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22 Romantic Comedy (Chick Flick) Clichés- Inspired by Bradley Cooper, Justin Long & Kevin Connolly

Posted on August 28, 2012 Written by ripitup

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22 Romantic Comedy (Chick Flick) Clichés- Inspired by Bradley Cooper, Justin Long & Kevin Connolly

 

 Kevin Connolly, Justin Long, Bradley Cooper
From left: Kevin Connolly, Justin Long & Bradley Cooper. Shot from the video ” 10 Chick Flick cliches you will NOT see in He’s Just Not That Into You”. Image via aceshowbiz.com.

Each moviegoer has something to say (usually to complain about) about the clichés in a romantic comedy (or chick flicks as guys tend to use it as a synonym, though most romantic dramas are also categorized as chick flicks, mostly by guys.)

It’s hard to ignore the clichés in a romantic comedy since the whole genre is based on a formula. You know the drill: We at least need two people who will fall in love (or who are already in love) who will go through some difficulties and funny moments but in the end will stay together. Even when we are faced with two options for one of the main characters (This Means War, Sweet Home Alabama, Someone Like You, The Wedding Planner, The Ugly Truth…) we always know which one the girl/guy will pick, because only one of them obviously is right.

Now, I’m not going to include movies like The Break-Up or 500 Days of Summer because they break the cycle of romantic comedies by…well, not ending up on a good note (or at least not on the good note expected from them). Oh, come on! Please don’t blame me for spoiling those movies. Look at the name of the first one, and the premise of the second one (boy and girl meet, boy falls in love, girl doesn’t.)

Now, while I somewhat enjoyed The Break-Up and 500 Days of Summer (yes, this one was a lot better) , but they will never be my favorites. I get enough realism in real life or my dramas, so when it comes to romcoms/chick flicks, I want a fun and happy ending.

Not that I will say no to a touch of freshness or more action. So an R-rated romcom (such as Friends with Benefits as opposed to the common PG-13 romantic comedies), or a romcom with a lot of action (in fact some has action/comedy in the core and romance in the background-such as Knight and Day, which I adore.)

Where Bradley Cooper, Justin Long & Kevin Connolly Come In

But that doesn’t mean I’m fond of the clichés aside from a love story and a happy ending. If the movie is good enough, you may not notice or be annoyed by them. Or you might enjoy how the clichés are used.

He's Just Not That Into You Movie Poster
He’s Just Not That Into starring Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, Ginnifer Goodwin, Drew Barrymore, Justin Long & Kevin Connolly. Image: wikipedia.

But after having watched the hilarious video of Bradley Cooper, Justin Long and Kevin Connolly, the clichés even started to be more obvious to me. They list all the obvious clichés in a fun effort to address the unwillingness of most males to scorn at the genre. So in order to show how their movie, He’s Just Not That Into You, doesn’t involve these clichés (so guys shouldn’t avoid their movie on principle), they have shot a hilarious video.

And in their defense, their movie really isn’t full of clichés. Not all couples get a happy ending, not all men and women are romantic souls that are nice to others. Based on the best-selling relationship book of the same name, He’s Just Not That Into You takes the situations in the book, and proves all the tips and advice in the movie. The book is a no-bullshit, tough love, honest look into all relationships, and how men’s behavior are only open to one interpretation in 99% of the time.

I have to add, though, I like many of the movies I mentioned in this post. My true feelings are of course explained in the reviews, which I linked to.

Not surprisingly, many movies got into several categories.

Below are their clichés, examples from movies. Oh and please watch the video for their hilarious parodies!

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7lHJ7XkYAo[/pro-player]

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First the 10 clichés that He’s Just Not That Into You Doesn’t Have:

1) Make-over montages:

I don’t remember if it was presented in a montage, but the movies’ premise included or centered on it (there are a lot, these are the first 3 that popped to my head):

Never Been Kissed: Nerdy reporter Josie (Drew Barrymore) goes through 2 make-overs, 1 fails miserably. Then she is turned into a regular-looking but naturally pretty and sweet high-school student with the right clothes and nice hair.

