This is a story of expectations.
I went into Up thinking that it could not possible live up to the hype: that it could not be yet another tour de force from Pixar (despite yet again not having a female lead); that it could not uplift and make me laugh and make me cry and make me just a better person altogether.
I was wrong.
Very quickly I was laughing. Almost as quickly I was bawling (at a dialogue-less scene, no less). I became quickly invested, and really didn’t want the movie to end, but wanted to know what else would happen to these characters (what’s up with Russell’s dad? How’s Kevin?). I left surprisingly content.
I didn’t have the same experience with The Hangover.
First off, I enjoyed the film, but largely because of the force of nature that is Zach Galifianakis. It’s funny that I think my first notice of him was in Fiona Apple’s “Not about Love” video, and I remember thinking, “who the hell?”.
Oh, and BTW, I can’t not embed this, not just because of the hilarity, but it also makes me remember how much I love Anita Baker:
Anyway, he’s just insanely funny in this movie. From his first appearance to his last still image, he is just laugh-out-loud funny.
In the end though, I just didn’t care that much about anything else. Bradley Cooper is easy to look at, but he didn’t do much here except be a jerk, and Ed Helms’s shtick as the put-upon fiance wore thin. Some of the situations were funny, but I actually would have liked to have experienced some of what we find out was a wild night (BTW, why didn’t the credits reveal the cause of something that the film promises they would? CONTINUITY!), because I think that also would have been fun, but I just got a little bored after a while. The Vegasness of it all was great, and I enjoyed the movie overall, but this might be a case where my expectations were a bit too high, but that’s what happens when just about everyone says they loved it. (Oh, and there was probably one or two too many gay jokes. I can take quite a bit, especially when they are spewed by obvious jerks, but it felt too easy sometimes)
Next movie? Likely The Proposal (Betty White!) or Goodbye Solo
Oh my crush just exploded ten-fold.
I thought I was weird for crushing on Zach during The Hangover, given what a weird, slighty unhygenic character he played. But seeing him lipsync Anita Baker??!! Am I dreaming? I am in love.
(And because you’re you, I will admit that I used to come home from school in the 7th grade to an empty house…an empty house that was soon filled with the smooth jazz of Anita Baker, with whom I would sing along so loud and so continuously, I am still amazed neighbors never complained. And it was always Anita. Except when it was Whitney. Good times.)
Oh there was much singing along to Rapture in my house and car, don’t you worry.