High-strung, self-involved rehab veteran Kym (Anne Hathaway) takes a vacation from her home away from home for a shaky trip back to the bosom of her family to attend her sister Rachel’s (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding in Rachel Getting Married (2008). Still not recovered from being the center of attention, Kym constantly and blatantly grabs for […]
Category: Comedy
‘Dope’ on SVOD and Blu-ray/DVD
Dope (2015), a quirky tale of life in the Inglewood hood for three high school geeks with a passion of nineties hip-hip, is lively, snappy, and great fun, even with the threat of violence hanging over them throughout their strange adventure. The friends are not the usual kinds of characters you find in an urban […]
Blu-ray: ‘The Pink Panther Film Collection’ on Shout! Factory
All six Pink Panther features directed by Blake Edwards and starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau are featured in this six-disc Blu-ray collection, four of them making their respective Blu-ray debuts. Clouseau was but a supporting character in The Pink Panther (1963), a comic heist film with David Niven as the legendary jewel thief “the […]
What to stream: ‘Oh, Hello,’ ‘LEGO Batman,’ and seasons of streaming TV on Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu
Oh, Hello On Broadway brings the hit show by Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, who originally developed the characters of show business fringe veterans Gil Faizon (Kroll) and George St. Geegland (Mulaney) over a decade ago and brought the skit characters to the stage in an off-Broadway comedy that finally hit Broadway last year, to […]
‘Don’t Think Twice’ – Improvising life on Netflix
Whether you call Don’t Think Twice (2016) a hilarious drama or a serious comedy, it is a bittersweet story of frustrated dreams and difficult passages of funny people in a pitiless business. Mike Birbiglia, a standup comedian and “This American Life” contributor turned filmmaker, writes, directs, and co-stars in the film as Miles, founder and […]
Blu-ray: ‘Support Your’ James Garner double feature on Twilight Time
Support Your Local Sheriff / Support Your Local Gunfighter (Twilight Time, Blu-ray) – James Garner established himself as a natural for the comic western with the TV series Maverick, playing the reluctant hero who avoided conflict and gunplay with charm, wit, and a con-man’s knack for keeping his opponents off balance. The brought that sensibility […]
‘Mystery Science Theater 3000: Collection 1’ on Netflix
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Collection 1 – With the newly revived Mystery Science Theater 3000 coming to Netflix later this year with a mix of old and new cast members, Netflix has picked up a selection of episodes from across the show’s original ten season run, with selections from both the Comedy Central and The […]
‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ – Richard Linklater goes to college on Amazon Prime and Hulu
Filmmaker and chronicler of growing up in America Richard Linklater describes Everybody Wants Some!! (2015) as the “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused, his 1993 coming of age (or perhaps more accurately coming of self) classic. Set four years after Dazed and centered on a high school baseball all-star on a sports scholarship arriving on […]
‘The Palm Beach Story’ on VOD and Criterion Blu-ray/DVD
The Palm Beach Story (1942) – Leave it to Preston Sturges to create the funniest, sexiest, and most grown-up romantic comedy of his day. Claudette Colbert has never been more desirable as Gerry Jeffers, the flirtatious pragmatist with a clear-eyed take on the realities of men, women, and sex, and Sturges turns Joel McCrea’s All-American […]
Blu-ray: ‘His Girl Friday’ vs. ‘The Front Page’ on Criterion
His Girl Friday (Criterion, Blu-ray, DVD) should really be listed as a double feature, for the “bonus” movie—a new edition of the original screen version of The Front Page, adapted from the snappy, cynical, double-barrel Broadway hit by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur—is not just a home video debut but a major discovery. The Front […]