I still can't bear Ben Stiller

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2010)

When will Ben Stiller realise he is not all that talented. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but, apart from 'Something About Mary' I find him incredibly annoying.
However, I liked the look of the trailer and finally sat down to watch this last night, having put it of because of my dislike of Stiller. It's a really good film, great characterisations and the opening sequence is inspired (I want to see 'Satan's Alley' lol) All the performances are great, standout is Robert Downey Jr and Tom Cruise is a hoot as Les Grossman. There are things in it that could be considered disrespectful, Simple Jack comes to mind, but, look at them in context and you can see that they are not meant to offend, but, to illustrate how certain roles win Oscars. The use of the word 'retard' in one scene actually illustrates the ignorance of the characters rather than aiming to offend us, in my opinion at least.
There is one gross out scene near the start that I felt was carried a little too far and I could have done without regarding Damian Cockburn, but, aside from that I enjoyed this movie for what it was, no brainer fun that was at the end of the day, a parody.
It would have got more points if Ben Stiller hadn't been his usual annoying self.