What If Review
The Plot
When recently single Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe) meets Chantry (Zoe Kazan) he feels an instant connection. However, when she reveals she has a boyfriend, Wallace agrees to just be friends. But can a boy and girl really stay just friends…?
The Good
It’s been 3 years since the Harry Potter franchise ended but to most fans, Daniel Radcliffe will always be the Boy Who Lived in their eyes. What if being his third film since Deathly Hallows Part 2 (after The Woman In Black and Kill Your Darlings) it seems to be quite clear that Radcliffe wants us to know that he is more than just a one hit wonder. Well more than an eight movie mega franchise hit wonder. With horror and thriller safely under his belt, Radcliffe’s latest gives him the chance to show his talent in the romantic comedy genre. And he does not disappoint.
A lot of the success in this is due to the great chemistry between not only Wallace and his best friend Allan (Adam Driver), but also the Sally to Wallace’s Harry, Chantry (Zoe Kazan). Driver brings the goofy side of the romantic comedy effortlessly whether by his excitement over post-coital nachos or his clearly thought out advice for Wallace. Kazan on the other hand helps bring a fantastic friendship to life as she and Radcliffe own the screen together. The element that works best in What If is easily the script. The dialogue flows throughout the film naturally, never leaving a dull moment.
Although the basic premise of What If is superficially similar to films like When Harry Met Sally or Friends With Benefits, it actually does a fine job at striving to avoid overly familiar cliches and delivers something fresh,funny and sweetly sincere.
The Bad
There’s nothing particularly awful that can be said about What If, though despite it’s best efforts, ultimately it can’t entirely escape rom-com familiarity and inevitable comparisons to timeless classic When Harry Met Sally. Dealing with the dilemma of maintaining purely platonic friendships between men and women, the film reaches predictable if satisfying conclusions.
The Ugly Truth
What If is a When Harry Met Sally for the new generation of romance. With a great chemistry running between the cast and plenty of chuckles to be had, it’s certainly not a bad way to spend a couple of hours. It delivers something fresh and satisfying, making it easily one of the very best recent additions to the rom-com genre.
Daniel Radcliffe in depth interview below from the What if Premiere press conference in London:
Jackie Chan wants Brett Ratner or Will Smith to direct Karate Kid 2
Speaking to Red Carpet News during a recent appearance at the BFI in London martial arts superstar Jackie Chan confirmed that while he won’t direct the American set sequel to The Karate Kid due to his lack of cultural understanding, he’d welcome either frequent collaborate Brett Ratner or Will Smith as directors.
With Ratner recently resurgent thanks to achieving a box office hit with Hercules and production stalled on Rush Hour 4 in lieu of a workable script, h seems like the most viable candidate to replace recently departed Breck Eisner following planned rewrites of its script for The Karate Kid 2. However Will Smith would be a more surprising choice in the director chair.
Interview clip below:
Jackie Chan pays tribute to Robin Williams
With the international film community still reacting to the tragic death of Robin Williams, Jackie Chan added his own voice to the chorus of tributes to the dearly missed comedy star, sharing an incredible story of his first meeting with Williams early in his own Hollywood career. Video clip below:
Wesley Snipes Talks Blade 4
Speaking on the red carpet at the world premiere of The Expendables 3 resurgent action superstar Wesley Snipes confirmed that he hasn’t written off the possibility of a Blade 4 sequel and that it’s looking good currently. The news will no doubt be welcomed by fans of the vampire slaying comicbook hero that is widely credited with helping change Hollywood’s perception of the comic book genre with the iconic 1998 original.
Video clip below to hear the great man himself teasing us:
The Inbetweeners 2 Review
The Plot
Simon Bird, James Buckley, Joe Thomas and Blake Harrison return in the inevitable but much anticipated sequel to their 2011 big screen debut in The Inbetweeners 2. When Neil (Harrison) gets an email from Jay (Buckley) telling him about his lavish lifestyle in Australia, Will and Simon decide to tag along and surprise him for a summer holiday. Cue hilarity as the boys get into all sorts of usual bother down under.
The Good
Since the first film took over £41 million in the UK box office alone and achieved official status as the most commercially successful British comedy ever made, it was inevitable that The Inbetweeners would return to the silver screen soon enough. With the boys just 6 months older but most definitely not wiser or more experienced, The Inbetweeners 2 is certainly bigger. But is it better?
There are plenty of laughs to be had as the boys ill-advisedly venture to the land down under. The film start with a fantastically funny glimpse into the filthy fantasy world of the ever boastful and untruthful Jay. The shameless exaggerations of his sweet life as a superstar DJ and ‘Aussie clunge magnet’ seems too good to be true as he talks Neil through a day in the life of his mental Australian Gap Year. As always it’s a cringe-worthy treat to see the Inbetweeners most deluded member set himself and the rest of the gang up for inevitable humiliation and mostly deserved shameful suffering.
The hapless lads all remain entertainingly unevolved. Will willingly abandons common sense and his snobbish pretentious at the first sign of hope a pretty girl might actually like him. Simon has an abusive psycho girlfriend he’s too wimpy to dump. While Neil remains utterly clueless with an unfortunate knack of covering most situations with a disgusting variety of bodily fluids. There is still a certain charm in their lack of charm and a more malicious satisfaction is seeing their misguided best intentions end in utter disaster.
The film boasts some memorable set pieces in particular, with dolphin abuse, irritable bowels and ill-advised outback survival techniques among the worst of the depraved antics. It should please long term fans of the original show and entertain or disgust in equal measure.
The Bad
The Inbetweeners 2 offers fans plenty of the same humour that made the previous film such a guilty pleasure, however it veers towards being a little more cruel and dark, particularly during it’s latter stages. While the first film felt vaguely euphoric as a jubilant send off for mostly likable characters, writers Damon Beesley & Iain Morris seem determined to be less kind this time round. The plot quickly undoes any sense of progress made over the previous series and first film, pushing each of the lads toward being an even more pathetic caricature of adolescent obnoxiousness. This does makes it harder to ever laugh with them, but perhaps a little easier to laugh at them.
This sequel was understandably inevitable given the astonishing box office success of the first film. It at least serves as a gratuitous encore and a thank you to a devoted fan base. Though record breaking box office hauls will no doubt tempt the writers and cast to return for a third time, in truth it’s difficult to see exactly where they could take the characters.
The Ugly Truth
The Inbetweeners 2 could have easily been just a lazy ploy to greedily cash in on the huge success of it’s predecessor, but it has enough genuine laugh out loud moments to prove that the writers did work hard on producing something fans will enjoy. A slightly less effective and downbeat final act prevents the film flowing as well as the last, but for the most part, The Inbetweeners 2 is an enjoyable comedy which will keep fans satisfied.
Interviews below with stars James Buckley & Blake Harrison: