Movie Review: Zookeeper Should Be Considered Cruelty to Audiences

Tracy Bennett/Sony Pictures

Review in a Hurry: Kevin James goes from mall cop to zoo dude, but the results are just as disappointing. He's a guy in love with a gal who's not worth his time, but he has a posse full of animals that can actually speak voiced by Sylvester Stallone and Cher among others. And they're all ready to help him woo his mate.

Little kids might love the critters, but adults will have a hard time caring about the disjointed plot. No one will dig the long running time. How many poop jokes from an Adam Sandler monkey does one film need?

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The Bigger Picture: Ever since his breakout as Will Smith's pal in Hitch, Kevin James has played role after role as the charming guy whose heart is as oversized as his frame. But as seen in Paul Blart and now, Zookeeper, that one mode of acting is not enough.

Griffin (James) has been a zookeeper for nearly a decade, but apparently even in these hard economic times, that awesome-sounding job isn't enough for his shrill girlfriend Stephanie (Leslie Bibb, who must be frustrated that this is the only role she gets anymore). She dumps him the moment he proposes to her. A few years later, Griffin is still working at the zoo, but his ex (who's now older and out of options) is thinking maybe she should have stayed with him. He still loves her (why?), but has no idea how to get her back. Right there, this feels disingenuous. Why does the script by James, Nick Bakay and Rock Reuben need Griffin to bend over backward for his ex if she clearly already wants him back? We're meant to believe it's because he's still got that "loser" job taking care of all those animals. Meanwhile, his coworker looks like Rosario Dawson and loves Griffin for who he is. Riiight.

Eventually this leads to the zoo animals revealing their secret to Griffin. They can talk! (And if you make it to the credits, they can sing...badly.) The CG lip-syncing looks cheap. There's Sly the Lion, Sandler the monkey and Maya Rudolph as a sassy giraffe. All speaking on top of each other. And it never feels like they're having the same conversation.

Odds are little kids won't notice. But all that would be OK if the antics of the zoo weren't disrupted to spend time with Griffin and his human pals like Ken Jeong. It isn't remotely convincing to see Griffin go to a wedding with his beard Rosario to try and make his ex jealous. Either go 100 percent with the talking animals concept or do the rom-com thing. Director Frank Coraci (The Waterboy) never finds the right tone.

As an actor James can't handle the ups and downs of the character. He's got that earnest-guy thing down, but trying to man up or roar like a lion falls flat. Without James to anchor the film, Zookeeper is a botched idea that's mildly diverting at best and a confusing mess at worst.

The 180—a Second Opinion: About halfway thru, Griffin breaks a gorilla out of his cage and heads to a TGI Friday. Nick Nolte providing the voice for the ape is weird and silly in a good way, and this scene is the only moment that feels unexpected and fresh.

PHOTOS: Movie Premiere Pandemonium!

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Movie Review: Winnie the Pooh Is Sweet Like Hunny

Disney Enterprises

Review in a Hurry: It's trickier than it looks to make a movie that offends absolutely nobody, but Winnie the Pooh is as close as it gets. Neither age-inappropriate nor insultingly childish, this classic-feeling throwback (in glorious 2-D hand-drawn animation!) stays true to the beloved characters and the books by A.A. Milne—though in doing so, it's also unavoidably scattershot and short.

MORE: Movie Review: Relax! They Didn't Screw Up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

The Bigger Picture: Not including the animated short that precedes it—in which Billy Connolly narrates the Loch Ness monster's origin story—and the animated end titles (complete with post-credits gag), Winnie the Pooh has a running time of about an hour. To be true to Pooh, one really only can tell short stories, though directors Stephen Anderson and Don Hall jazz things up visually by literally making the book's text come alive, and aurally by casting John Cleese as the omniscient narrator who occasionally addresses the characters directly.

If you're reading this, we can probably safely assume you know the basics of the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh and friends are the stuffed playthings of a young English boy named Christopher Robin, and the "silly old bear" is constantly on the hunt for "hunny." He's alternately assisted and hindered by smarty-pants Owl, scaredy-cat Piglet, obsessive Rabbit, rambunctious Tigger, depressive Eeyore and the lovingly familial mother-son team of Kanga and Roo. In the unlikely event that you somehow escaped childhood not knowing any of that, find a nearby kid and have them explain.

The movie mostly deals with the search for Eeyore's lost tail, as well as a missing Christopher Robin who is presumed to have been abducted by a mythical beast called the Backson (a misreading of a note that says "back soon"). It's a plot familiar to Milne readers and thin material for a feature, but you can't just go writing a new story willy-nilly without alienating a massive chunk of the audience: young'uns who'll nitpick every deviation from the source. Yet the story is so episodic that it feels like it was designed to be started and stopped on the DVD player at any point, to be easily resumed without any confusion. That's not necessarily a criticism, but nor is it a wholehearted endorsement of a full-price admission purchase to the big-screen presentation.

New songs written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Richard Lopez and sometimes Zooey Deschanel are charming and fit the whimsical tone, though Deschanel's rendition of the classic theme song may be an acquired taste. The new voice actors are universally good, with Jim Cummings a near-dead ringer for the late Sterling Holloway and Craig Ferguson channeling his old Drew Carey Show persona for Owl.

Whether this movie serves as an introduction to Pooh or a refresher, kids should love it and you won't feel bad about them loving it. But you can easily wait for DVD—if you have children of your own, you'll end up buying it anyway.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Unlike the feature, that Nessie short really is only for the very young, and with its moral that crying for days on end solves your problem it perhaps is not one you want tantrum-prone tots to take to heart.

PHOTOS: Flick Pics: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

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Movie Review: Secret's Out! Super 8 Ain't So Super

Francois Duhamel/Paramount Pictures

Review in a Hurry: Remember how the writers of Lost kept saying something to the effect of "It's not about the mystery, it's about the characters"? Keep that in mind if you go to Super 8 expecting a monster movie. Writer-director J.J. Abrams' muddled tribute to '80s Spielberg does indeed feature well-rounded human beings, but mostly forgets to put them in an interesting story.

MORE! So many Super 8 sneak peeks!

The Bigger Picture: We hate to say it, but while Abrams was trying to channel E.T., The Goonies, and The Monster Club, he accidentally ended up reminding us of M. Night Shyamalan instead. The faux-secretive marketing should have clued us in, but there's little doubt after the long, slow build-up that goes out of its way to avoid showing us the thing we really want to see.

