Tag Archives: Beck Bennett

Review: RSVP yes to ‘PLUS ONE’

Posted on by — Leave a reply

SYNOPSIS:  Long-time friends Alice and Ben find themselves in that inevitable year that all late 20-somethings experience—in which seemingly every person they know gets married—and agree to be one another’s plus ones as they power through an endless parade of insufferable weddings.

One summer I went to 6 weddings. It was equal parts fun, exhausting, and expensive. We learned who had gotten engaged, married, broken up, and gotten divorced since seeing some of the regulars at these blessed events. Some were shocking while frankly others we silently cheered their wreckage within the confines of our clique. Plus One explores these exact evolutions of so many relationships in our late 20s early 30s. Its honest charm and genuinely witty banter are just the tip of the iceberg of this film. The framework of the film is literally dated around each specific wedding weekend our duo attends. Don’t brush this film off as millennial drivel. Who hasn’t been stuck at the singles table or judged the food and speeches at a wedding? Hell, we still do it 8 years after our own wedding. Sorry, everyone. But the truth is funnier than fiction and PLus One nails these cliches on the head without being obnoxious. Jack Quaid is a nice foil for Maya Erskine. She is the best friend we all wish we had. Her natural ability to be funny and raw makes Plus One as wonderful as it is. The soundtrack, both the score by Leo Birenberg and original songs by Real Estate is outstanding. The dialogue has an amazing vulnerability with a side of raunch. The plot is universally relatable. You should save the date for Plus One without hesitation.

TITLE:  PLUS ONE
IN THEATERS:  June 14, 2019
ON DIGITAL AND ON DEMAND:  June 14, 2019
DIRECTORS:  Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer
WRITERS:  Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer
CAST:  Maya Erskine, Jack Quaid, Beck Bennett, Rosalind Chao with Perrey Reeves and Ed Begley, Jr.
TRT:  99 mins
RATING:  Not Rated
GENRE:  Romantic Comedy
DISTRIBUTOR:  RLJE Films

Review: ‘THE LATE BLOOMER’, Kevin Pollak’s directorial debut, is based on a true and hilarious story.

Posted on by — Leave a reply

latebloomer_th_1sht_lr_proof_2_revSometimes, when you get really lucky, you get to be part of movie history. When Kevin Pollak got the call that he was going to direct a movie version of Ken Baker‘s Book, “The Late Bloomer: A Memoir of My Body”, I was in the room. We were just sitting down for a small roundtable interview for his Tribeca Film Festival Film documentary Misery Loves Comedy, when he got a call he had to take at the table. When Kevin Pollak needs to answer the phone, you sit politely and attempt to eavesdrop. There was no need, as he hung up the phone and eagerly explained that he’d be directing a comedy about a kid who doesn’t hit puberty until his 20’s… and that it was based on a true story.
lb_00146

The story of an adult male who, after the successful removal of a benign tumor resting against his pituitary gland, experiences all the changes and effects of puberty over a three-week period.

While the cast is beyond tremendous, sometimes the jokes just fall flat. The premise is outstanding so I leave it up to the audience this time to decide whether or not to catch this one. Check out the trailer below for a pretty fun preview.
lb_02201

THE LATE BLOOMER
In Select Theaters and On Demand / Digital HD: October 7, 2016
DIRECTOR: Kevin Pollak
WRITER: Screenplay By Joe Nussbaum, Mark Torgove, Paul A. Kaplan, Kyle Cooper, Austyn Jeffs, Story By Joe Nussbaum and Gary Rosen, From the Book “The Late Bloomer: A Memoir of My Body” by Ken Baker
CAST: Johnny Simmons, Maria Bello, Brittany Snow, Jane Lynch, J.K. Simmons, Kumail Nanjiani, Beck Bennett, Paul Wesley
GENRE: Comedy
DISTRIBUTOR: Momentum Pictures

Liz’s Review: Get raunchy with ‘BALLS OUT’