She’s All That: Popular jock gets into a bet with his friends to prove he can turn the art nerd (Rachel Leigh Cook) into the pretties date for the prom. Yes, she will find out and raise hell. Yes, he’ll already have fallen in love in the process.

2) Singing into Random Objects:

Easy A starring Emma Stone
Image via sinemag.com

Easy A: More comedy than romance (%90 comedy), and it is hilarious.However Emma Stone gets addicted to a silly pop song after receiving a birthday card that plays an overplayed pop song and starts singing everywhere, including the shower.

P.S. I hate that song!!!

3- a) Quirky best friend:

Cake starring Heather Graham, David Sutcliffe and Taye Diggs.
Image via divxplanet.com

Cake:  Lead: Heather Graham

Quirky Best Friend: Sandra Oh (a.k.a. Christina from Grey’s Anatomy.)

Though in the writers’ defense, the lead was pretty quirky too.

b) Sardonic best friend

c) Sassy best friend

Ok, can’t remember for the last two but will update once I do.

But let’s just say that Judy Greer (The Wedding Planner),  has made a niche of playing the best friend, who is often sardonic, quirky, sassy or a weird combination of all.

Oh, and don’t forget the diehard romantic best friend who swoons at the romantic gestures and outbursts:

The Ugly Truth movie poster

The Ugly Truth: Katherine Heigl’s best friend/assistant.  She is very impressed with Eric Winter’s sweet gestures, but it is Gerard Butler’s confession that really melts her.

 

4) Characters having a one-night stand only to discover that the stand is his/her new boss.

Forget about the movies. The ultimate chick-flick series Grey’s Anatomy (whose first 2 seasons I like, by the way) start with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) sleeping with cute Derek (Patrick Dempsey) only to realize that he is one of the attendings at the hospital she’ll be an intern at.

Cooper and Long even parody the elevator scene in the series that’ll take place shortly after, though the Grey’s Anatomy elevator scene has more action.

Derek and Meredith in the elevator- Grey's Anatomy
Image via greysgabble.com.

5) Sliding Down against a wall, crying.

Now does that happen that often? Can’t think of an example right now.

5-a) Laughing and crying at the same time

(Though more smiling than laughing)

you_have_got_mail

 You’ve Got Mail: Meg Ryan does it at the end, although that scene really went quite well with the mood of the movie, and her expectedly surprised state.

6) Elderly folks saying things that are inappropriate

Couldn’t remember this one, though there are lots. And I’d like to add “elderly folks intervening because they think one of the characters is hot.”

Love and Other Drugs Movie Poster
Image via shockya.com.

Love and Other Drugs: Jake Gyllenhaal is trying to persuade Anne Hathaway to get off a full bus so that he can talk to her for a bit. The old woman behind Anne prompts her:

“He’s handsome dear.”

In her defense, though, Jake Gyllenhaal is handsome, so that remark is realistic.

7) Chasing to stop them from going somewhere to stop them from doing something – at an airport or a train station, wedding….

Especially airports and weddings win the medal for being the most-overused ones.

This has to be the most common one!

Love and Other Drugs: Jake Gyllenhaal stopping Anne Hathaway to tell her how he feels and convince her once and for all that they belong together.

The Proposal: Ryan Reynolds stopping Sandra Bullock from leaving her office to go to Canada, to tell how he feels and how she can stay.

the-proposal

French Kiss: Kevin Kline stopping Meg Ryan from going back to The States. And the entire premise was on Meg Ryan chasing down fiancé to France Timothy Hutton to get him back.

What’s Your Number: Anna Faris chasing down neighbor/lover Chris Evans to a wedding concert to say how she feels.

The Wedding Planner: Matthew McConaughey chasing down Jennifer Lopez to stop her from marrying Justin Chambers (Alex Karev of Grey’s Anatomy.)

My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend: Christopher Gorham stopping his girlfriend at the start at the airport, though in his defense, he was writing a chicklit.

The Wedding Singer: Adam Sandler chasing Drew Barrymore by actually getting on the flight

How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days: Matthew McConaughey stopping Kate Hudson from moving to another city.

A Lot Like Love: Amanda Peet going after Ashton Kutcher to a wedding

8) Shot of frame while heads falling into pillows

coupling uk
coupling uk

Comedy series Coupling does it- but not for romance but for ultimate hilarity. And it is as unisex as a TV show can get.

