. I am not sure what was going on here.

Office Space (1999)

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January 4

The Genre-ary continued on today with a classic comedy from the late 90s called Office Space. I had heard of this film before, but I can honestly say that I really had no idea what the film was about.

According to IMDB, “Three company workers who hate their jobs decide to rebel against their greedy boss.“

This film is a satirical look at big business and corporations, and the people who work mindlessly within the structure of said business. The ridiculousness of some of the situations did not feel totally made up. I could easily be convinced that things like this actually happen in the offices across the country.

Ron Livingston does a great job as Peter. He is very relatable and you can feel his frustration over his life and his job. Jennifer Aniston appeared as Joanna. David Herman and Ajay Naidu were part of the office staff and friends to Peter. Stephen Root was very invested in his eccentric character and made every minute on screen worthwhile. Diedrich Bader was another standout and his character was hilarious. Another character who maximized his screen time.

Gary Cole is one of the most unlikable characters in the film, and he does a great job with it.

I found this movie very funny and I enjoyed it. There is not a ton of story involved with it, but the characters are fun and the bits are funny.

The Jerk (1979)

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January 3

The Genre-ary continued today with The Jerk, a movie that, when I was compiling the possible list of comedies for the Genre-ary, I realized that I had not seen the entire film. Of course, I had seen parts of the movie. The “The new phone book’s here” scene is iconic. However, I could not recall much of anything else, so if I had seen it as a youth, this would be like a whole new movie.

And, as I said, I did not remember most of this movie, telling me that I had not seen the film all the way through.

Steve Martin is one of my favorite comedic actors, especially recently with his turn as Oliver on Only Murders in the Building. I was a fan of his from the early 80s with his song King Tut and some of his other films such as Roxanne, Parenthood, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Little Shop of Horrors.

In The Jerk, directed by comedy legend Carl Reiner, Martin played a slow-witted, innocent guy, Navin, who was raised as a poor black kid in a sharecroppers family. That very idea, considering Martin is as white as a person could be, was hilarious. It also was not as insulting as I first thought it might be.

After discovering his own life rhythm, Navin left home to try to find out who he really was. He then embarked on a wild ride that found him becoming a huge success and losing it all.

Martin’s performance reminded me of an actor who is always loud and over the top. I typically am not a fan of this type of role, but Steve Martin brought something extra to it that made it enduring. I can only guess that this film was an inspiration to actors such as Jim Carrey, Kevin Hart, Adam Sandler, and Chris Farley, as they all have made a career of the loud, obnoxious type character that Steve Martin was showing in this film.

The film’s title is not accurate to me though as Navin was not really a jerk, but more of a simpleton. There was an innocence about him that helped make him appealing to the audience.

The film featured several other actors in important roles including EYG Hall of Famer Bernadette Peters, Carl Reiner (as himself), Bill Macy, Mabel King, Richard Ward, M. Emmet Walsh, Jackie Mason, Dick Anthony Williams, Catlin Adams, and Dick O’Neill. Several of these key character actors add a perfect flair to the cast, playing off the ridiculousness of Martin’s Navin.

The Jerk is a classic and I am happy that I finally did take the time to watch the entire film. The plot itself is a little lacking, but it is more of a comedy sketch to see where Navin is at any time during his life.

Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987)

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January 2

It is Genre-ary time and today’s comedy is a stand up film featuring Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy’s Raw is a hilarious film that probably couldn’t work in today’s environment.

It is interesting that this concert film started off with a scene featuring famous black actors including Samuel L. Jackson, Tatyana Ali, Damien Wayans, Basil Wallace, Leonard Jackson, and Gwen McGee. It was a scene of a family night at home with a talent show among the kids. Little Eddie Murphy (Deon Richmond) did some comedy, setting the tone for the rest of the film.

Eddie Murphy showed a remarkable energy on the stage and his routines were very funny. There were a couple of them that made me cringe a bit (aka the homosexual jokes) but most of the show was entertaining. Murphy’s rapid fire delivery and pacing was an impressive demonstration of his comedic skill. He had the full audience enraptured with his words.

There was an ironic section too as Eddie did an imitation of a phone call he received from Bill Cosby about all the profanity Murphy would use on his stage show. In retrospect, a little swearing should not have bothered Cosby a much as some other things he was doing.

The stage section of the film was filmed in front of a live crowd in New York City.

Who Done It? (1942)

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January 1

January is here and that means that it is time to start our annual tradition, the Genre-ary. We have done Sci-fi, Musicals, Documentaries and this year, we will be doing comedies.