Especially when it's followed by some horribly ham-handed exposition, by way of old recordings that conveniently pause for the benefit of the contemporary characters listening to them. Not to mention an unpleasantly stupid final revelation that makes much of what came before feel illogical.

So what's this thing actually about? Not a lot more than you likely already know. Four kids—one motherless, one fat, one a pyromaniac, and one a wuss—set out to make a zombie movie that they can enter in a short-film contest. This being 1979, their medium of choice is super 8. It's also the medium of choice for home movies and government files, both of which feature in the plot later.

To obtain the use of a car, the gang manage to persuade a girl (Elle Fanning, pretty much the only familiar actor here) to join their cast, and they're surprised when she turns out to be really good. But right when her key take is happening, a train goes by, and crashes in grand style. Amid the debris can be found strange metallic objects. Also, something has escaped. If you surmise that the kids' camera accidentally caught it on film, you're already way ahead of them.

Abrams spends most of the movie on the kids' interpersonal dynamics, love of horror movies, and small-town life, while sadistically keeping the whatever-it-is creature offscreen as if this were a 1950s movie where the monster suit might look dangerously cheap unless confined to the shadows. When we finally get a good look, the ensuing moments play like pale imitations of Tobe Hooper's 1986 Invaders from Mars remake.

It's a shame, because the kids are reasonably compelling, and we'd care more about their personal stuff if this were not a movie with a giant creature on the loose. The balance is all wrong. However, if you think you might relate in a very personal way (were you making cheesy home movies and painting monster model kits in '79?), it may hit you just right. Stay through the end credits for the best part.

The 180—a Second Opinion: The good thing about Abrams selling his movies on the hook of a high-concept mystery is that the cast is filled with unknowns, which makes it harder to predict who'll die.

PHOTOS! Super 8 flick pics

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Movie Review: The Hangover Part II? What Happened in Vegas Should've Stayed in Vegas

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Review in a Hurry: Same story, different city. The Wolfpack is back for more morning-after madness, though this time a destination wedding leads to one whack night in Bangkok. Despite a few ha-has from the ensuing brouhaha, this buzz-kill follow-up suffers from a pervasive sense of been there, drunk that.

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The Bigger Picture: Sure, it's great to hang with the boys from the hilarious sleeper hit of 2009. But dudes, we want a sequel with real surprises, not a retread that slavishly follows the formula and structure of the original. That level of familiarity breeds more contempt than comedy.

The film's running it's-happening-again joke works only the first time, when Phil (Bradley Cooper) calls the wedding party to report things have gone horribly awry. We flashback a week earlier as Phil and friends Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) jet to Thailand to attend their buddy Stu's (Ed Helms) nuptials at a seaside resort.

To avoid any Vegas-style debauchery, Stu forgoes the bachelor party, but two nights before the ceremony, he agrees to one beer on the beach with his buds. For reasons we learn later (and it's a weak device), the guys are drugged again and wake up in a seedy Bangkok hotel with no memory of what happened.

This time they've misplaced Stu's future brother-in-law, teenaged Teddy (Mason Lee), and their panicked search involves a silent Buddhist monk, Russian thugs, Thai strippers, and a drug-dealing monkey. You know a movie's in trouble when it relies on monkey antics for gags.

Helms tries to infuse some manic energy, and man-child Galifianakis deadpans a few amusing lines, though they sound mined from his standup act. Mostly this forced, not-so-funny adventure just puts the guys through the humiliating paces before the inevitable, predictable payoff.

Also adding to the déjà vu, kooky Chow (Ken Jeong) acts all crazy and goes full monty, while Mike Tyson, who should never ever sing, makes the requisite cameo.

A totally unnecessary trip. What happened in Vegas should've stayed in Vegas.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Our favorite merlot-hating wine snob Paul Giamatti guests as an enigmatic crime boss. With that menacing glare and quick-trigger temper, he should definitely play more heavies.

SNEAK A PEEK! Tons o' The Hangover Part II pics

(Originally published May 26, 2011, at 3:05 p.m. PT)

photo source: HD Wallpapers

Movie Review: Captain America May Be Ripped, but His Movie's Still a 98-Pound Weakling

Jay Maidment / Marvel Studios/Paramount Pictures

Review in a Hurry: One of Marvel Comics' oldest heroes receives the big-screen treatment in a WWII period pic. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) becomes Captain America after he takes an experimental serum and transforms from a 98-pound asthmatic into a dude with serious muscles and really blonde hair. The perfect guy to fight the S.S. officer Red Skull who wants to rule the world!

But with cheap production value, a generic story and powers that barely feel all that super, the first Avenger is a weak superhero flick in a summer that's seen a dud (Green Lantern) and a hit (X-Men: First Class).

MORE: Captain America Sneak Peeks: A Snazzy Shield May Be the Best Sidekick Ever

The Bigger Picture: After a kinda cool opening in the present day where Cap's shield is found frozen in the Arctic, the story goes back 70 years—back to war. The period detail (old cars! women called dames!) is only a little more convincing than a theme park ride.

So we're stuck watching director Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer) merge his love for Hogan's Heroes gags with GI Joe-level action. That sounds like at least campy fun, right? It's not.

One of the biggest issues is that Captain America isn't all that super. When, for the first time, Captain has his official government-issued suit and Howard Stark's (Iron Man's dad!) red, white and blue Vibranium shield, he hurtles into the world of...montage? Seriously? We miss the action and have to settle for cinematic short change. When we do witness an actual scene, he's just a guy with a gun and a shield who's stronger than your average soldier.

And then there's Red Skull (a hammy Hugo Weaving) who's scientific tampering made his face look like a bad Halloween mask but gave him a good nickname. His obsession with the occult has led to the discovery of some blue energy that he loads into guns and bombs. Great, so the period flavor is ruined once the Nazis start shooting ray guns. Again, this sounds like silly fun that might satisfy kids. For the rest of us, nothing's ever that exciting and everything is fairly predictable.

Evans wears the suit well. It's just that the character of Captain America is paper-thin. Actually, worse than that. He starts with a bit of an arc thanks to the weakling with a big heart who won't back down angle, but once he dons the suit, that goes out the window.

There are some highlights: Tommy Lee Jones as a de facto, cranky military man earns some chuckles, and Samuel L. Jackson's required cameo as Nick Fury is great.

Converted 3-D? No, it's not worth the extra price. Like Thor the conversion is actually solid, but the world of the first Avenger isn't enhanced by an extra D.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Early on, the U.S. Army decides Cap's better as a symbol for the war effort than an actual hero. So he tours with the Rockettes and thrills really young kids while the GIs keep their eyes on the gals. This entertaining retro scene actually works. And then it's over...

