Written and Directed by Ben Younger
Rafi Gardet - Uma Thurman
Lisa Metzger - Meryl Streep
David Bloomberg - Bryan Greenberg

Casting can make or break a movie and in the case of Prime it definitely makes it.

Uma Thurman plays Rafi Gardet, a recently divorced women in her late thirties who is seeing a psychoanalyst to help her through her troubled times. The psychoanalyst, Lisa Metzger, played by Meryl Streep has a good relationship with Rafi and in some ways they appear to be more like mother and daughter then doctor and patient.
Rafi is somewhat depressed about the future and things appear bleak until she meets what she believes is the perfect man. The only problem is that he is much younger then her.

She continues to attend her therapy sessions, expressing her concerns about the age difference in the relationship and sharing with Lisa all the steamy details of her sex life. Lisa encourages her. Telling her that she deserves the best and that the age difference is not a problem. With her approval Rafi moves forward and things are going great until one day, Lisa discovers that the man that Rafi has been dating is her son. Then the fun begins.

As I said in the beginning, casting makes this movie. Uma Thurman is totally believable as the older women that a …

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Adam Sandler : Paul ‘Wrecking’ Crewe
Chris Rock : Caretaker
Burt Reynolds : Coach Nate Scarborough
James Cromwel : Warden Hazen
Directed by Peter Segal

I went to this movie with full expectations that it was going to be a total disaster but I ended up really surprised; it wasn’t half bad. Don’t get me wrong; this movie will most likely not be nominated for any Academy Awards, but it’s a fun movie to watch and worth a couple hours of your time.

This summer season has been filled with remakes and the 2005 version of The Longest Yard is a remake of the 1974 picture of the same name that starred Burt Reynolds. I had seen the original movie and really liked it. (although I was pretty young at the time so I liked just about any movie that had lots of violence and scantly clad women), but I had big doubts that this movie would live up to the original. Really, Adam Sandler, playing the part of a tough football player? It just didn’t seem like it would work.

But it did work.

Adam Sandler was able to pull of the part of Paul Crewe, an ex-quarterback with a reputation for point shaving who ends up being sent to prison after stealing his girl friends car and running from the police.

Sandler did …

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Gracie Hart : Sandra Bullock
Sam Fuller : Regina King
Jeff Foreman : Enrique Murciano
Stan Fields : William Shatner
McDonald : Ernie Hudson
Cheryl : Heather Burns
Joel : Diedrich Bader

Why do they make bad sequels?

More important why does an actress the quality of Sandra Bullock get involved in a bad sequel?

I suppose it could be for the money, but I doubt it. She’s had a successful enough career for me to believe that money in not an issue.

I suspect the real reason goes something like this;

Hollywood Executive (Imagine Jon Lovitz at his sleaziest) - Have we got a great idea for a movie!

Sandra - Tell me about it.

Hollywood Executive - You know that movie you were involved in a couple of years ago.. What was it? Oh ya, Miss Congeniality.

Sandra - Ya.

Hollywood Executive - It was a big hit. Made the studio lots of money. Well, we’ve decided to make a sequel.

Sandra - A sequel. OK. Can I see the script?

Hollywood Executive - Ah, ummm… Well we don’t really have a script yet.

Sandra - No script?

Hollywood Executive - Ah… No. But we have some of the greatest writers in Hollywood working on it.

Sandra - Well, OK. What’s the premise of the story.

Hollywood Executive - Ah, ummm… Well …

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Fever Pitch

Drew Barrymore : Lindsey
Jimmy Fallon : Ben

Fever Pitch, the latest effort by the Farrelly brothers, is somewhat disappointing. It’s a story about a woman Lindsey Meeks, played by Drew Barrymore who meets a man Ben, played by Jimmy Fallon, who appears perfect in just about every way. Things are going well in their relationship until Spring rolls around and Lindsey discovers that Ben is an obsessed Red Sox fan.

The Farrelly brothers have attempted to mix romantic comedy with Red Sox obsession and the results are luke warm. The romantic comedy part of the movie never really takes off in part because the script was lacking but also because Barrymore and Fallon have very little chemistry together. I never once was convinced that these two people were really in love.

On the comedic side, the movie also suffers. It appears the Farrelly brothers attempted to “clean up their act” to appeal to a more mainstream audience and lost something in the process. Gone are the strange characters and offensive sight gags so prevalent in their other movies, and in their place are jokes and characters more fitting for a network sitcom. This is a real let down because the Farrelly’s are at their best when they are pushing the envelope.

The movie was pleasant enough and there were a few really funny moments, but it …

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Cinderella Man

Directed by Ron Howard
Russell Crowe : Jim Braddock
Renée Zellweger : Mae Braddock
Paul Giamatti : Joe Gould
Craig Bierko : Max Baer
Paddy Considine : Mike Wilson

Cinderella Man is the story Jim J. Braddock a down on his luck, depression era boxer who looses all of his money in the stock market and faces the end of his boxing career due to a string of bad fights.

Braddock, played by Russell Crowe, is a good man. He and his family, like so many others during the depression, have hit bottom through no fault of their own, and are struggling just to survive the times. Braddock does his best to take care of his family, taking temporary work when it’s available, but no matter how hard he tries, things keep spiraling downward.

When it appears that he’s hit bottom, he is given one last chance to make it as a boxer and with everything he cares about on the line, he makes the best of the opportunity by winning the fight. His comeback serves as inspiration for many down on their luck Americans, who rally behind him as he goes on to win additional fights. His resurgence, leads him to a match against the heavy weight champion Max Baer, a larger then life brutal figure who was famous for killing …

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