Cedar Rapids is an “aim low” comedy about a lame guy (Ed Helm) whose life is so boring that an insurance agent conference in Cedar Rapids is a revelatory experience. It’s got John C. Reilly as the Wild and Crazy Insurance Agent and is directed by Miguel Arteta, director of the underrated The Good Girl and Youth in Revolt. Releases February 11.
Hanna is a paranoid thriller starring Saoirse Ronan as a 16-year-old raised in the Arctic Circle to be a master assassin by her rogue secret agent father (Eric Bana), and then released upon the CIA. She is matched up against special ops wiz Cate Blanchett. Hanna is directed by Joe Wright (Atonement, The Soloist). Releases April 8.
It’s not that weren’t ANY good comedies in 2010 – just not many. And none made my list of the best films of the year. The funniest movie was Iron Man 2, a comedy masquerading as a super hero movie.
Going the Distance and I Love You, Phillip Morris were good romantic comedies – a particularly meager genre this year. Going the Distance was a rarity – a sweet, smart, funny and successful romantic comedy for adults. Screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe tried a novel approach that respected the audience – creating characters like the ones we know in real life, who talk and act like real people do. Instead of an implausible set-up, the conflict was the real problem of a bi-coastal romance. The offbeat I Love You, Phillip Morris was a gay version of the con man, prison and rom com genres, and the risk paid off.
Once, we get past the three best comedies, there were the passable (but not especially noteworthy) Get Him to the Greek, Morning Glory, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Please Give, Get Low, Love and Other Drugs, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Youth in Revolt, Cyrus and Death at a Funeral.
The Locksmith, a funny little movie which won the low-budget award at Sundance, didn’t even get a theatrical release.
It was disappointing, because even the good 2010 comedies didn’t match up with 2009’s really funny and original movies: (500) Days of Summer, Away We Go, Zombieland, The Hangover, In the Loop, Funny People and I Love You, Man.
This year, we had crappy comedies like Pirate Radio, Date Night and Soul Kitchen. The worst movies that I saw this year were so-called comedies Tooth Fairy and Leap Year – two films that no one thought were good (but that I was stuck with on a long airline flight). Not to mention that the most reviled movies of the year included the alleged comedies Sex in the City 2, Valentine’s Day, The Back-up Plan, Due Date, How Do You Know, Yogi Bear and Little Fockers.
So here’s the trailer for a non-lousy comedy (a romantic comedy, even), the original and funny Going the Distance.
