Tim joined Tom Barnard and the crew for the “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM Thursday to review the buddy comedy “Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar” and the crime thriller “The Informant.” Click to listen below. The segments are brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” with Tom Barnard on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “Let’s Talk Movies with Tim Lammers” with Tim Matthews on KRWC-AM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on NBC affiliate KARE on the news program “KARE 11 News at 11”.
While she’s no Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese, you still have to admire writer-director Andrea Berloff for her willingness to get her hands bloody with “The Kitchen,” a 1970s-era mob movie rooted in a DC graphic novel series that features the burgeoning dramatic talents of comedy star Melissa McCarthy. But while McCarthy takes another stroll out of her comfort zone, she’s chosen a film that, while it flips its script in a genre dominated by men, it ultimately doesn’t contain anything apart from its role-reversals that makes it rise above what we’ve seen before.
Following her Best Actress nomination for the underrated 2018 drama “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” McCarthy is one of a trio of mob wives who have no choice but to take over their husband’s crime racket in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City when the men are sent to prison for three years.
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s review of “The Kitchen” and more with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on “Paul and Jordana” on WCCO-AM. Segment is brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
McCarthy stars as Kathy, the wife of a small-time Irish mobster (Brian d’Arcy James), who along with his partners (James Badge Dale and Jeremy Bobb), get busted by the FBI during an armed robbery gone terribly awry. Struggling to make ends meet while their husbands are in jail, Kathy, Ruby (Tiffany Haddish) and Claire (Elizabeth Moss) decide to pick up where the mobsters left off and begin to provide protection to neighborhood businesses from thugs – and as a result of their success, begin building their own criminal empire. It doesn’t take long, though, before the new kids on the crime block out-step their boundaries and land in the crosshairs of other members in the Irish mob, as well as a local Italian crime head (Bill Camp).
While McCarthy and Haddish are particularly known for their comedic talents, they play their roles in “The Kitchen” with complete seriousness. That’s not to say there isn’t any comedy in the film, as Domhnall Gleeson provides darkly awkward laughs as a former member of the crew who returns to town just as the fearless female trio begins to take a foothold on their neighborhood and beyond. Margo Martindale is a standout, too, as the blunt, no-nonsense mother-in-law of Ruby who pushes her daughter-in-law to the limit as she tries to make do while her husband is locked away.
On the other hand, rapper-turned-actor Common is wasted in a role that doesn’t yield much until a surprise twist later in the film, and the bulk of the film’s large supporting cast end up being portrayed as nothing but stereotypical mobsters.
While Berloff’s gangster film is a far cry from “The Godfather” and “Goodfellas,” her work definitely matches up to the similarly themed 2018 crime drama “Widows,” starring Viola Davis. There’s no question the director captures the gritty look of Hell’s Kitchen and brutal thuggery of criminals in the 1970s, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given she’s penned the screenplays for such hard-hitting films as “Straight Outta Compton” (which earned her a shared Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay) and Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center.”
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s review of “The Kitchen” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM. Segment is brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
Berloff should also be commended for her resolve to stir the pot in “The Kitchen,” as her female power trio do much more than issue orders to their underlings. In fact, the filmmaker turns one of the main characters into an unforgiving executioner, and the other two into coldblooded crime bosses who call out ruthless hits on people in the same, matter-of-fact manner as their male counterparts. However, that’s where the quandary comes in. While it’s refreshing to see the women rising up and kicking ass for a change, their actions are truly reprehensible, making it almost impossible to root for them. No matter who is in charge, “The Kitchen,” if anything, proves that crime does not pay.
Lammometer: 6.5 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show,” WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC).
Think a “Muppet” movie, where humans and puppets co-exist, except the movie is an F-bomb-laced, rude and crude murder mystery and you get “The Happytime Murders,” the latest R-rated comedy starring Melissa McCarthy.
“The Happytime Murders” takes its name from a “The Happytime Gang,” a once a popular puppet TV show. Years after the show ended its run, most of the puppet stars are down in and out in Los Angeles, and even worse, somebody looking for vengeance is killing the cast members one by one in a puff of smoke, felt and feathers. Looking to solve the mystery as to why, a human investigator (McCarthy) teams up with her former detective partner (“Muppets” puppeteer/voice actor Bill Barretta) — who is a puppet, to get to the bottom of what is dubbed the Happytime Murders.
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s review of “The Happytime Murders” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show.”