PHOTOS: 2011 Comic-Con Star Sightings

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Movie Review: Selena Gomez Brings Sugary Disney Sweetness to Europe in Monte Carlo

Larry Horricks/Twentieth Century Fox

Review in a Hurry: Tween idol Selena Gomez tackles not one, but two roles for her big-screen adventure, playing both a Texas waitress who travels to Paris and the snotty, rich, tabloid celebrity whom she gets mistaken for. Along the way, she ends up crushing on some dude with a crazy 'do, naturally.

A flick with a Disney star usually means broad humor, but thankfully the laughs come without pratfalls. Selena fans will be pleased that she's just as spunky as ever. Parents will not be bored...at least? too much.

MORE: Get our review of Transformers: Dark of the Moon!

The Bigger Picture: Grace (Gomez) dreams of getting out of her small Texas town. She's spent four years working at a diner saving for her dream trip to Paris with her BFF Emma (Katie Cassidy). Mom (Andie MacDowell) is anxious for her daughter to see the world but has one condition: Her older stepsister, Meg (Leighton Meester), will be the trip's chaperone. Meester (Blair from Gossip Girl) makes with her brand of know-it-all sass.

But when the trio enter a ritzy motel to get out of the rain, Grace gets the royal treatment. Turns out she's a ringer for British socialite Cordelia Winthrop Scott. So Grace impersonates! Don't feel bad for Cordelia though, as it comes as no surprise that she's a grade-A jerk. Although, as Cordelia we're not sure why Gomez sounds like a snotty version of Angelina Jolie...but...just go with it.

Gomez might be the stunner in a fancy evening gown, but it's CW alumnae Meester and Cassidy (Supernatural, Melrose Place) who shine. Meester can make any role more interesting than it deserves. Cassidy plays a gal from a small town who loves shiny, pretty things. Her enthusiasm feels genuine.

So maybe it's not Gomez to blame but the character of Grace. Grace feels some remorse for her identity thievery but only at the very end of the movie. After all, there are those lovely dresses to be worn, boys to swoon over and did we mention a $3 million necklace that gets "misplaced." Of course it does.

In the spirit of situational comedy, the "OMG! What do we do next?!" kind, the script clicks. What young gal wouldn't want the opportunity to be famous, have it all and party in a gorgeous place like Monte Carlo? Director Thomas Bezucha filmed on location in Paris and Monte Carlo, and both look superb.

The film's lessons on friendship and growing up are effective. Nothing's ever as dire as things were for those sisters of the traveling pants, but that's fine. Sometimes girls just want to have fun.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Glee's Cory Monteith plays Owen, boyfriend to Cassidy's Emma. In a subplot that sidetracks the fun, he travels to Paris to declare his true love for her. Monteith is solid, but cutting away from the three gals living it up in Europe is distracting.

PHOTOS: Totally New Releases!

(Originally published June 30, 2011, at 6 p.m. PT)

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Movie Review: The Smurfs Is a Giant Smurfing Pile of Smurf

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Animation

Review in a Hurry: It's a Smurfs movie. What did you expect? If your answer is "a kid-friendly adaptation of the Peyo comics," you're not thinking enough like a Hollywood executive. There's more character and expressiveness in the cartoon drawings over the film's end credits than is shown at any other point. But on the bright side, at least some of the actors actually try to make it all work.

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The Bigger Picture: Yes, this really is the epitome of cynical studio cash grabs that it appears to be. Take a property with brand-name identification, throw a ton of money and a couple of name actors at it, add in some inappropriately adult-themed stuff for parents and a shoehorned-in moral for kids. Then make sure there's product placement galore, as well as prominent usage of some of the same classic-rock songs that are in everything.

Voila: The Smurfs.

The Hanna-Barbera cartoon that this is most based upon was never really that good to begin with; it was a preposterous fantasy tale for kids, offering little to remember beyond the infernally catchy "La, la, la-la-la la" theme song. It'd be easier to forgive this live-action/animated adaptation, however, if it kept the kids in mind, perhaps by telling a tale set in that realm of wizards and monsters, featuring the Smurfs' traditional (and young) human pals Johan and Peewit/Peewee.

Instead, because of the idea that parents should be marketed to as well, the Smurfs have to leave medieval Europe via an accidentally generated magic portal and come to modern-day New York City, where they can involve themselves in the life of a put-upon marketing strategist (Neil Patrick Harris) and his pregnant wife (Jayma Mays). Along the way, of course we have to put up with gratuitous references to other films, including some mature titles that are really jarring in this context (Midnight Cowboy, Brokeback Mountain, Braveheart).

Harris works hard to make the movie work, at one point literally pointing out every single absurdity of the Surfs' entire existence, which makes for a funny moment despite undermining the whole premise.

Hank Azaria's hammy, evil wizard Gargamel, here augmented with an odd foreign accent, is a hoot, particularly when interacting with his occasionally digital feline sidekick Azrael. And among the Smurfs, special props to Fred Armisen, whose impersonation of the original Brainy Smurf's voice is far better than any mimicry the SNL star has ever done before.

All else feels forced, from the plot points to the unrealistic behavior of every major human character to the stagey nature of the pratfalls. It isn't desperately painful to sit through, but you're likely to hate yourself if you pay for it.

The 180—a Second Opinion: An early moment with the Smurfs flying on storks is both faithful to the source and thrilling in 3-D. Everything most of the movie isn't.

PHOTOS: Movies From the Future!

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Movie Review: Cowboys & Aliens Needs Better Aliens, More Cowboys

Universal Studios/DreamWorks

Review in a Hurry: Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford make a great onscreen team...so who thought it would be a great idea to just totally split them up for most of this movie? Was it you, director Jon Favreau? You used to be better than this. A handful of good scenes do not a great movie make.

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The Bigger Picture: Craig plays an outlaw named Jake Lonergan, who has lost his memory and woken up with a strange metal device on his wrist. He seems like a natural good guy, but he has a dark past. Ford is Dolarhyde, a small-town big-shot who is widely disliked, both for not suffering failure well and for letting his alcoholic nutcase of a son (Paul Dano) get away with anything he likes. Yet beneath it all, the old grump has a soft side.

When metal flying things attack the town, scorching cattle and abducting humans, it's team-up time. But James Bond and Indiana Jones don't work all that well together, at least at first. Some epic staredowns and face-punches ensue. For a mismatched buddy movie, this is a good start.

