A Case of You (2013)

I added A Case of You on my watchlist a couple of years ago as I wanted to watch it for a Thursday Movie Picks theme and forgot about it. Then I removed it from my list because it was a romantic comedy. And then I added on my list again because of Sam Rockwell. And he is pretty much the only reason A Case of You is worth watching. Unless you are a clichéd romantic flick fan, in that case, you're gonna love it.

Sam (Justin Long) is a young New York City writer who is suffering from writer's block and spends a lot of time at the local coffee shop. One day, he lays eyes on the barista, Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood), and falls for her. Unfortunately, as he tries to casually start a conversation, she doesn't seem interested, and the day after he learns that she was fired for often being late. After finding out something more about her from her former boss (Peter Dinklage), he decides to stalk her on Facebook and becomes everything she is looking for.

Unfinished Business (2015)

Genre

Comedy

Director

Ken Scott

Country

USA

Cast

Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco, Sienna Miller, June Diane Raphael, Ella Anderson, Britton Sear, James Marsden, Nick Frost

Storyline

Hard-working small business owner Dan Trunkman (Vince Vaughn) and his two associate, Tim McWinters (Tom Wilkinson) and Mike Pancake (Dave Franco), travel to Europe to close the most important deal of their lives. But what began as a routine business trip goes off the rails in every way imaginable - and unimaginable.

Opinion

Given the awful reviews all over the internet, I wasn't expecting much from this film, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good this film actually was. Okay, maybe I'm being too generous.

Suffering from a poorly written script, Unfinished Business does have its moments, but the humour is not always on point.

The plot is always the same trite, seen thousands of times, and totally lacking in originality - it's like The Hangover met Eurotrip -, yet the film manages to entertain a little - or not bore, which suits better in this case - through the misfortunes affecting the three main characters.

Like most comedies these days, the film does not spare vulgarity. On one hand the language is a bit more chaste than usual, but on the other hand the film "recovers" with sex and nudity scenes. 

Writer Steve Conrad, the same guy who wrote The Pursuit of Happiness, should probably work on more serious projects, as he appears to be awkward when it comes to writing comedies. When watching this film it comes to the attention that he is not able to write jokes. Vince Vaughn running in a woman's jogging clothes will never be funny, nor will be laughing at someone just because of his last name.

Also, the subplot with Vaughn's family is unnecessary since it's not properly developed, and shouldn't have been included because it feels completely out of place in such a film.

However, the performances are able to increase the level of the film. Just a little bit. Vince Vaughn does a good job, but he once again plays that character he does in every film he does. Tom Wilkinson's talent is definitely wasted here, but he give a solid support to Vaughn. Dave Franco really impressed me. I, like everyone else, am used to see Franco playing this pretty douchebags with egos bigger than Kim Kardashian's butt, and finally seeing him in a different role, playing an awkward, shy and mentally challenged guy was pleasing.

I have a question for my American readers. Why do you guys always portray Europeans as sex freaks?