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DokBrowne [ 8.0 ]
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Lonely Island bro Jorma Taccone, directing his first movie in 10 years since "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping", does this Americanized remake of a pitch-black Norwegian comedy from just a few years ago that came from this month's director of "Thrash" Tommy Wirkola. Basically a nastier, more condensed "War of the Roses" (or "The Roses") about a long-married couple who are so fed up with each other's little annoying foibles that they secretly plot to murder each other during a weekend trip to a lake-house, and the story spirals playfully into more elaborate shenanigans from there. An excuse for bloody comical violence and some dysfunctional relationship examination.
The cool thing is, this remake follows the blueprint pretty closely, like I'm pretty sure it includes all the same scenes in the same order and hardly removes or invents anything new narratively or sequentially, but how it reimagines this outline in specific writing, acting and showmanship is wonderfully distinct. Having just seen "The Trip" a few weeks ago to prepare for this movie, I was worried Taccone's version would be a redundant viewing, but it's not, at all. It builds on what was a fairly enjoyable mean-spirited, twisty and quite gruesome comedy to be even funnier, more believable in its serious moments, and more viscerally brutal.
There's more emphasis on relatable frustrations between spouses, more nuance and gesticulation in the grand central performances by Samara Weaving and Jason Segel, the gore's been turned up a level (there's some great "oh shit!" headshot imagery and other body-horror injuries), a stronger flow and rhythm overall, there's a rape-related scene in the original that came off pretty unpleasantly but somehow here keeps it light and boisterous, the makeup more effectively shows the toll on these people, especially how Segel's pummeled face starts to look in the final stretch and how much presence Segel himself pulls off when he's fully grizzled and over it. It's an all-around refinement of the ideas and tools Wirkola and the original filmmakers started with, which is the ideal purpose of any remake.
Add it to Weaving's already pretty legendary CV of blood-soaked gauntlets. There really is no other actor doing it as often or as well as her these days.
Segel's never really had a role this physical, borderline action, but his lumbering largesse and big Frankenstein head add immeasurably to the casting choice and speaking of actors who have carved out a consistent niche, he's been doing high quality floppy-everyman-struggles-in-relationships studies his entire life, from "Freaks & Geeks" to "How I Met Your Mother" to "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" to "The Five Year Engagement" to "Shrinking", so this is kind of the perfect role for him. Not that I would ever trade out Samara Weaving or think someone could do a better job, but I couldn't help wonder if it would've been cute to see Linda Cardellini, Alyson Hannigan or Mila Kunis as his wife in this instead.
No spoilers for those unfamiliar with the movie's plot, but also hallelujah to Juliette Lewis back in sicko mode (it's like "Kalifornia" 30 years later!) and Timothy Olyphant too - I've always thought he did his best work as charismatically menacing scumbags or at least somebody with a devilish smirk ("Go", "The Girl Next Door", "Scream 2") rather than as heroes (where he starts to get bland), so I'm thankful he found his way back to that mold.
If it's not overkill, maybe pair this movie double-feature style with "The Drama", another recent dark comedy about the horrific challenges of making it work with a life partner.
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| Weighted Rating | : 6.9 |
| No. Ratings | : 1 | |
| No. Reviews | : 1 | |
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