Another "Castrated Schlub" comedy

Rating: 5/10 (22 August 2011)

What is the deal with guys in comedies like this being so aggressively typical? It seems like they're always eating at Applebee's. It's become a real genre over the last few years...movies about a bunch of pathetic regular guys...Hall Pass...Old School...The Hangover...I guess these movies make money. What they all seem to traffic in is the quivering fear of the Middle-Aged American Beta Male before Woman. Nothing like true femininity ever appears in these films: we either get exaggerated "slut" characters like Jennifer Aniston here (whose exaggerated sexuality makes her unrealistic and therefore non-threatening to us) or we get "perfect" (i.e. sexless and charmless) suburban wives. The end result is a barren, Eros-free wasteland inhabited by fake men and fake women. Here is the main problem with these movies: they are essentially powered by a fear of women, and there is something inherently boring and unfunny about a world created by men who hide their fear of life and women under a "typical guy" facade.
ANYWAY, enough theorizing. This movie is just not that funny. It's only OK. Jason Bateman is, in my opinion, the funniest person here. He does his best with average material and manages to give his character some depth. Good for you Jason Bateman! For some reason I find you sympathetic. Jason Sudeikis is fine. Charlie Day, however, is NOT FUNNY. What an awful, grating voice and weak face he has. His final monologue is cringe-worthy. The premise of the movie is good but they made it about 30 percent too goofy and unrealistic. It would have been funnier if they had played it a little straighter and let the laughs come more naturally from the chemistry of the main characters. The whole thing is haunted by two other (better) movies: The Hangover (3 buddies on a wacky adventure) (the scene where Charlie Day is on the cellphone as Kevin Spacey rams them with his SUV was stolen directly from The Hangover) and Office Space (which was funny not because of the bland main characters or the plot but because of the details).
There are a few laffs. The scene with the cocaine is funny. Some of the scenes with Jamie Foxx are kind of funny. Colin Farrell's character falls flat, as does Jennifer Aniston's, but it's not their fault. Kevin Spacey is excellent as always.
Go see it if you want. It's OK.