9) Speech of the guy telling the girl all the things he likes about her- why she’s the one

It’s A Boy Girl Thing:Kevin Zegers counts why he’d rather be with Samaire Armstrong.

Love and Other Drugs: You got it. The speech after they got off the bus.

I may not be the biggest fan of the movie, but I do like the speech. Damn you, Gyllenhaal.

10) Love montages

The Ugly Truth: No love montage for the actual guy (Gerard Butler), but for Katherine Heigl and Eric.

Love and Other Drugs: Yes, there is a collection o f moments after Hathaway seems momentarily OK with being in a relationship. The soundtrack is great though, for the entire movie.

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Now extra ideas from the video (No parodies but they mention them):

11) Public declaration of love:

The Ugly Truth: Gerard Butler to Katherine Heigl, though he doesn’t know it’s public.

Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl - The Ugly Truth
Here, they’re declaring what they hate about the opposite sex, inspired by their anger towards each other. Then…

27 Dresses: Katherine Heigl for James Marsden, at a wedding party she wasn’t invited to.

The Wedding Singer: Adam Sandler to Drew Barrymore, through serenading on a plane. Oh, and the audience includes Billy Idol (playing himself!), so this might be my favorite audience to declare love in front of.

12) Pretending to be somebody else

Never Been Kissed – Journalist Drew Barrymore goes undercover as a high school student who ends up getting classes from the handsome English teacher Michael Vartan. Poor guy starts to feel upset for developing feelings for a student, which is highly inappropriate…though she does seem to have a much higher level of emotional intelligence and maturity and deepness than other 17-year-olds…

Killers: Ashton Kutcher, ex-hit man, not being honest about his job to Katherine Heigl.

killers_movie_poster

Let’s face it. “Honey, I kill people for a living” doesn’t work so well.

 13) Pretending to have a kid

14) It started as a bet but now I do love you

She’s All That

15) Started off something else (hate, obligation…etc) but now it is love.

Couldn’t quite catch this one, but I think it was: started off something else (hate, obligation…etc) but now it is love. This is a very popular one.

A Walk to Remember: Popular, troubled Landon (Shane West) needs Jamie’s (Mandy Moore) help so that he can pull off an obligatory school play performance. He is unhappy at the idea since she is extremely uncool, the priest’s daughter, conservative, serious and hardworking, unpopular- everything Jamie is not. But hey, in time…

A_Walk_To_Remember_Poster
To be honest, I love this one to bits- though I’d have preffered a different ending.

Keith: High school student/outcast (by choice) Keith (Jesse McCartney) decides that he’ll create a challenge for himself where he will get the popular/smart/successful/pretty Natalie to fall for him. Natalie (Elizabeth Harnois) will initially only want to hang out because he is her lab partner but then his differences will attract her, emotionally and physically. And maybe he created the challenge because he liked her all along…

keith

Dedication: Mandy Moore only suffers through working with the obsessive, rude and annoying Billy Crudup due to work obligations but when she finally tells him to shut it, he starts showing he is not that bad and well…he might just be hiding the good stuff as opposed to so many other guys hiding the bad.

Not that I’d call Dedication a chick flick. The characters are quirky, more true-to-life and the world feels real – with all the beauty, shittiness, bad choices and actual problem and conflicts coming together beautifully. I recommend it to everyone – but especially to guys. It’s Billy Crudup, people!!!  

No Strings Attached: Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman – friends with benefits pact.

no-strings-attached-movie-kutcher-portman

Friends with Benefits: Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis –  friends with benefits pact.

Friends With Benefits Movie

10 Things I Hate About You: Heath Ledger tries to woo fellow high school student Julia Stiles to earn money, but ends up falling for her. Larisa Oleynik, sister of Stiles, tries to use Joseph Gordon-Levitt to be able to date a popular kid, and Levitt is paying Heath Ledger to try keep Stiles happy so he can date Oleynik and…

Modern take on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Now, the man could write, but if Heath Ledger is there, even guys shouldn’t whine and see the film. It really is fun. R.I.P. Heath. I was a fan long before Joker. Hell, Joker didn’t do much for my admiration.

