“The final blast from the Gloom Beam will obliterate the women and children from the planet! And, if we’re lucky, we could hit a few innocent bystanders.”
The Scoop: 1986 PG. Directed by John R. Cherry III and starring Jim Varney, Myke R. Mueller, and Jackie Welch.
Tagline: None
Summary Capsule: A madman assumes many guises in order to destroy the world! *dun dun dun*
“Don’t blink or you’ll miss the fun!“
The Scoop: 1993 PG-13. Directed by Yuen Wo Ping and starring Donnie Yen, Rongguang Yu, and Jean Wang.
Tagline: Sometimes the only way to become a hero is to be an outlaw.
Summary Capsule: A masked hero battles greedy governors, misled martial artists, and royal pains in the neck in nineteenth-century China.
“Help! Help! I’m being repressed! Come see the violence inherent in the system!”
The Scoop: 1975 PG, directed by Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin
Tagline: And now! At Last! Another film completely different from some of the other films which aren’t quite the same as this one is.
Summary: Monty Python, that wacky British street gang, travel old England in search for the Holy Grail and a sorcerer named Tim
“Mom, I’ll call you back. The day’s repeating.”
The Scoop: 1993 NR, directed by Jack Sholder and starring Jonathan Silverman, Helen Slater and Jeremy Piven
Tagline: Every day at a minute past midnight the sci-fi adventure begins… again.
Summary: Man gets stuck in an infinite time loop, resolves to solve the issue the only way a MAN can — duct tape!
“When I shop, the world gets better, and the world is better, but then it’s not, and I need to do it again.”
The Scoop: 2009, PG, directed by P.J. Hogan, and starring Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, and Krysten Ritter
Tagline: All she ever wanted was a little credit…
Summary Capsule: Pretty girl shops too much, writes about saving money, and falls in love along the way. Yeah, you men know you want to see this one.
“No school like the old school.”
The Scoop: 2004 PG, directed by Brad Bird and starring Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter and Jason Lee
Tagline: Save The Day
Summary Capsule: More than a decade after superheroes went into hiding to avoid litigation and public condemnation, one super-powered family is forced to save the world, and in doing so teach us all what it means to be a superhero.
“I’m trying to tell your wife that I’m in love with her.“
The Scoop: 1994 R, directed by Rory Kelly and starring Meg Tilly, Eric Stoltz, and Craig Sheffer.
Tagline: A romantic comedy brave enough to say those three magic words.
Summary Capsule: Sex ruins everything.
“Dude, I just spent the afternoon in Middle-earth with glee-glop and the floopty-doos, all right?”
The Scoop: 2008 R, directed by David Wain and starring Seann William Scott, Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks
Tagline: Danny and Wheeler were just sentenced to 150 hours mentoring kids. Worst idea ever.
Summary Capsule: Uh… I think the tagline did just fine in this case. Go see him.
Fair warning: I’m going to admit something that will immediately alienate at least half of you and possibly make you swear off my reviews forever. Ready?
I like Undeclared better than Freaks and Geeks.
Sorry. I know I just invalidated the entire rest of this article for many of you, but I gotta be me. And “me” is a guy who likes about a 90/10 split between his comedy and drama. There’s no denying that Freaks was an excellent show with more than its share of funny moments, but the focus on laughs over all else makes Undeclared the preferred Judd Apatow vehicle in my eyes. I hope I have not brought shame on my family, and that you will continue reading on through your disgust.
The obligatory background: after critical darling Freaks and Geeks met with a much-lamented cancellation, creator Judd Apatow decided to spearhead a new show, this time about college life. After pouring his heart and soul into Freaks and having them crushed, his intent was to make a breezy comedy that he wouldn’t have to stress about, a half hour show to Freaks’ hour because clearly that would only be half the work. This failed miserably on all levels. As Apatow humorously reflects in his introduction to the Undeclared DVD, “I worked more hours than ever. I quickly learned that a half hour comedy is way harder to produce than an hour drama. With Freaks, if a scene wasn’t funny, we called it drama. With Undeclared, if it wasn’t funny, it just wasn’t funny.” Throw in major casting issues — the plan was to bring in numerous Freaks alums as main cast members, but only one (Seth Rogen) was approved by network execs, though many others became guest stars — and you can understand Apatow’s frustration. Add to that the fact that it STILL didn’t work, with Undeclared being canceled after one season just like its predecessor, and is it any wonder Apatow made the leap to cinema and hasn’t looked back? Probably not… but at least he left us with two great albeit shortlived shows before he did. Well, and the knowledge that he sent FOX executives a note reading, “How can you #?!* me in the @##$!?% again when your =%!# is still in there from last time?” Which, as far as I’m concerned, is just icing on the cake. But enough history, what’s this show all about?
“Have a mental margarita”
The Scoop: 1988 PG, directed by Julien Temple and starring Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans
Tagline: An out-of-this-world, down-to-earth comedy adventure.
Summary capsule: There’s aliens, girls in bikinis, and Julie Brown. I’m sorry, did you think there was a plot?