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Balls Out posterYou never know what you’re gonna see at Tribeca Film Festival. One out of left field film from last year was BALLS OUT. Wrong sports metaphor in this case since this particular movie revolves around an intramural college flag football league. Starring a rag tag team of hilarious and talented people like Jake Lacy, Kate McKinnon, Nikki Reed, Beck Bennett, Jay Pharoah and many, many more, Balls Out pulls no punches when it comes to the A-typical sports genre movie. Balls out cast stillCaleb (Jake Lacy) is a fifth year senior with law school on the brain and an overbearing and hilariously high-on-life girlfriend (Kate McKinnon). Suddenly finding himself faced with having his future mapped out for him, he begins to reminisce about his freshman year and his flag football team’s- The Panthers- epic win over a douchebag rival team the Titans. Haunted by the how the first game ended with the paralysis of his best friend, Caleb struggles to commit to what makes him truly happy. Balls Out is an unapologetic underdog story, that’s frankly funny as hell. Every single sports cliche you can think of is admittedly thrown in your face. Training montages, two stoner fans acting as the league’s “official announcers”, hidden personal agendas, each Panther member being just slightly too weird for reality, and a rival captain so damn ridiculous you love to hate him. All this is admitted in the actual dialogue. The film never takes itself seriously at any moment, which is what makes it so great. I was not expecting to like this film at all, and it ended up being my favorite comedy of the fest last year.Kate KcKinnon Balls Out stillSo let’s talk performances in Balls Out. Jake Lacy is, for lack of a better phrase, relatively straight laced, in comparison to the rest of the cast. Nikki Reed does an excellent job playing the girl who comes into Caleb’s life just when he needs it most. This was a nice departure for Reed coming off the Twilight series and a great follow up to her quirky performance in last year’s Murder of a Cat. She is cool and fun. Kate McKinnon steals every scene she is in. Since she joined SNL, I have been touting her as the new Amy Poehler. One wide-eyed look from this gal is comedy gold. Newly minted Panther head coach is played by Nick Kocher. Wher has this kis been all my life? He easily flips from just amusing to sidesplitting comedy with the ease of someone twice his age. How is he not in everything right now? Team him up with Chris Pratt, like yesterday. I want over saturation of Kocher immediately. Jay Pharoah and D.C. Pierson‘s narration as the sideline peanut gallery makes the game sequences what they are. Balls Out Beck StillNow, let’s get real  for a moment. Hands down, once again,the star of this film is Beck Bennett. I have been a fan ever since his national AT&T campaign. Believing he is vastly under utilized on SNL, I have been privileged to see his outstanding movie roles thus far. His last film, Beside Still Waters (a MUST see), was on the opposite end spectrum on his testosterone driven revenge obsession in Balls Out. Like McKinnon, each frame he appears in he completely owns. I don’t know how anyone kept a straight face having to be in a scene with him. It makes me wonder how much of his dialogue is improvised. I would imagine the DVD blooper reel with feature him heavily. Cheers to Beck for bring this film over the goal line.

BALLS OUT arrives theatrically and on VOD June 19th.

Genre: Comedy
TRT: 100 min
Camera: RED Epic
Language: English

Rated: R for crude and sexual material, language and some drug use

SYNOPSIS: With graduation, marriage, and an uncertain future on the horizon, fifth year college senior Caleb Fuller (Jake Lacy) decides to do the one thing he vowed to never do again: get the ol’ flag football team back together. Now with the help of his Panther teammates and unorthodox head coach Grant Rosenfalis (Nick Kocher), Caleb must defy all odds and logic if he ever hopes to achieve the intramural football glory he once had. Set in the highly popular world of college intramural sports, BALLS OUT is the epic sports movie for the guys who don’t deserve one.

Liz’s Review: ‘Beside Still Waters’ is charming reminder that we’re not alone.

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

beside still waters posterAt some point or another in time, we’ve all failed to be there for friends. All gotten so wrapped up in our own lives that the ones who most count on us somehow fade into the background. In Chris Lowell’s directorial debut, we find just this scenario.  Best Still Waters is a story about love, friendship and the ties that bind us together.

Daniel has just lost his mother and father. As he spirals deeper into depression, his childhood friends show up for a weekend away at his parents’ lake house. Each carrying their own baggage, they must come to terms with the lies they tell each other and themselves once reunited. Very much inspired by the 80’s classic The Big Chill and reminiscent of this year’s Tribeca Film Fest favorite,  About Alex, Beside Still Waters deals with “what if”s and “what might have been”s. Reality swiftly punching each character in the gut or to be more specific, slapping them in the face.

beside still waters Read More →