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More clichés from me:

16) Ridiculously Cheesy Pop Soundtrack (a pet peeve of mine.)

Not all chicks like cheesy pop music!!!!

The Ugly Truth: Song during the love montage.

A Walk to Remember: Half Great alternative/modern rock soundtrack (which I liked), half cheesy pop mostly sang by Moore. However I do like the one she sings at the play- suits the mood, lyrics are great and another version is also featured.

17) Realizing that their true love was right in front of their eyes the whole time:

Made of Honor: Patrick Dempsey realizes that long time best friend Michelle Monaghan is his soulm ate only after she gets engage to Kevin McKidd (Owen Hunt) of Grey’s Anatomy.

Win a Date with Ted Hamilton: Kate Bosworth finally realizes that Topher Grace is the man for her after dating the famous actor Ted Hamilton (Josh Duhamel.)

No Strings Attached: Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman decide to be bed buddies, and it takes a lot longer for Natalie Portman to see that he is the one, and not just in bed.

Friends with Benefits: Justin Timberlake takes a while to admit that he really wants Mila Kunis, and not just to sleep with her. Seriously, it is Mila Kunis. Did he honestly think he could do better?

18) Serenading

A Walk in the Clouds: (romantic drama). Keanu Reeves serenades to his fake wife, but he already has a wife (Debra Messing) so…

Sweet November: Keanu Reeves. To Charlize Theron, and he hates singing!

The Wedding Singer: Well, in his defense, Adam Sandler, does play a wedding singer.

19) Jerk/Player/Badass/Apathic Outsider turns out to be a misunderstand or pretending-to-be-like-that but actually nice guy!

The Ugly Truth: Gerard Butler is a player, but not because he is shallow.See cliché 21. He’s ultimately a nice guy caring about his family, and definitely not a player when it comes to love.

Love and Other Drugs: Jake Gyllenhaal (Love and Other Drugs)- is apathetic and will sleep around bu the  falls in love with Anne Hathaway big time, and is ready to be there for her in sickness and in health- and especially in sickness since she has Parkinson’s.

Someone Like You: Hugh Jackman starts sleeping around after his heart was broken but he slowly shows his true colors when his friendship with Ashley Judd deepends.

 

20) “You’re not who I thought you were”

Prejudices/initial observations make the characters think/say negative things about the other person, only to realize, there’s more than meets the eye (or prejudices and wrong impressions):

Pride and Prejudice: One of my all time romances, and probably the most popular case of He’s so not who I thought you were!

Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) thinks Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) is an arrogant jerk, whereas he is just shy, antisocial and reserved. He has flaws, but so does she and they are in fact a perfect match.

pride_and_prejudice

Catch and Release: The exact sentence is uttered by Gray (Jennifer Garner) to Timothy Olyphant’s Fritz, who replies “Well, neither are you.”

See, Gray thought Fritz was an insensitive jerk who didn’t even seem to display grief at his best friend’s death. The dead friend also happened to be Gray’s fiancé. And Fritz thought she was this boring, stuck-up Miss Righteous. Turned out, they were both wrong-big time.

 10 Things I Hate About You: Heath Ledger realized Julia Stiles isn’t boring or tough. And she has a secret. She realizes he is not a dangerous badass as everyone at school makes him out to be.

21) Being tough/slutty/badass/bitchy as a defense mechanisms

The Ugly Truth : Gerard Butler decent boyfriend turns into player after many bad relationships

Someone Like You: Ultimate player Hugh Jackman is only protecting his heart after his beloved/live-in girlfriend leaves him!

Love and Other Drugs: Anne Hathaway to protect herself from getting to rely on and needing others because of her disease.

22) Big/Tragic Secret or Tragic Illness (that may or may not be secret).

Forget Me Not: My favorite romantic movie and on my top 10 favorite movies list, but the premise/trailer revolves around the fact that the guy (Tobias Menzies) has a tragic secret.

forget me not 2010 movie poster

 A Walk to Remember: Mandy Moore has a tragic secret. Come on, it is Nicholas Sparks! There has to be something tragic.