Shame, then, that this isn't that kind of movie. Craig is soon paired off with Olivia Wilde (playing a tough cookie who hides a ridiculous secret) while Ford is left to hang with a dozen or so other characters who get established with no payoff. Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Keith Carradine and Clancy Brown are among the more notable supporting players left without much material, but they're far from the only ones.

Ford, who so often sleepwalks through generic hero parts these days, shows some real fire as a more ambiguous figure, lighting up the action (emotional and physical) when he can. Then the narrative cuts away from him and momentum gets lost again.

Poor pacing isn't the only problem. The aliens are really ineptly thought out compared to the cowboy side of the equation. Their motivations are silly, as is their biologically unlikely anatomy. Like the creature in Super 8, many of the things they do serve immediate story needs without making any sense once the grand scheme is unveiled.

Director Favreau used to have a good feel for genuine emotion. Think of the fraternal bonding in Zathura, or the daddy issues in Elf. Sad to say, he now falls for easier shortcuts, using a manipulative and treacly score to enunciate moments that haven't earned their weight.

But damn, that wrist-blaster thingy Craig wears is cool. Every kid who sees this will want one.

The 180—a Second Opinion: If it performs decently at the box office and a sequel is made that understands the Ford-Craig pairing is what makes things work as well as they do, all might not be in vain.

PHOTOS: Movies From the Future

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Movie Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love All Kinds of Crazy, Stupid Fantastic

Warner Bros. Pictures

Review in a Hurry: Steve Carell is a sad sack suburbanite. Ryan Gosling an über-cool urbanite. And both extremes find themselves in a romantic comedy about finding one's soul mate. Crazy, Stupid, Love supplies plenty of laughs but truly impresses in the low-key moments, revealing genuine warmth for its characters.

That they look like Emma Stone, Julianne Moore and Kevin Bacon is just an added bonus.

WATCH: New Ides of March Trailer: Vote George Clooney in 2011!

The Bigger Picture: Fortysomething Cal (Carell) has bailed on his life. After his spouse of 25 years (Moore) tells him she wants a divorce—and that she slept with another man (Bacon)—Cal literally falls out of a moving vehicle. So he starts hanging out at a singles bar where he meets Jacob (Gosling), a smooth thirtysomething who gets every woman he hits on.

Jacob decides Cal needs his help, partly because Jacob is a nice guy but mostly because he's simply tired of having to hear Cal whine on night after night about his failed marriage.

Let the man makeover begin!

"Be better than The Gap!" is Jacob's mantra.

Cal's transformation leads to one of the film's highlights. A random encounter with a "crazy" gal played by Marisa Tomei (hilarious and unpredictable). The setup is familiar—lonely dude gets freaky with a freaky gal—but Carell convinces as a big bundle of nerves and joy. Funny? Absolutely, but better than that, it's hard not to root for the guy.

Structurally, we're constantly dropping in and out of the lives of people who are all in some way or another obsessed with finding "the one." (Except Cal, who believes he did that 25 years ago and just wants her back.) As is standard for these stories, the characters lives seem unrelated, linked only by the city they reside in: a suburban-feeling Los Angeles.

While Crazy is an ensemble it's Cal's struggle to be the man his wife fell in love many years ago that resonates most. Carell is superb, never letting the jokes get in the way from allowing us to sympathize with Cal's heart ache.

Ryan Gosling has impressed as an actor (Blue Valentine), but Jacob might be his most likable part. He exudes the confidence of a star. Which is why when he admits to shopping QVC 24/7 it's still cool.

The supporting roles are all well cast. Stone (Easy A) is frazzled and lovely as a single gal. Moore makes her character's infidelity heartbreaking. Watch for a cameo by singer Josh Groban, schmucking it up as lousy boyfriend.

Peeling away the layers these people think they are in order to reveal the better person they can be ties the whole film together. This could have gone really cheesy, really fast. Some of the situations do seem born from a sitcom—like a teen babysitter who has a crush on Cal and whose son has a crush on her—but the script by Dan Fogelman and direction by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa slows things down to just observe their lives.

Past the crazy, and the stupid, is just a whole lotta love, actually.

The 180—a Second Opinion: A few scenes play way too big. Like, a car chase (really?) that feels out of place. Why do so many comedies feel the need to deliver such big moments when a story with characters we relate to makes pratfall gags unnecessary?

PHOTOS: Movies From the Future

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Movie Review: Horrible Bosses Is Funny, but Doesn't Let Its Cast Go All Out

John P. Johnson/New Line Cinema

Review in a Hurry: A gender-switched take on 9 to 5, Bosses follows three doofus dudes who conspire to kill their execrable supervisors and fail miserably. Though sporadically funny, this revenge comedy about emasculated males in the workplace is more talk when it should go balls-out insane.

MORE: Jennifer Aniston: "She's Like a Crazy Diva Sex Machine!"

The Bigger Picture: We're still feeling the effect of The Hangover—not just in that beat-by-beat copycat sequel, but in the myriad recent, raunchy, R-rated comedies. Case in point: Horrible Bosses, which also features a buddy trio bumbling through an out-of-control situation. Unfortunately, the pic never takes full advantage of its demented characters and talented cast.

The leads remain vague types: The ambitious, level-headed one, Nick (Jason Bateman), gets screwed over by his slimy manager (Kevin Spacey, riffing on his Swimming With Sharks persona). The horndog, Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), discovers his company's cokehead owner (Colin Farrell) is hell-bent on destroying his career. And then there's scattered, passive Dale (Charlie Day, the screechy love child of Bobcat Goldthwait and Zach Galifianakis), who's sexually harassed by a man-eater dentist (Jennifer Aniston).

At the breaking point but unable to quit, the friends plot to off these monsters but have no luck hiring an assassin. Instead, they take advice from an ex-con (Jamie Foxx), who suggests they kill each other's boss to avoid being tied to the crime.

Lean and mean to this point, the movie gets flabby and loses its footing. As inept killers, the guys can fumble, but the humor can't. The script swings a big bat—hitting some jokes, missing others—when you really want it to slay with a darker, sharper sword.

The three men have a fun, easy chemistry and do rack up laughs with their increasingly neurotic ranting. Spacey, Farrell, and Aniston appear to have a blast playing evil, though only Spacey's role gets a worthy story. And unfortunately, the female characters, including Aniston's, are merely frat-boy fantasies of sexually aggressive nymphs.

If Bosses had worked harder, it could've been promoted from "not horrible" to "kick ass."

The 180—a Second Opinion: Why cast the wonderful Donald Sutherland and then give him only a handful of lines right before he croaks in an offscreen car crash? What a weird waste.

