TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: i guess that if a very wild bachelor party had gone really bad , there would be broken furniture , traces of smack and cocaine on the floor , and a dead prostitute in the bathroom .
i guess that if a movie had also gone really bad , there might be the same elements present .
coincidence ?
poor kyle ( a meek looking jon favreau ) . . .
he is about to marry his radiant fiancee , laura ( cameron diaz ) .
but before he exchanges his vows , he embarks to las vegas with his friends for one last blowout .
but this bachelor party has gone about as bad as it could possibly get .
the prostitute has met a horrible , though accidental death , and drugs are everywhere .
the five friends agree that there is enough bad evidence here that will send them to jail for a very long time .
a surprisingly calm robert boyd ( christian slater ) , who looks like he was groomed to make nefarious decisions , ponders their dilemma for a few minutes before deciding that the best thing to do is to bury the body in the desert where she 'll never be found .
although they stomach the gruesome deed of getting rid of the body ( which also disturbingly involves dismantling the body using power saws in order to stuff it into suitcases ) , when they return from their trip , guilt and paranoia begins to set in which slowly consumes some of the five friends .
one is adam ( daniel stern ) he grows increasingly agitated .
whenever people look at his van or whenever a cop glances his way , his blood pressure increases .
or that just may be because of his dysfunctional family .
another is michael , who was actually responsible for her death .
he tries to bury his feelings , but the burden of guilt begins to affect his judgment as well .
boyd is the ?
doer ' of the group .
seemingly suffering from a long psychosis , when he feels as if his secret is about to be exposed , he is apt to take extreme measures to cover up his tracks .
kyle just hopes that his wedding will live up to laura 's demanding expectations .
then , there 's moore ( leland orser ) who speaks 5 lines and walks around with a puzzled look on his face .
the problem with this reprehensible movie is that it wants to be a cruel comedy , but it presents things in a manner that just are n't funny .
drugs , mutilation , and killing your own friends is n't something to be laughed at .
as a straight psychological drama , i could see how it might have worked , as each one tried to maneuver and overcome the weight of their own guilt in their own sometimes - sick ways .
but this movie insults us by assuming that we could simply discard our values for 2 hours .
if you do like this movie , i do n't think that i want to know you .
i did find slater a convincing leader who sways his friends to choose not the right thing
but the ? smart play . '
and diaz adds some brightness to this film as a wedding - needing fiancee .
but
her talents are essentially wasted here .
it 's obvious that the film maker is trying to strike a certain tone .
but the way that he chooses to do it is tasteless .
do not make a very bad decision by seeing this film .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: " spawn " may be somewhat of an older film .
in fact it will probably be on video before anyone who has n't seen it will finally get to see it ( that is , if they see it ) .
but i managed to catch it before it made it 's way out of theaters and into the world of rentals
and , god forbid , video cassette purchasing .
it was n't the worst film of year by any means .
it is n't even on the top 5 of the worst films of the year .
but it did manage to top the bottom five of the bottom ten , which , in simpler terms , means it comes in at number 6 on my " worst of 1997 " list .
the only reason it does n't come in lower is thanks to the special effects , which might actually have been some of the best of the year .
performances , however , were either wooden or , for the most part , unforgivingly campy .
in fact , this film shows no signs of attempting to avoid campiness !
even the editing seemed to boast a campy quality .
i do n't know how to explain that one ; it was n't exactly choppy , but something about it seemed . . .
well , annoyingly unprofessional .
john leguizamo almost makes it as clown , but not quite .
he is the only character who provides the audience with any laughs that can honestly be called intentional .
but the main problem i found with " spawn " , as with most films that wind up on my " worst of " lists , is that it was just plain boring
.
i would n't even say there was a climax to the film .
sure , it had the big battle scene at the end , but the only excitement felt
was that the movie might be nearing a conclusion .
never too soon , the movie did conclude in a very simple , disappointing way .
even though it 's one of the shorter movies i 've seen this year , it 's one that i would definitely not want to subject myself to sitting thru again .
like i said , the special effects are the only reason that this film should have any sense of pride , no matter how small .
