by Liz Park Yes/No Films

I was able to see “Cedar Rapids” at its Sundance USA premiere at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor on January 28. From its trailer, it looked like it would be reminiscent of “The Hangover,” which also starred Ed Helms, but I was worried that it may have put all its funny moments in the trailer, like some comedies are apt to do. Luckily, I was proved completely wrong, and the movie ended up being hilarious. Director Miguel Arteta was at the theater as well, and he did a Q&A session after the film, as well as a “Meet the Press” type session that I was also able to attend.

In “Cedar Rapids,” Tim Lippe (Ed Helms, TV’s “The Office”) works for a small insurance agency in a town in Wisconsin. When his coworker suddenly dies, he has the chance to go to the big insurance convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and his goal is to win the prestigious “Two Diamonds Award” that his coworker had won for the agency four years running. He has a list of “good people” to associate with, including his roommate, Ronald (Isaih Whitlock Jr., TV’s “Rubicon”), and a list of people to stay away from – well, a list with one name on it, anyway, that of the bawdy Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly, “Terri”). While at the conference, he also meets Joan (Anne Heche, TV’s “Hung”), and Tim and his new friends end up having more shenanigans go down than he was probably ever expecting to happen in Cedar Rapids.

The movie was bizarre and hilarious – it reminded me of a mix of “The Hangover” and “The Forty Year Old Virgin.” The other A-lister in the movie, Sigourney Weaver (“You Again”), was not in the film as much as I thought she’d be (she played Tim’s girlfriend, who is a significant 20+ years older than him and was his teacher when he was 12 years old), but the other three A-listers (O’Reilly, Helms, and Whitlock) were featured prominently. Heche does a great job as well, as a married woman with two children, who insists that “what happens in Cedar Rapids stays in Cedar Rapids” and that this was her vacation of sorts from “real life.” John C. Reilly absolutely steals the show, and he is the funniest I have ever seen him here. The director, Miguel Arteta, said that Reilly likes to improvise a lot, so perhaps this contributed to the movie’s hilarity; speaking of which, definitely stay while the credits roll after this movie, because there are two or three more scenes in which he delivers again and again. Ed Helms was good in his role, especially at playing the naive Tim, but it is Reilly, in my opinion, that plays the funniest character.

Yes, see this movie. If I can see it again before it comes out, I probably will. The audience was laughing hysterically throughout most of the movie, and it would be interesting to see if it is received as well by a Detroit-area audience (rather than Ann Arbor-area). Whenever I thought the movie couldn’t get any weirder or crazier, it outdid itself again and again, and it is this craziness that had the audience in stitches throughout the entire film.

“Cedar Rapids” will have a limited release on February 11, and will be released in the Detroit area on February 18.

“Gnomeo, Gnomeo, wherefore art thou Gnomeo?” is not exactly what William Shakespeare wrote in his classic play “Romeo and Juliet,” but in “Gnomeo and Juliet,” the play is adapted by using garden gnomes as the main characters. What might have been a fun and unique movie, however, turns out to only be lackluster, and the funniest parts are given away in the trailer.

Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy, “The Last Station”) is a Blue, and knows never to interact with the Reds, his enemies. When he meets Juliet (voiced by Emily Blunt, “Gulliver’s Travels”), however, he can’t help but fall in love with her. These two gnomes know that their love can never exist in the “real world,” but they try to make a go of it regardless. Lord Redbrick (voiced by Michael Caine, “Inception”), Juliet’s father, keeps a close eye on her, but she is still able to escape and meet Gnomeo in secret. When one of the Blues “kills” Tybalt (voiced by Jason Statham, “The Mechanic”) by smashing him, however, all hell breaks loose, and a full-blown war between the Reds and Blues ensues. Gnomeo and Juliet must then choose if they want to fight against each other, or try to stop the war altogether.

This film wasn’t as funny as I was expecting. My favorite characters ended up being the few non-gnomes that were in the film – Nanette (voiced by Ashley Jensen, TV’s “Accidentally on Purpose”), a garden frog who is Juliet’s best friend; Bill Shakespeare (voiced by Patrick Stewart, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”), in bust form, who has a heart-to-heart with Gnomeo one day; and these little rabbits that were actually kind of evil, who are constantly by Lady Bluebury’s (Gnomeo’s mother’s) side (voiced by Maggie Smith, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”). The gnomes were cute, and there are a ton of A-listers who voice them (I still haven’t mentioned Ozzy Osbourne, Dolly Parton, and others), but the story just didn’t hold up.

Maybe see this movie. Definitely skip the 3D; for most of the film, I forgot I was even wearing 3D glasses. “Gnomeo and Juliet” is that rare children’s movie that contains a ton of references that only adults will get, but not enough laughs to keep the adults or children entertained throughout. Other than “Yogi Bear,” however, this is one of the only children’s films that will be in theaters next week, and so if you must drag your children to a movie, and they are easily entertained, they may like “Gnomeo and Juliet.” This reviewer, however, was not impressed, although she is definitely going to hide her lawnmower, as apparently garden gnomes like to race them in their spare time.

“Gnomeo and Juliet” will be in theaters on February 11th.

via Yes/No Films

I like Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, but Sandler’s movies usually end up being hilarious or really dumb. “Just Go With It,” however, ended up surprising me; it was a lot better than I thought it would be, based on what I saw in the trailer. I didn’t know that Nicole Kidman stars in the film either, so that was an added plus, as I like her a lot.

Danny (Adam Sandler, “Grown Ups”) is set to marry at a young age when he finds out his fiancee is only marrying him because he’s going to be a doctor. He drowns his sorrows at the bar one night, while still wearing his wedding ring, and finds out that, strangely enough, women are attracted to a guy wearing a ring. He then uses this as his “game plan” to pick up women, and for the next 20 years or so it works, until he meets someone that he thinks he can settle down with long-term, Palmer (model Brooklyn Decker). She finds the wedding ring in his pocket, however, and Danny lies and says he is getting divorced; she’s satisfied with this but wants to meet his soon-to-be-ex wife. Danny begs his assistant, Katherine (Jennifer Aniston, “The Switch”) to pose as his former wife, and she agrees, but soon the web of lies begins to expand more and more, and both Danny and Katherine have trouble keeping up with what is fact and what is fiction.

The movie has a lot of laughs but unfortunately is a bit long (117 minutes, or about a 2-hour runtime) and tends to drag; this could have been kept to an hour and a half or hour and 45 minute movie. Like I said before, I was pleasantly surprised to see Nicole Kidman (“Rabbit Hole”) pop up in the film as an old sorority sister of Aniston’s character, one whom she hates. Aniston and Sandler do have good chemistry, and the majority of the movie focuses on them rather than Sandler and his young girlfriend, Decker’s character. The scenes that take place in Hawaii are beautiful as well.

Maybe see this movie. If you like Jennifer Aniston or Adam Sandler, you will probably like this film. The kids in the movie (Bailee Madison, “Conviction,” and Griffin Gluck, “Sideways”) are really cute and good at their roles, and Aniston, Sandler, and Kidman all play good parts here too; if the movie had not slowed down as much and/or been as long, I might have given it a “Yes” review. This is definitely one of the better Sandler movies I’ve seen in the past few years, so if you are looking for a good comedy to see, you most likely will not be disappointed in choosing to “Just Go With It.”

“Just Go With It” will be released in theaters on February 11th.

via Yes/No Films

Let your inner child play with this super cute submarine umbrella from 25togo Design.

Steel and nylon construction, with special handle bar and that awesome window that lets you peek out. check out all the cute details.

on sale for $580 New Taiwan dollars, so like 20 bucks us, if you like it get it here.