PHOTOS: Movie Premiere Pandemonium!

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Movie Review: Bad Teacher a Surprising Overachiever

Sony Pictures

Review in a Hurry: Lazy teachers and P.E. coaches are among the most universally reviled figures in America, so it's quite a trick to make a comedy in which audiences laugh with them, especially when they're this gleefully amoral. Cameron Diaz' unrepentant anti-heroine won't be to everybody's taste, but to viewers sick of being force-fed inspirational lessons who are looking to mentally flip the bird at authority, this will hit the spot.

RELATED: Cam gets squirrely with Letterman; Tom Hanks is a Latin dance machine

The Bigger Picture: If Diaz' character Elizabeth Halsey were a man, she'd be Stone Cold Steve Austin. Openly booze-swilling, authority-flouting and unabashed about using her physical gifts when necessary, she may be politically incorrect but she's not evil. Given the right circumstances, she can deliver appropriately tough love, but has no patience for stupid and/or hypocritical people, i.e., most of the folks in her immediate vicinity.

Forced back into the dispiriting world of education after her jellyfish fiance kicks her to the curb, Elizabeth wants to stay in the school system only long enough to buy herself a boob job and land a rich sugardaddy. She sees a potential opening when doofus heir-in-waiting Scott (Justin Timberlake) takes a teaching position as a feeble stab at self-improvement. But this becomes a problem when he falls for Elizabeth's rival, a Sarah Palin-esque Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch, putting herself on the star-making map), a deceptively cutesy overachiever with a ruthless side. Meanwhile, gym teacher Russell (Jason Segel) keeps hitting on Elizabeth anyway, seeing in her a cynical soulmate, though he can offer her little in the way of income.

Bad Teacher's obvious inspiration is Bad Santa, with which it shares a carefree, screw-the-man attitude. Unlike that film, however, it has little desire to culminate in a big setpiece, or punish its protagonist for misdeeds. The amorality on display may offend some viewers, as will the anti-PC tone on the other side. Too bad for them. This is cinema as wish fulfillment, the kind of thing we only fantasize about getting away with in the workplace ourselves. Just as kids may see Green Lantern and dream of flying into space while generating giant green weapons, parents dream of being hot and unanswerable to anybody. Elizabeth is their summer superhero.

Timberlake's performance is a bit of an odd item, though: it's hard to tell whether his character's behavior is meant as a put-on. We're rooting for a DVD commentary that explains this a little more.

The 180–A Second Opinion: Director Jake Kasdan occasionally loses all sense of pace, as with an extended Dangerous Minds riff that starts off funny, goes too long, then abruptly ends.

PHOTOS: There's always something to look forward to in our Movies From the Future gallery

(Originally published Jun 23, 2011, at 7:01 p.m. PT)

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Movie Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon Is Too Much, but Still Not Enough!

Paramount Pictures

Review in a Hurry: The third live-action Transformers film features some stupidly amazing action, but falls short storywise in its lack of a decent villain. Also, while the much ballyhooed 3-D does force director Michael Bay to cool it on the quick cuts, it's not as effectively utilized as in, say, Green Lantern or Kung Fu Panda 2.

RELATED! Shia confirms Megan Fox hookup!

The Bigger Picture: Despite a phenomenally huge take at the box office, Revenge of the Fallen was generally perceived to be as hated as Jar Jar Binks, and so movie three goes back to the formula of the first film, with downtown Chicago getting trashed instead of whatever fictional city downtown L.A. was supposed to be in part one.

Unfortunately, it also duplicates the original's skimpy use of arch-villain Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving), who has a cool new look but almost no effect on the plot whatsoever—it's as if Weaving were only available for one day in the recording booth.

The vast majority of machine villainy this time comes courtesy of generic drones, with newcomer Shockwave (voiced by original Megatron Frank Welker) registering less as a character than the giant robot sandworm he rides.

On the human side, Patrick Dempsey makes a species-appropriate foe for Shia LaBeouf's Sam, who's now living in D.C. looking for his first job, while shacking up with new girlfriend Carly (model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in her big acting debut, managing to pull off being sweet, at least). The plot involves an alternate history of the space race, complete with awkward splice-ups of actual news footage of presidents (prior and current) and badly made-up actors of same.

Original Autobot leader Sentinel Prime (voice of Leonard Nimoy, who's excellent) is still buried on the moon; when the current crop of Transformers goes on a mission to revive him, a master plan involving a long-dormant ultimate weapon kicks into gear.

And this wouldn't be a Michael Bay Transformers movie without a broad range of total stereotypes. New robots on the good-side come in Irish, Cockney, and Spanish caricatures, while Alan Tudyk reprises his irritating gay-German shtick from 28 Days as John Turturro's random new sidekick (Ken Jeong, of all people, comes off as one of the most restrained performers in the film). On both the man and machine side, the story such as it is gets moved forward by totally new characters we've never seen before but are expected to accept as longtime allies. At times, this feels like The Room with robots.

All the action stuff is suitably epic and has seemingly been staged with criticisms of the other movies in mind. There are more wide shots to establish the geography of the robot fights, and the combatants come in more colors than gray—heck, a couple of the Autobots, being NASCAR-styled, have giant advertisements on their chests.

Is it glorious excess?

Yes...unless you're a fan of Megatron or Starscream. If this is truly the end of a trilogy, its main antagonists should have played more of a part.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Some really dubious moralizing towards the end comes off as unnecessarily, wrong-headedly political. If this is all meant to be an allegory for current events, it's a murky one at best.

SNEAK A PEEK! At Dark of the Moon photos

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Movie Review: Judy Moody One Bummer of a Summer Flick

Suzanne Tenner/ Judy Moody Productions, LLC

Review in a Hurry: A majorly über uncool bummer summer movie for kids, this not-awesome outing follows the adventures of the precocious, titular tomboy from the popular book series. Something got sooo totally lost in the translation from page to screen—like humor and charm.

MORE: Five Things We (Finally!) Know About Super 8

The Bigger Picture: Poor Judy Moody just can't win any "thrill points" in her dare race with friends. Similarly, Judy Moody—no matter how many super-duper slangarific superlatives and acronyms it hurls (not to mention pukes and poops)—just can't garner any excitement or LOLs.

Newcomer Jordana Beatty plays the ultra-manic third grader who dreams up the ultimate summer vacay for her gang. But two BFFs already have other plans, so Judy has to make do with a second-best friend and her pesky younger brother, Stink (Parris Mosteller). Things get even worse when Judy's parents take off for California, and she has to stay behind with Aunt Opal (Heather Graham, sunny and lovely in gobs of hair extensions), whom she's never met.

