The Girl Next Door
When the Trailers Promised Something Wilder In 2004, the trailers for The Girl Next Door positioned the film as a teenage fantasy come true. The marketing campaign featured a tagline that suggested, “You never forget your first girl next door,” marketed the fantasy, ‘girl next door,’ and suggested a steamy, humorous take on the film. […]
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Andy Stitzer: A Man for the Ages Though The 40-Year-Old Virgin, released in 2005, was a comedy, it contained a deeper narrative about vulnerability, awkwardness, and the search for love. The story revolved around a 40-year-old electronics store employee, played by Steve Carell, who was memorable not just for his virginity, but for the humanity […]
Housefull 5
A Chaotic Cruise into Comedy and Identity Housefull 5 seeks integration of the absurdity of murders on a luxury cruise liner and shameless comic antics. A billionaire gets bumped off and the mayhem that ensues as various characters stake a claim on the dead man’s fortune and legacy is a rich source of humor on […]
Virgin Territory
Very few films attempt to combine bawdy comedy, historical drama, and literary homage. One exception is Virgin Territory. This film, directed by David Leland and released in 2007, attempts to make a modern film version of Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th-century work, The Decameron. A section of the The Decameron takes place during the Black Death. The […]
My Mom’s New Boyfriend
A Comedy, With a Side of Espionage While most people expected a simple romantic comedy from My Mom’s New Boyfriend, which was released in 2008, the title alone invoked images of something more substantial, perhaps some intergenerational humor and stiff dinner sequences. What most people got was a head-scratching combination of romantic comedy and crime […]
3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy
When Eroticism Puts On 3D Glasses Long before its 2011 release deal, 3D Sex and Zen; Extreme Ecstasy was the talk of the town, and rightfully so. The Hong Kong Sex and Zen franchise is known for its sensationalism, and this was billed as the world’s first 3D Erotica film. In contrast to the franchise’s […]
2001 Maniacs
The Southern Fried Horror of 2001 Maniacs In 2005, 2001 Maniacs emerged as a modern reimagining of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s 1964 cult classic Two Thousand Maniacs!. Directed by Tim Sullivan, the film transports audiences to the fictional town of Pleasant Valley, Georgia, where a group of unsuspecting Northerners find themselves ensnared in a deadly reenactment […]
The Hatching
The Hatching: A Cinematic Eggshell Cracked Open Hatching, a Finnish film, was released in 2022. Directed by Hanna Bergholm and written by Ilja Rautsi, Hatching was a body-horror thriller disguised as a haunting allegory. It fully oppresses a young gymnast, Tinja, who is overly eager to please her perfectionist mother. Ultimately, Tinja is compelled to […]
Cashback
When Time Stood Still — The Poetic World of Cashback Some films are pleasurable, but some films are able to slow time down — and not via special effects, but through feelings. Cashback (2006) directed by Sean Ellis, is still a quiet miracle in cinema. It is a story of a broken heart, imagination, and […]
Hall Pass (2011)
A Ticket to Temptation — The Curious Charm of Hall Pass Hall Pass was released in 2011 and was shrouded in equal parts mischief and midlife crisis. It was directed by the Farrelly Brothers — the same team behind the crazy comedies There’s Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber — and promised a mix […]