A send-up of buddy cop comedies and gumshoe murder mysteries, “The Happytime Murders” is very raunchy, and while only half the lines work, when they do, it’s very funny. Plus, as a spoof movie, the story is very well constructed. It’s politically incorrect, like “Team America: World Police” and “Sausage Party,” where a genre and characters normally associated with kid entertainment are peppered it with filthy language and rude and crude physical humor.
McCarthy’s good as usual in “The Happytime Murders” but she’s been funnier, maybe because it seems her F-bomb-slinging detective feels too close to her role opposite Sandra Bullock in director Paul Feig’s uproarious comedy “The Heat.” The movie also stars Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale and Leslie David Baker (Stanley on “The Office”) who all deliver as expected, but the movie really belongs the puppets and the people behind them, who show us how it was all done during the end credits.
Perhaps the most amusing aspect of “The Happytime Murders” is that it’s directed by Brian Henson, the son of the late Muppets creator Jim Henson who serves to this day as chairman of the The Jim Henson Company. Clearly has a sense of humor when it comes with messing with the clean image of the Muppets; in fact, the film’s production company, called Henson Alternative, suggests there’s more of this type of “Happytime” humor to come.
Lammometer: 6.5 (out of 10)
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s review of “The Happytime Murders” with Jordana Green and Paul Douglas on WCCO-AM Radio (segment begins 6:30 in).
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
Melissa McCarthy brings plenty of life, love and laughs to “Life of the Party,” a feel-good comedy that marks her best collaboration yet with husband, co-writer and director Ben Falcone. Instead of going for the same bawdy, obnoxious comedy route that doomed their 2014 comedy “Tammy” and hampered their slightly-improved 2016 effort “The Boss,” the comedy star and her close collaborator opted for a softer and sweeter approach with the PG-13-rated “Life of the Party,” and as a result, the duo has finally found a winning combination.
McCarthy stars as Deanna, a sickly sweet-as-pie mom who is suddenly kicked to the curb by her longtime husband, Dan (Matt Walsh) immediately after they drop their daughter, Maddie (Molly Gordon) off for her senior year at college. Left with no home since Dan on the sly put the house in his name thanks to his new lover, a crafty real-estate mogul (Julie Bowen), Deanna is inspired to finish out the final year of college she never got around since she was pregnant with Maddie. So, in a bit of symmetry, Deanna returns to he alma mater where Maddie is now a senior and discovers times have changed quite a bit in the 20 years since she left the school to become a homemaker.
AUDIO: Tim reviews “Life of the Party” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” (segment begins 2:30 in).
While “Life of the Party” gets off to a slow start as McCarthy goes through the paces of a cheesy, out-of-touch mother who has an accent reminiscent of Frances McDormand’s Marge in “Fargo,” things quickly pick up when she engages in the fish-out-of-water antics that go with being a non-traditional 40-something student trying to fit in with a bunch of modern-day academics. Whether she’s well, partying, or having a romantic liaison with a much younger man, McCarthy’s natural gift for comedy kicks in, and she raises the game of her co-stars (including Gillian Jacobs – who is wonderful as a clueless student who returns to school after spending eight years in a coma – former Disney Channel star Debby Ryan playing against type and Luke Benward as Deanna’s new boy-toy).
McCarthy’s at her absolute best, though, in her laugh-out-loud hilarious scenes opposite her “Bridesmaids” alum Maya Rudolph (who plays Deanna’s best friend), as the pair’s naturally comedic yin and yang take “Life of the Party” to a whole new level. Quite simply, McCarthy and Rudolph need to work together more often – on second thought, make that every single project they sign up for. Watching them together is high comedy at its very best.
While “Life of the Party” isn’t nearly as polished as McCarthy’s films with director Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids,” “The Heat” and “Spy”), the film is a big step forward from what she and Falcone have done in the past. By going the PG-13 route (there’s not one F-bomb to be had in the entire film), McCarthy gets to show off the sort of sweet side that made her so lovable in her brilliant supporting turns in “Bridesmaids” and the Bill Murray comedy “St. Vincent.” That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with the bawdy humor and all the F-bombs her characters have slung around in her previous films, it’s just after so many times, McCarthy has put herself in danger of being typecast in the same sort of role.
Thankfully, McCarthy avoids that trap with “Life of the Party,” giving her career, ironically, new life and as a result, the relatable heart this film needed to succeed.
Lammometer: 7 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