With help from hippy-dippy artist Opal, Judy tries to salvage her summer by challenging pals to a contest of dares. But all her activities go awry: She falls in the creek while walking a tightrope, almost eats an animal-scat sandwich and gets spewed with blue barf on a rollercoaster. Mega thrilladelic, right? All the while, Stink obsessively hunts for Bigfoot, who's reportedly been spotted in their Virginia suburb.

Instead of breezy and fun (the way a not-bummer summer should be!), Judy Moody is grating and desperate, like Beatty's incessant whining, and strains for laughs that never come. The sight gags are silly and familiar, even to a young audience.

Director John Schultz amps up the ADD-addled effect with his swooping camera, gumball-colored design, and animated sequences. Adding to the disjointed randomness is an episodic script that plays as if pages from disparate chapters were braided together.

Final frames hint at a Judy Moody sequel set in Paris. Non, non, s'il vous pla?t—we're still reeling from a Bangkok hangover!

The 180—a Second Opinion: Ever wanted to know what a grown-up Urkel looks like, sans suspenders? Here's your chance! Family Matters' Jaleel White plays Judy's odd-duck teacher, Mr. Todd.

PHOTOS: Movie Premiere Pandemonium!

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Movie Review: X-Men: First Class a Surprisingly Swingin' Good Time

Murray Close/Twentieth Century Fox

Review in a Hurry: The prequel none of us thought we wanted turns out to be more of a fun time than anybody expected. A return to form for the X-flicks, this semi-prequel/reboot remembers above all else to be fun, without any gross bastardizations to the source (like the portrayal of Deadpool in the Wolverine movie).

It also allows Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy and January Jones (among many others) to increase their degree of proximity to Kevin Bacon, who plays the villain.

X-MEN 101: Meet the mutants!

The Bigger Picture: Best not to worry exactly how this new movie fits in to the existing cinematic continuity, as it features some crowd-pleasing, deliberate shoutouts to the Bryan Singer films while also containing significant contradictions.

Probably the best way to look at it is as a Star Trek-style alternate timeline; First Class opens with the same scene that began the original X-Men, then veers in another direction that suggests what Marvel comics fans might recognize as a "What if...?" tale.

Setting the story back in the '60s doesn't make for as much change as one might expect. The X-Men are still technologically way ahead of the rest of the world, and have their blackbird jet years before anybody else. But you know what decade it is by two major signifiers. Villain Sebastian Shaw (Bacon) has a swinging sense of decoration Austin Powers would envy, while his master plan to create the Cuban missile crisis and accelerate it into nuclear war is total retro-Bond baddie. It even builds credible tension despite the fact that we know how it all worked out.

Meanwhile, we get the usual Malcolm X-MLK allegory between Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and his newest friend Erik (Michael Fassbender), both of whom will be Professor X and Magneto by movie's end (not really a spoiler, folks, seriously). Placed back in time, the debate over violence versus integration feels more specific to civil rights, while talk of atomic power having brought the mutants into being is a nice throwback to sci-fi movies of the era.

Perhaps surprisingly, the dominant relationship onscreen is the dynamic between Xavier and Mystique (Lawrence) who in this telling are adoptive brother and sister. She's also a bit more modesty-prone than her future self, but it's her arc that's more important than that of Magneto, who's pretty much out for blood from square one (and not without good reason—audiences may well cheer the deaths of his first few victims).

Other standouts in the cast include Lucas Till as psycho-jock Havok, and Nicholas Hoult as the ironically punished Beast. Less impressive is January Jones as Emma Frost, whose periodic morphs into a human chandelier make more of an impression than the lines she delivers. Fans of character actors, meanwhile, will see a veritable who's who among the armed forces brass: Michael Ironside, Ray Wise, Glenn Morshower, James Remar, Rade Sherbedgia...as far as movie militaries go, these guys are decorated veterans.

Overall, though, it's Fassbender's coming-out role as a true movie star—rather than blending into the character, as he's done so well in Hunger and Inglourious Basterds, he exudes leading-man charisma. Director Matthew Vaughn did this for a pre-Bond Daniel Craig in Layer Cake, and he knows what he's doing now.

The 180—a Second Opinion: There's one uncomfortable climactic moment of similarity between this and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, above and beyond the use of significant historical nuclear crisis. Mercifully, it is handled better this time.

SNEAK A PEEK! X-Men: First Class pics

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Movie Review: Green Lantern a Cold Clutter of Clichés

Warner Bros. Entertainment

Review in a Hurry: Not so super. Ryan Reynolds bulks up and suits up to play the popular DC Comics character, a top gun turned superhero. For all the talk of conquering fear and harnessing energy, Lantern ironically plays it safe and gets grounded by a leaden, spiritless adaptation.

WATCH NOW! The best of the Green Lantern premiere

The Bigger Picture: Green might be the color of willpower, per the Lantern lore, but it's also the color of money. Warner Bros. has invested gobs in this potential cash-cow franchise, and though Lantern glitters like gold, with an attractive cast and razzle-dazzle effects, it's ultimately as cold and by-the-numbers as a profit calculator.

In the clichéd setup, pilot Hal Jordan (Reynolds) is a reckless daredevil in the sky and a cocksure cad on the ground. During a test flight, he freezes up while flashing back to his dad's death (expository much?) and risks being fired by childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), now an aerospace exec in tight pencil skirts.

Meanwhile, out in the Universe, an evil entity named Parallax (the film's coolest effect) destroys a member of the Green Lantern Corps, the intergalactic squadron of peacekeepers. Surprisingly, Hal is chosen to replace the dead warrior, but can this reluctant recruit, even with a ring that grants him special powers, overcome his fears to defeat Parallax and save the Earth?

Reynolds and his usually reliable charisma can't stand up to the rote script—with typical shrieking/morphing and training sequences—and CGI wizardry, which becomes increasingly videogame-like. He and Lively strike few sparks together, and though Carol is a former pilot, she gets sidelined as the pretty woman-in-waiting. Also flirted with (but abandoned) are themes of corporate and political corruption—the film is more intent on bombastic spectacle.

The cast's standout is Peter Sarsgaard, almost unrecognizable as bulbous-headed professor/scientist Hector Hammond. Infected by Parallax, Hector indulges his anger/daddy issues by trying to kill Senator Hammond (Tim Robbins in oily politician mode) with a helicopter crash. Sarsgaard's quirky performance and that nifty set piece offer glimmers of excitement in an otherwise dim Lantern.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Always ebullient Angela Bassett makes a welcome appearance.