I wanted to start off with one of the top comedy duos who I watched a lot as a child. I know there were great comedy duos/team like the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, but Bud Abbot and Lou Costello were my favorite ones.

Of their list of movies, I picked out one I did not remember at all called Who Done It? Bud and Lou get themselves involved in a murder investigation on the set of a radio broadcast of a murder mystery show.

Much like most Abbot and Costello movies, the plot is tangential to the comedy of the film. The comedy comes from the slapstick of Lou Costello physically throwing himself around, bashing his head into things and flopping his body around. There are also plenty of word plays and puns throughout. This film even goes as far as to include some allusions to Abbot and Costello’s most iconic bit, Who’s on First.

You are not waiting for a lot of sense to be made. It is truly ridiculous. But the lengths Abbot and Costello will go to get a laugh is really impressive. It seemed that their very presences would make the other characters around them be dumber, in a good way.

This film also included Mary Wickes, who was Mary Lazarus in the Sister Act films as well as Emma Allen in White Christmas. Her distinct voice and facial image made her stand out among the craziness associated with Bud and Lou.

The film was fast-paced, tangent-inducing, slapstick fun. Yes, Lou Costello was loud and acted in a chaotic, if not insane, manner. It all added to the fun of the pair. They kicked of the Genre-ary in a positive light.

Girl in the Picture (2022)

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January 31

January 31st is here and the 2025 Genre-ary comes to a close with a Netflix documentary called Girl in the Picture, which was based on the books A Beautiful Child and Finding Sharon by Matt Birkbeck.

According to IMDB, “A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.“

This was an excellent documentary covering the tragic story of a young girl named Sharon Marshall. Or at least, it was a young girl who was known as Sharon Johnson. She had been abducted as a child and then raised as the daughter of Franklin Delano Floyd, a kidnapper, murderer and sexual abuser.

Sharon suffered years of abuse at the hands of her “father.” He would use her to make money by making her strip and offering her for sex to other men.

The story also included a boy named Michael, who had been kidnapped by Floyd as well. The boy disappeared and the question about what had happened to Michael was part of the film.

One of the best things about this doc is that all of the mysteries surrounding these people are solved. A lot of times these docs do not have a sense of closure because mysteries are left unsolved. Here though, thankfully, everything is revealed.

It is such an emotional story of pain and loss, but it also gives a great story about how people can help by doing whatever you can.

Girl in the Picture is available on Netflix.

And with this, the 2025 Genre-ary comes to a close.

Invasion on Chestnut Ridge (2017)

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January 30

Today, the penultimate day of the 2025 Genre-ary, I watched a documentary from the series Small Town Monsters. I have seen other episodes from Small Town Monsters before and they are usually a fairly well done look at these unexplained phenomenon. Invasion on Chestnut Ridge is yet another solid doc dealing with the paranormal.

Chestnut Ridge is an area of Pennsylvania where there have been numerous unexplained reports of everything from bigfoot to UFO sighting to giant birds with massive wingspans.

According to the doc, it seemed as if there were a rush of reports during 1973/74 with all kinds of weird things going on. The doc had witnesses giving their stories, including things like UFO sightings and bigfoot encounters, all of which are sufficiently unnerving. One wonders what these people actually saw. Many of them seemed to be reasonable and decent people (Admittedly, there was the one guy with a 2nd Amendment shirt on where the number two was a snake).

I have always been more willing to believe in many things. I do think there is (or was) something called a bigfoot. I am not opposed to people from outer space (though I am not sure if they are able to travel here), but above all else, I enjoy the stories. Small Town Monsters does an excellent job of presenting these “out there” accounts in a enjoyable way.

There was one funny moment. They were interviewing a witness who had seen a thunderhawk and they were blurring out the wording on his shirt. However, the man bent down to describe how the bird had been sitting, and the blur did not go with him. We saw that it was a Steelers shirt. I laughed out loud at that. I wonder why they couldn’t get the blur to follow him down. I know that was a minor thing in the doc, but I thought it was funny.

The doc also detailed the Kecksburg UFO crash in 1965. Something crashed in the woods near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania and witnesses went to see. It was a metallic object shaped like a walnut and that the military showed up and removed it. Of course, specifics are shaky and, like all UFO sightings, it is hard to determine what it was that these people saw.

Admittedly, the doc does not provide any concrete evidence of any of the stories they tell about, outside of the eye witness accounts from many year prior. I still found these stories intriguing and entertaining at least. Are any of them real? Who knows. It is one of those unsolved mysteries.