Tag: Comedy

Despite some laughs, ‘Uncle Drew’ misses and misses

Jeff Mitchell

“Uncle Drew” – Basketball is a team sport, but one individual point guard stands out.  He stands above all others who played before and after him. Uncle Drew (Kyrie Irving). Don’t just take this critic’s word for it.  Ask NBA greats George Gervin, Dikembe Mutombo, Jerry West, David Robinson, and Steve Nash (to name a few), as they rave about Drew’s gifts on the court during the opening moments of director Charles Stone III’s (“Drumline” (2002), “Mr. 3000” (2004)) movie “Uncle Drew”.   Keep in mind that these basketball greats speak…

Theron, Reitman and Cody effectively wave an SOS flag for mothers everywhere in “Tully”

Jeff Mitchell

“Tully” – Parenting is hard. Just ask Marlo (Charlize Theron).  She’s an overworked mom and seemingly eight months and three weeks pregnant, but thankfully, she just left her job for maternity leave. Whew! Her 8-year-old daughter, Emmy (Maddie Dixon-Poirier), is starting to grow a little self-conscious, but the school principal describes her 5-year-old son, Jonah (Asher Miles Fallica), as quirky.  (In this case, quirky means problematic and disruptive.) Soon, Marlo’s and Drew’s (Ron Livingston) third child, Mia, is born, and despite running a household and three kids without a 9…

‘Super Troopers 2’ is worth the wait

Jeff Mitchell

“Super Troopers 2” – More often than not, comedy sequels are not as funny as the originals, and one can point to many, many examples.  This is not a universal law, like the inevitability of death, taxes and hitting every red light when running late, but the list of films is lengthy. “Airplane II: The Sequel” (1982), “Ghostbusters II” (1989), “Grumpier Old Men” (1995), “Meet the Fockers” (2004), and “The Hangover Part II” (2011) are just a few that semi-infamously stand out. Regardless of the script, movie audiences can still…