PHOTOS: Green Lantern Premiere: Red Carpet Roundup

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Movie Review: Cars 2 Kicks Into Overdrive for a Fun-Packed Trip Around the World

Disney

Review in a Hurry: This souped-up sequel kicks it into high gear with new characters, slick animation and a global espionage caper. Though not the winningest Pixar entry ever, Cars 2 should still pull ahead of box-office competitors and thrill young racing fans with high-octane action.

MORE: How do all the Pixar movies stack up?

The Bigger Picture: Trading in the small-town setting and Doc Hollywood formula of the original, Cars 2 pimps out its ride with an international, James Bond-esque makeover. The film's exotic locales allow for some impressive visuals and set pieces, but the convoluted spy storyline might leave little ones in the dust.

Racecar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and his tow-truck buddy Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) head overseas when McQueen accepts a challenge to compete in the World Grand Prix. The high-profile face-off involves multiple showdowns on the raceways of Japan, Italy, France and England.

Their plans take a detour when Mater is mistakenly ensnared in a top-secret mission headed by English spy Finn McMissile (go-to Brit actor Michael Caine) and rookie agent Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). McQueen and Mater's friendship gets tested during the ensuing carfuffle, and they have to band together to solve a nefarious car-killing conspiracy before the final finish line.

For the most part, Cars 2 shifts smoothly between action and humor and gets comedic mileage from Mater's fish-outta-water antics. One notably funny bit involves his wasabi fail and a confused visit to a bathroom stall with bidet.

Pixar's animation hits top speed, of course, especially in the dazzling Tokyo sequences, as neon signage reflects off the multicolored racecars and rain-soaked streets. In addition to the eye candy, exciting underwater pursuits and nifty spy gadgets should keep kids on the edge of their car seats.

But like many other sequels that over-throttle, Cars 2 nearly veers off track with its packed narrative. A plotline involving alternative fuel gets needlessly complex, and the warm-fuzzy just-be-yourself message is well-worn and wedged in.

Still, Cars 2 is worth the trip, even if you don't need to zoom-zoom to theaters on opening weekend.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Some folks might be offended by the cultural stereotypes, which include evil German autos that capture and gas Mater. Holy heil!

PHOTOS: Movie Premiere Pandemonium!

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Movie Review: Friends With Benefits Is the First Decent Rom-Com in, Like, Forever

Sony Pictures

Review in a Hurry: Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis prove that insanely attractive twentysomethings can have it all! Including each other! And a pretty funny movie! Obvious? Maybe, but just a few months ago the same premise was an epic fail for Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher.

MORE! Justin Timberlake surprises crowd at Comic-Con

The Bigger Picture: Funny dialogue helps. A strong supporting cast, including an inspired Woody Harrelson, helps too. J.T. and Kunis have great chemistry—both between the sheets and out of them—playing too smart for their own good types who spend their time deconstructing romantic comedies. But can the script stay formula-free?

Nah, but that's OK.

New York headhunter Jamie (Kunis) and L.A. dotcom wunderkind Dylan (Timberlake) both just got dumped. Their soon-to-be exes (nice cameos by Andy Samberg and Emma Stone) have similar complaints: too focused on their careers and too dysfunctional to function. Lucky for Jamie and Dylan they soon meet each other. (She lands him a swanky job at GQ magazine.)

Millennial media savvy Dylan and cute as heck Jamie know the rules of romantic comedies. They decide they'll do everything they can to avoid any future relationship messiness. They still need a partner for purely physical reasons so why not each other? The sexy is back.

And wow, is it ever. There's plenty of um, benefits in the film.

Easy A director Will Gluck, working with a script he cowrote with Keith Merryman and David A. Newman, spends a lot of time examining why so many rom-coms fail. One scene has Jamie and Dylan watching a fake film starring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones. Jamie goes off on Goofy Music Syndrome, manipulating audiences to feel happy, sad, etc. At times, it seems one "rule" away from Kevin Williams' Scream territory, but since Kunis and Timberlake are such fun to hang with, we hardly care.

Woody Harrelson pops up as an openly gay sports editor at GQ. Shaun White shows up as a crazy rage-filled version of his persona. The results are some of the film's best scenes.

Of the too sexy pairing, Kunis is the more experienced actor. As a result her character is burdened with a bit more of the dramatic stuff. Have no fear though, even in Black Swan, Kunis knew how to keep things loose and entertaining.

Timberlake might be more a performer than an actor but no one would deny the guy's pretty fearless. On SNL he's does almost anything for a laugh and thankfully, the script offers lot of opportunities to use his boundless energy. Like a rather timely joke about Dylan's lightning bolt tattoo, paying tribute to a certain boy wizard. Nerdy J.T.? Sure! Later he cuts loose with a dance number showing off his mad skills for Kris Kross's "Jump." Awesome.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Subplots with Dylan's ailing father (Richard Jenkins) and Jamie's hippie mom (Patricia Clarkson) are a everybody's time, and talents. Worse, it feels like the exact kind of trite storytelling Jamie and Dylan would pick apart.

PHOTOS! 15 Biggest Movies of 2011 Comic-Con!

(Originally published July 21, 2011, at 5:23 p.m. PT)

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Movie Review: Relax! They Didn't Screw Up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Warner Bros Pictures

Review in a Hurry: Relax. They didn't screw it up. The grand finale of the Harry Potter saga brings narrative and emotional closure by finally delivering the grand confrontation all the previous films were building toward. Nonfans may be a little lost, but then, how many nonfans are going to jump into a franchise cold at part eight?

MORE! Top 10 Harry Potter Villains

The Bigger Picture: Let's get the most obvious questions out of the way first. The 3-D, which always sounded like an afterthought, works well (especially in IMAX). The dementors that hover around Hogwarts are enhanced particularly nicely, and an underground-dwelling albino dragon is surprisingly scary in stereoscopic.

Director David Yates still periodically allows some awkward edits, but he's gotten a lot better since Order of the Phoenix and is up to the challenge of ending things with a big bang. And he's not to blame for the franchise's curious early step of casting Warwick Davis in dual roles as Professor Flitwick and Griphook the Goblin, which has never felt more weird than in this film where both have significant scenes.

If the now-adult wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) were real, we'd half-expect, after all he's been through, to turn to his professors and go: "See? You should have listened to me way back in the first movie!"