Message in a Bottle: Teresa (Robin Wright) hides her real reason for being near the sailor/widower McGarrett (Kevin Costner). Nicholas Sparks adaptation.He’ll be really pissed when he finds out.

Killers: Secret: Career background

Sweet November: Charlize Theron is hiding something. Otherwise why would any sane woman designate a guy to every month, turn him into a better person/lover and dump them after the month is over.

The Lucky One: Nicholas Sparks. Soldier Zac Efron can’t confess Taylor Schlling the real reason he’s there.

Keith: Keith has a secret- hence the drama label.

This Means War: Both guys (Tom Hardy & Chris Pine) lie about their jobs. Well, they are CIA.

 

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That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed the post and please don’t forget to add examples in the comments that you can think of.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: A Walk to Remember, Bradley Cooper, catch and release movie, chick flick clichés, gerard butler the ugly truth, hes just not that into you, jake gyllenhaal love and other drugs, Justin Long, katherine heigl the ugly truth, Keith, keith movie, kevin connoly, love and other drugs, mandy moore movies, romantic comedy clichés, The Ugly Truth, the wedding singer, this means war, this means war movie

The Hangover Part II: The-Not-So-Hilarious Sequel to the Hilarious Hangover

Posted on June 3, 2011 Written by ripitup

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The Hangover Part 2 starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis & Justin Bartha
The Hangover Part 2 starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis & Justin Bartha

The Plot – with spoilers for the first movie

This time Doug (Justin Bartha) – the groom-to-be that the “wolfpack” Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Stu (Ed Helms) and Phil (Bradley Cooper) lost (in The Hangover), is a happily married man. It has been two years since the ultimate Vegas adventure where the gang had got roofied, ended up waking with a severe memory loss, minus a groom, minus a teeth (from Stu), plus a tiger, and plus a baby Moreover Stu had gotten married to the mother of the baby, a beautiful prostitute (played by Heather Graham).

Somehow, they had made it to the wedding.

 

This time Stu is getting married in Thailand, to a beautiful Thai bride. Having learned his lesson, he is vehemently against a traditional bachelor party. Despite Phil’s objections, Phil, Stu, Alan (despite a very unwilling Stu), Doug and the 16 year-old, Harvard pre-med Teddy -Stu’s brother-in-law-to-be- (Mason Lee) fly to Thailand and meet the girls. The problem is, Alan has absolutely hated Teddy. But Stu naively thinks everything is in control, since there won’t be a party. But Phil talks him into having one drink at the beach. One beer can’t hurt right?

 

But the next day, Phil wakes up on the floor of a dodgy hotel room. Alan’s head was shaven and Phil has a ridiculous tattoo on his face. There is no sign of Doug, and they find a finger with a Harvard ring on it. There is also a weird monkey in the room. They can’t remember anything and Stu is about to have a heart attack over what might have happened to Teddy. Oh, and they find Chow -the ridiculous guy from the first movie (Ken Jeong). What the hell are they going to do now?

 

They establish that Doug is safe and sound at the hotel, so it is up to the three of them to re-track their actions from last night, find Teddy, deal with Chow and Chow’s enemies, the havoc they caused in Bangkok streets, monks and more…

 

 

Is it a match for The Hangover?

Writing a good comedy is really hard. Writing a comedy such as The Hangover is even harder. I laughed my butt off through the entire movie, and I don’t usually like it when things get crude (except maybe when Todd Philips writes it). So undeniably, my expectations were high. While I had a good time at the theater last night, I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t get any laughing cramps.

Now, the movie is entertaining. I am not going to say I didn’t have any fun. I liked the references made to the first movie. “It has happened again…”, “The roof!”. The drug dealing, smoking monkey was fun to watch. Watching the gang being beaten by a monk was funny. But…. The magic wasn’t just there this time. It was cruder, darker and this time Zach Galifianakis annoyed me most of the time. And am I the only one who thinks Stu definitely needs some therapy?

It is definitely watchable. It is just not that great.

Currently 7.0/10 on IMDB. I give it a 5.0. If I don’t compare it to the first, it gets a 6.0.

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Favorite Scenes (Minor Spoilers)!

