Review Roundup: Act of Valor, Wanderlust, Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds
Haven’t you been dying to see real Navy SEALs in a movie about … Navy SEALs? How about living your fantasy and quitting your job and moving out to the middle of no where? Or are you a wealthy business man who’s engaged to Gabrielle Union but you somehow fall in love with Thandie Newton, who’s your business’ cleaning lady? Then one of the movies that came out this week is for you!
Act of Valor
Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor says:
The bad guys, who specialize in funny beards, funny accents, and shaved heads, would feel right at home in an “Austin Powers” movie.
As a piece of filmed entertainment, “Act of Valor” will never be mistaken for “Top Gun,” but it’s a heck of a recruitment video.
These guys, though, are the real deal. And any hero worship given them — badly done or not — is still deserved.
So while subtleties and pacing are MIA, the filmmakers know how to shoot action and they make the most of it in Act of Valor. Collateral damage takes out the plot, but the SEALs save the day.
Verdict: Wait for DVD.
Wanderlust
The misses are, frankly, big — but not nearly so big that they bust your groove. The movie renews your faith in communal comedy.
Wanderlust, a comedy that looks way better than it actually is set amidst the dreck of late winter releases, features the classic setup of urbanites fleeing to a bucolic rural setting to shed the tensions of their former lives, but with a 21st century recession twist.
The result is a movie that’s pretty funny until it isn’t all that funny. There are times you howl. There are times you moan.
I left the theatre doing what I didn’t do once in the theatre. I smiled.
Verdict: Wait for DVD
Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds
Speaking of which, this film — like all the Madea-free dramas — could use more humor. Still, every Perry movie has its highs and lows. This time, the highs are a little higher, and the lows not quite so low. There is no faith-based message, but the moral is obvious: persistence pays off.
As annoying as Tyler Perry’s outrageous drag character is, she would have given some much needed life to the multi-hyphenate filmmaker’s latest exercise, titled in his usual modest fashion.
The movie comes alive when Wilimena Deeds is onscreen, misbehaving. Because otherwise, there are too many characters walking around wearing goody two-shoes. And way too much talk about sacrifice and self-improvement.
Please Tyler Perry, please get back in the dress.
Verdict: Skip, unless you’re a huge Tyler Perry sans Madea fan.