i was impressed with the opening sequence , so long as i did n't allow the melodramatic voice - over and lobotomizing editing
to get to me .
and batman has nothing on the spectacular visuals spawn 's outfit created .
but even the effects got tiresome during the final scenes , which looked quite a bit like a modern video game .
who knows if " spawn : the video game " was n't part of the plan from the beginning ?
keeping in mind that the film was based on a comic book makes it somewhat more approachable , and in a very small amount , makes up for the cheeziness of it all .
but none of this movie 's saving graces can it make it something
i 'd recommend seeing , no matter what the price of admission .
this movie is definitely not for young children , which should n't really be a problem seeing as how only teenagers , if anyone , would likely find it appealing .
if you really want to catch a movie , there are many better ones out there ,
no matter what your tastes might be !
trust me !
" spawn
" has very little to offer even the most avid moviegoers !

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: just look back two years ago at the coen brothers ' comedic gem the big lebowski , change the actors , take away the bowling alley , add a record store , and you 've got high fidelity ( or maybe the other way around since nick hornby 's novel high fidelity came first ) .
either way , it 's been done before , a trio of losers cracking jokes and complaining about their failed romances , yet
it remains consistently funny .
why is this ?
maybe because you know your life is much better than this , you know these guys are more pathetic than you are , and you know its ok to laugh at them because they 're fictional .
director stephen frears , possibly not intentionally , has created a movie that makes you feel good about yourself and even that ostensibly no good uncle who watches television twenty four hours a day .
when watching high fidelity , expect to laugh at someone else 's pain , realize what you are laughing at , and then laugh again .
i laughed at dick ( todd louiso ) , the shy , timorous , steve buscemi character of lebowski , who seems to know what he is talking about but either ca n't put it into words or is harshly rejected by his friends .
i laughed at the john goodman character barry ( jack black ) , an exact replica of the comic bookstore owner on the simpsons , pudgy , egotistic , and obnoxious at the same time .
and i laughed at rob ( john cusack ) , the jeff bridges type , whom the story revolves around .
rob is the character easiest to relate to , but he is nothing like you at all .
he uncontrollably cheats and lies , then is unable to realize why he can not hold onto a woman .
and like his other miserable friends , pop music is where he inevitably goes for comfort .
he spends the afternoons at his job quizzing his coworkers with obscure trivia or listening to new music and either deriding it or praising it .
whatever human emotions the clash , aretha franklin , and bruce springsteen records hold , rob and co .
grasp them and help fill voids in their social lives .
rob has built an extensive collection in his record store as well as his home
and he organizes them depending on what mood he is in .
during this confused stage of his life in which the movie focuses on , rob is trying to cope with numerous rejections over the years by visiting past girlfriends and eventually asking why they dumped him .
but these are n't any girlfriends ?
these girls made the all time top five break ups in the history of rob ( rob 's incessant use of lists show how pop music has played a major role in his life ) .
the plot in three words is : women and music .
the approach director stephen frears takes by having the charismatic rob speak directly to the camera is very effective .
it gives high fidelity a quickly paced , informal structure , adjectives which perfectly parallel rob 's own lifestyle .
it also helps open the viewer 's eyes as to how annoying barry is .
jack black steals the show with a hilariously realistic performance
as a total sleaze ball .
just listening to him speak for five minutes makes the audience immediately sympathetic for rob , who must work with him every day of the week .
what frears does so well is that he makes us feel sorry for rob while laughing at his misfortunes .
john cusack plays his character convincingly
but it is the strong supporting cast , consisting of big stars and character actors , that really defines rob .
now instead of rob just talking to the camera , after he explains something , the remaining cast members physically and humorously create what he is trying to say .
the only problem with high fidelity is that it does n't end when it should have ended .
instead the movie goes on for a torturous twenty minutes that seem a lot longer than that .
also bruce springsteen is completely wasted in a brief cameo halfway through the movie .
high fidelity is a cheerful , old fashioned comedy with a voluminous soundtrack and as many laughs .
i just hope hollywood keeps creating losers on the big screen , they make everyone look and feel great .

SOLUTION:
P