–          When Chow “dies”, and how they deal with it.

–          The entire chase scene where Chow drives.

–          Parking of the speed boat

–          Stu’s song.

 

 

Also on Bradley Cooper

The A-Team starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Sharlto Copley & Quinton Rampage Jackson

Bradley Cooper Trivia

Case 39 starring Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Ian McShane and Jodelle Ferland

The Hangover starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha

He’s Just Not That Into You feat. Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly

Valentine’s Day feat. Cooper, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Patrick Dempsey, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel…

Wedding Crashers feat. Cooper, Vince Vaugh, Owen Wilson & Rachel McAdams

Alias TV Series starring Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan and Bradley Cooper

Also on Zach Galifianakis:

Due Date starring Robert Downey Jr. & Zach Galifianakis

Bored to Death starring Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis

The Hangover starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Bradley Cooper, bradley cooper movies, comedy, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, ken jeong, mason lee, The Hangover, the hangover 2, the hangover cast, the hangover part 2, the hangover part 2 cast, the hangover part II, todd philips, Zach Galifianakis

The A-Team starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Sharlto Copley & Quinton Rampage Jackson

Posted on December 3, 2010 Written by ripitup

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The A-Team starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Sharlto Copley & The A-Team starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Sharlto Copley & Quinton 'Rampage’ Jackson
The A-Team starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Sharlto Copley & Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. 2010. Directed & co-written by Joe Carnahan.

The Cast

The moment I heard about the cast, I knew I’d see the A-team. Sure, nostalgia is a part of it but I was a kid when the show aired (1983 – 1987) and all I really remember were the concept and characters.  But I am huge fan of Liam Neeson. Bradley Cooper makes entertaining movies and Patrick Wilson reminds me of Patrick Swayze and Michael Keaton (yes, both of them, at the same time). Weird, I know. Oh, and I also thought Luke Wilson would be in the movie. I can’t believe how much Sharlto Copley resembles him!

So a modern adaptation with a great cast, a nostalgic trip with lots of action and comedic moments, The A- Team was an inevitable choice. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The Plot

The story starts with how the team is formed: Colonel Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson) makes his escape from the Mexicans so that he can save his friend/fellow soldier Lt. “Faceman” Peck (Bradley Cooper) from even a worse situation. On his way he runs into B.A. Baracus (Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson), a big man and ex-soldier. After a pretty loud and fun rescue operation, they realize they need to fly in order to survive so they team up with the first pilot they run into, the nutty Captain H.M. Murdock (Sharlto Copley), who was staying in the psych ward.

Many years and successful operations later:

The movie s only gets faster from this point. The strong female part is filled in by Jessica Biel, who had also co-starred with Bradley Cooper in Valentine’s Day. Biel plays Captain Sosa, ex-girlfriend of Face who he doesn’t seem to be over.  Hannibal and his team retrieve some valuable metal plates used in money-manufacturing. Unfortunately, they get side-tracked by a hired soldier and his team.  The plates are stolen and General Morrison (Gerald McRaney), who has granted them the mission, is killed.

With their only witness dead, The A-Team is put on trial. Captain Sosa is demoted while the men are discharged from the military and sentenced to 10 years jail time in a maximum security prison. Of course Lynch (Patrick Wilson), the CIA agent who wanted the team on the mission in the first place, visits Hannibal and helps him break out of jail so that he gets his team back, retrieves the plates and clears their names. However they just might have more enemies than they anticipated and well, Sosa may also get in their way…

The Verdict:

Pure fun! I had a blast watching this movie. Sure, there were many logically and physically impossible scenes as well as some really bad computer effects but I am willing to ignore those because it is a really great action/comedy. I love the character interactions, the one-liners, the flight-phobic ex- commando, the crazy pilot, kick-ass leader Hannibal and the flirty and funny Face…

Favorite Scenes:

– Well every time Sharlto Copley’s Captain Murdock flies a plane and how he “lands” it.

– The prison rescue scenes

– Face’s prison cell and his equipments

– Face’s retrieval plan in execution

– Germany scenes where they are trying to retrieve the plates….

7.1 on IMDB. Fine with me. Leave logic aside and have fun!

