Stiller And Black......Fail To .....Deliver

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2013)

I read a lot of the IMDb reviewers opinions. What came up again and again was "I have a problem with Ben Stiller". This movie is genuinely funny at times. Given the wonderful premise, it should have been VERY funny...throughout. Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. are actors. REAL ACTORS. Stiller, Jack Black are funny guys ??? ..who really don't act very well. Stiller has not learned to stop TRYING to act. Just be yourself Ben....you couldn't act your way out of a paper bag. Jack Black did not do a very good job either. He never appeared comfortable at any stage of the movie. Movie acting is easy (ask Al Pacino). The trick is ..don't try too hard. Downey Jr. and Cruise are "just fine and dandy", and looked like they had a ball making this. I have been hearing that Ben Stiller may stick to directing if his new movie "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is well received. He certainly is not a funny guy....so I hope Mitty does well. Even with the lame duck performances by Stiller and Black....this is still a movie worth seeing. You will L.O.L., but you wont be convulsing on the floor in fits of laughter (like you should have been)------