The "Hangover"Cure: Crazy, Stupid Love

Given the "reign of raunch" that has mostly characterized the summer comedy landscape, the arrival of a film likecCrazy Stupid Love is cause for some celebration. Not that the "Hangovers" and "Bridesmaids" don't have their respective place, and not that this movie doesn't occasionally "go there." on balance, Crazy Stupid Love is a genre comedy that acts as if the term itself doesn't exist; it just goes about it's business in a lovable and sometimes cheeky manner.

Steve Carell has this type down pat by now - Mr. Ordinary forced by sudden adversity into a journey of self-discovery and a revelation as to the extent of his "extraordinariness." His wife (Julianne Moore) upends their 25-year marriage with a table side demand for a divorce at a Tony restaurant.

Soon, our guy is back into the dating miasma, being guided expertly(?) by his good friend, the resident player (Ryan Gosling), who himself has his hands full emotionally with a budding romance with the local ice queen (Emma Stone). In addition, Carell has to contend with the fact that his relationship with his children has been less than exemplary.

It all makes for a nice little extended sitcom, but untruth ten pacing and performances (Moore, Gosling and Stone especially) give the movie that extra bit of buff and polish to take it above the mundane.

It won't changeyourlife, or your views on love, but it won't leave you with a headache or a case of profanity overload either.

Just Misses the Bouquet: Bridesmaids Trailer

let's just say at the start: this is NOT the female answer to "The Hangover", and that's both a good and a bad thing.

There are - despite the different writing and production camps -  some obvious formulaic similarities between the two comedies but this one lacks the bracing, visceral "yeah, we went there" attitude of the guy film (sorry ladies). In this instance, the women avoid the whole Las Vegas cliche, a wise move in my opinion. so there are no spinning roulette wheels, no tigers in the penthouse bathroom and no Mike Tyson as himself.

What we are presented with are the obligatory bodily function  and physical humour ( a bad meal leads to wholesale puking and toilet dates at the posh bridal salon) and the movie itself opens with a sex scene that is a clear parody of movie sex scenes.

Thereafter we follow the travails of self-doubting Annie (co-writer and star Kristin Viig) who, dumped by her boyfriend and battered out of her bakery enterprise (forgive me) by the recession, sinks to sleeping with  hopeless cad (Mad Men's Jon Hamm, in a strangely uncredited role) and turning potential customers in her dead-end jewellery store job with her killjoy views on love and life.

All of that changes when her BFF (Maya Rudolph, who gets acting points for maintaining her composure whilst taking a dump on the side of the street, in a designer wedding dress) announces her engagement, and sets the whole circus in motion. Their fellow performance include a snooty, ultra-competitive executive wife, a henpecked mom, longing to return to her carefree, libidinous youth and a sexually frustrated newlywed imprisoned to her strait-laced husband.

Together, they go through a dizzying parade of set pieces, a kind of Sex & the City meets Wile Coyote and Road Runner. And speaking of speed and pursuit, there's a love interest for Annie in the form of patrol cop Rhodes (Chris O'Dowd) . But for all the mix of physical humour and female bonding, Bridesmaids just stops short of the edge - it just has that little veneer of safety.

But never fear, boys and girls! We have melissa McCarthy to push on past any inherent limitations. As the gleefully graceless sister of the groom, she's the whoopee cushion that the film needs. Kudos also to the late Jill Clayburgh, in what must have been her final role, as Annie's slightly goofy but dependable mother.

So, Bridesmaids then, clearly isn't for everyone, but for those of us eagerly awaiting the second instalment of The Hangover, its more than worthy as a filler.

Nothing to do but wait for the summer (2011)

The above line is from a Leif Garrett song (remember him?), but slogging through this Christmas, and taking note of the gigantic slate of sequels and other massive movies due next year, it could sum up the Hollywood mood right now

Among the expected box-office heavy hitters for 2K11 are:

Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On stranger Tides;
The Hangover 2;
Kung Fu Panda 2
Thor

X-Men: First Class;
Cars 2
Green Lantern

Transformers 3;
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part II (series finale ?)
Captain America

looks to be an epic summer