Other Bradley Cooper Posts

Bradley Cooper Trivia

Case 39 starring Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Ian McShane and Jodelle Ferland

The Hangover starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha

He’s Just Not That Into You feat. Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly

Valentine’s Day feat. Cooper, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Patrick Dempsey, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel…

Wedding Crashers feat. Cooper, Vince Vaugh, Owen Wilson & Rachel McAdams

Alias TV Series starring Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan and Bradley Cooper

Other Liam Neeson Posts

Chloe starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried

Seraphim Falls starring Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan

The Other Man starring Liam Neeson, Antonio Banderas and Laura Linney

Other Posts on Jessica Biel

The Illusionist starring Biel and Edward Norton

Valentine’s Day

Other Posts on Patrick Wilson

Watchmen starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Wilson, Matthew Goode

No Strings Attached, The Switch and Morning Glory: 3 Romantic Comedies to Anticipate

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: action, adventure, Bradley Cooper, comedy, Gerald McRaney, Jessica Biel, Joe Carnahan, Liam Neeson, movies, Patrick Wilson, Quinton 'Rampage’ Jackson, Sharlto Copley, the a team, the a team movie, the a team tv series

Case 39 starring Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Ian McShane and Jodelle Ferland

Posted on November 3, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Case 39 starring Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Ian McShane and Jodelle Ferland
Case 39 starring Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Ian McShane and Jodelle Ferland

Emily Jenkins (Renée Zellweger) is a Social Services worker, dealing with abused kids. She is too involved in her work to date, even though she is not exactly oblivious to her friend/child psychologist Doug (Bradley Cooper)’s attempts.

Her crazy workload however gets even crazier when she is assigned her 39th case. Lilith Sullivan (Jodelle  Ferland) has the typical symptoms of an abused child: dropping grades, social withdrawal, falling asleep in class…So Emily goes to talk her parents, Edward (Callum Keith Rennie) and Margaret (Kerry O’Malley) who do not seem normal or loving at all. She confides in with her boss (Adrian Lester) and her cop friend (Ian McShane) Mike but they are both unwilling to dig deeper into the case without certain proof.

However she is able to prove the abuse when she gets a terrified call from the girl. She calls Mike and rushes into the house where the parents are trying to kill her. With Mike’s arrival, they manage to arrest the parents and save the girl.

Both of course when your “villains” are sent to an institute in straight jackets pretty much in the beginning of the film, and the abused girl is just all so nice, clever and perceptive, you do know your real villain is out and about. But of course every horror/thriller has at least one stupid or extra- naïve person and in this movie it is Emily. She feels so sorry for the girl that when she insists on living with Emily, our lovely social worker petitions to make it happen. She does get to be her foster parent until new arrangements can be made and their heavenly relationship is about to get very disrupted when Lilith  starts to show her true colors and endangers everyone around her.

I did call Emily naïve and stupid, because you don’t just welcome abused children into your home. I am not saying she could have seen she was a psycho but at least she should have been smart enough not to start living with a girl whose parents tried to burn her in a oven, for crying out loud! She was meant to be mentally disturbed and well, of course without Emily’s stupidity, we may not have had a story.

But then again, it would be perfectly OK not to have shot this movie. It is not bad but it is just so not necessary. And no matter how many fine actors you put in a film, supernatural horror movies usually end up being a disappointment and this one is no exception.

Oh, and if you got suspicious that Bradley Cooper’s name was credited after the little girl and Ian McShane, you were right. That was not a good sign on how much screen time Bradley would end up having in total. Written by Ray Wright, directed by Christian Alvart.2009.

6.1 on IMDB. I just might rate it slightly higher than Kevin Costner’s The New Daughter and Simon Baker’s Not Forgotten as Case 39 wasn’t that ridiculous but still, 6.1 is just too much. 5.5 from me.

The moment there was a mention of possession and demons, Case 39 just lost (bored) me.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: adrian lester, Bradley Cooper, bradley cooper movies, Callum Keith Rennie, case 39, case 39 movie, Christian Alvart, horror, ian mcshane, jodelle ferland, Kerry O'Malley, movies, ray wright, Renee Zellweger, renee zellweger movies, thriller

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