Being better than most of us, he does not do this, and anyway, if he did it would go against the primary metaphor of the books, which is the journey from boy to man, and the process of coming to grips with the weirdness of the adult world. Nemesis Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), looking like both a cancer patient and an overgrown baby gone bad, is less a full-on character in these movies than an embodiment of the fears of both arrested development and mortality.

One of the seldom-noted strengths of the Potter films is that, with the notable exception of Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), they treat death in a naturalistic fashion. People are casually, brutally dispatched, and that gets amped up here, with major players biting the bewitched bullet on- and off-screen. Parents should be warned that the PG-13 rating is probably inappropriate: there is blood and murder aplenty, not to mention a gross fetus-like monster.

What of everyone's favorite ambiguously mean teacher, Professor Snape (Alan Rickman)? Rest assured he gets the resolution he deserves, while providing crucial backstory. The movie could have used a bit more of him, though.

Blink and you may miss quick moments that wrap up the storylines of smaller supporting staff, though. Take a bathroom break and you may find yourself without information crucial to understanding the hows and the whys of all these good and evil wizards hurling energy bolts at each other.

We figure you'll be glued to the screen, so it won't be an issue: this is the summer spectacle you've been waiting for.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Readers of the book will remember a key scene and memorable line between Mrs. Weasley (Julie Walters) and Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter). It's here, but it feels like it made it to the screen out of obligation. What should have been a stand-up-and-cheer moment is just something to quickly dispense before cutting back to Harry.

PHOTOS! Deathly Hallows: Part 2 premiere arrivals

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Movie Review: Surprisingly, It's the Humans Who Shine in Mr. Popper's Penguins

20th Century Fox

Review in a Hurry: Cross-breeding pet antics from Ace Ventura with an absent-dad storyline from Liar Liar, this Jim Carrey and flippered-friends flick waddles unevenly through family comedy territory. Despite humor that relies too heavily on bird farting and pooping, the sometimes-sweet Penguins doesn't stink.

MORE: Check out the latest trailer for Moneyball with Brad Pitt

The Bigger Picture: Devoted fans of the 1938 novel, from which Penguins was adapted, will probably object to all the changes. Written by Richard and Florence Atwater, the classic book centers on a poor, small-town house painter and his family who inherit 12 penguins from an Antarctic explorer/pen pal.

Well, this being a modern-day big-screen makeover, Mr. Popper (Carrey) is now a wealthy, Manhattan-based real-estate developer who's divorced and sees his children on alternate weekends. At least there are still penguins!

The first tuxedoed bird, a posthumous gift from Popper's father, arrives on the doorstep of Popper's posh apartment. Initially, the career-focused guy, gunning to become partner at his firm, wants to get rid of the pesky honking creature. But then Popper sees how the penguin might help him reconnect with his two kids (Madeline Carroll, Maxwell Perry Cotton) and ex-wife (Carla Gugino).

Five more penguins are sent soon after and start laying eggs. It's 101 Penguins! OK, not quite, though the expected pet hijinks ensue—Popper's winged roomies swim in the toilet, invade the fridge, sleep in his bed, disrupt a swanky fundraiser, etc.—as Silly Putty-faced Carrey mugs and scrambles after them.

In-between the schtick (and unnecessary potty humor), life lessons are learned and bonds with the birdies and family are made. This broad comedy actually works best in its gentler moments—notably the sentimental opening about Popper's papa, the penguins' love of Charlie Chaplin movies and Popper's "dates" with his ex.

Carrey establishes a warm rapport with Gugino and the child actors. Other supporting (human) players also keep this waterfowl flick afloat: Angela Lansbury as a high-society property owner, Clark Gregg as a smarmy zookeeper and Ophelia Lovibond as Popper's perky assistant with a particular penchant for the letter "P." Despite the bathroom jokes, the humans shine.

The 180—a Second Opinion: A recurring bit about Popper's pet-hating neighbor promises conflict and comedic complications that never pile up, even as all the penguin droppings do.

PHOTOS: 2011 Summer Movie Guide: The Hottest Flicks!

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Movie Review: Tom Hanks & Julia Roberts' Adult-Ed Romance Larry Crowne Barely Passable

Universal Pictures

Review in a Hurry: Not the head of the class. Tom Hanks plays the titular middle-aged college student who's hot for his burned-out teacher (Julia Roberts). Mildly amusing Larry gets a pass because of its likable leads but earns low marks for the flimsy plot and undercooked romance.

RELATED: Hanks dances the weather report en Espa?ol

The Bigger Picture: In addition to starring, co-producing, and co-scripting, Hanks takes the directorial reins for the first time since his buoyant 1996 debut, That Thing You Do! This go-round, that thing he does is less successful. Uneven in tone and pacing, Larry suffers from an identity crisis, unsure whether it's a wacky, back-to-school comedy or a bittersweet portrait of two lost souls at the crossroads.

Affable divorcé Larry (Hanks) gets fired from his managerial job for lacking a higher-ed degree, so he enrolls at a community college to improve his prospects. He also swaps his gas-guzzling SUV for a scooter, which attracts the attention of classmate Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). This pretty sparkplug and her hipster pals inexplicably welcome nerdy Larry into their motorbike "gang," making over his clothes/hair/apartment in the process, and giving him a "cool" nickname.

This annoys Larry's embittered speech teacher Mercedes Tainot (Roberts, looking flawless, though her character drinks heavily and doesn't exercise). Down on men since discovering her husband's porn addiction, she wrongly assumes Larry is schtupping decades-younger Talia.

That misunderstanding is the main complication in this meandering romance, which makes a weak case for Larry and Mercedes to end up together—except, ya know, it's Mr. Nice Guy and Ms. Mona Lisa Smile. Their one, fairly innocuous drunken encounter isn't reason enough to cheer their unlikely pairing or believe Mercedes' transformation.

The pic hits sympathetic notes in recession-era situations and wrings a few laughs from the classroom—notably Star Trek's George Takei as a manic, cell-phone-snatching prof. But characters get painted in broad strokes when we want more substantive details. Larry's divorce goes unexplored, Mercedes too easily dumps her hubby, and friends/neighbors are only sit-commy sidekicks.

In the end, Larry is like that class you can ditch without missing much.

The 180—a Second Opinion: The cast is more eclectic than most, with co-stars Cedric the Entertainer, Pam Grier, Bryan Cranston, Wilmer Valderrama (seriously?), and the underused Taraji P. Henson.

GALLERY: Movies From the Future

(Originally published June 30, 2011 at 4:16 p.m. PT)

photo source: HD Wallpapers