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The Vicious Kind starring Adam Scott: Humanly Amoral, Emotional and Funny

Posted on June 21, 2016 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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The Vicious Kind movie poster
The Vicious Kind movie poster via amazon.com.

 

Oh, how Adam Scott (High Crimes, Leap Year , A.C.O.D, Friends with Kids, The Overnight) has grown on me. I’ve never not liked the guy, but this was definitely one of the more challenging roles he has taken on.

On the surface, the premise of the movie might sound like a typical romantic comedy. However, it’s not very typical, and it’s NOT a romantic comedy.

Caleb (Adam Scott) is a lonely construction worker who is not dealing well with his break-up at all. He can’t sleep, he has sex with hookers and then sends pictures of the act to his ex, and he is not taken the news of his younger brother Luke’s romance well. He believes, and openly states, that all women are whores, and this new girl, Emma (Britanny Snow), is no different. The fact that she was seeing another guy when she met Luke only confirms Caleb’s thoughts.

Luke introduces them as they pick up Emma, and drive her and Luke to their father’s house – a father called Donald (played by J.K. Simmons) Caleb isn’t on speaking terms with.

The problem is Emma kind of looks like Caleb’s ex. She is also sexy, nice and friendly, making Caleb assault her and want her all at once. Oh, yes, Caleb isn’t very a stable or healthy individual. However, he is a fascinating character to watch.

One minute he’s frightening the hell out of her, and one minute he’s crying and apologizing. One minute he’s trying to prove she’s out to break Luke’s heart and telling her not to, and one minute he’s being all intense and attracting her.

Of course, Emma is only less of a mess compared to Caleb. Her boyfriend, Caleb’s brother Luke, is a virgin. Caleb is a good-looking nutjob, their father Donald borders on creepy and weird, and she has her own drunk mother and parental issues to deal with. As a psych major who hasn’t been able to sort herself out, is it any wonder she’s slowly drawn to the volatile Caleb? And can anyone survive this triangle?

*

The performances are fantastic, and I had a pretty good time watching Caleb contradicting himself at every turn. Adam Scott does a brilliant job in making the audience going from wanting to punch him to hug him and back to punching in a matter of minutes.

Luke seems like the more innocent and normal of the bunch, but that might exactly be what’s backfiring in his relationship. It’s not that Emma wants a bad guy per se, but she’d certainly be prepared for one who deals with his issues out on the open.

It’d be appropriate to call Caleb both the antagonist and protagonist of the story: He’s the main character. We get to know him the most. He is also the one screwing up things left and right, and doing almost always the wrong thing to sort things out or feel better.

I’d definitely recommend this funny drama. Written and directed by Lee Toland Krieger.

 

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: adam scott, brittany snow, j.k. simmons, Lee Toland Krieger, the vicious kind, the vicious kind movie review

The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick

Posted on September 13, 2010 Written by ripitup

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The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick, J.K. Simmons and Jon Tenney
The Closer. From left: Michael Paul Chan, J.K. Simmons, Kyra Sedgwick, Jon Tenney and Corey Reynolds

Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) has just been appointed to LAPD as Chief of Police. Previously located in Atlanta, she has great training and results under her belt when it comes to interrogations: she manages to get confessions and close cases fast. But at her new office, she faces hostility from her new colleagues, as she is new, a little tough and doesn’t take crap from anyone. However she soon proves her reputation and even though she gets on people’s nerves, she is probably the worst thing that can happen to criminals. Co-starring as her boss is J.K Simmons.

There is also Brenda’s relationship with FBI agent Fritz (Jon Tenney), which could have gone a lot more smoothly if their cases didn’t intersect and Brenda wasn’t obsessed with getting justice.

***

The Closer first aired in 2005, but I hadn’t paid much attention to it first. Kyra’s accent threw me off a little (it is not her interpretation of the accent but the accent in general) and well, there were so many criminal dramas going on, I really didn’t think this one was different.

Well, while it may not be unique, it certainly is different and entertaining; not to mention a little addictive. I love watching a woman in charge and her unusual methods to get things done. After a while, the accent doesn’t bother me much as the story does pull you in.

While I am not as attached to the show as I am to Castle and The Mentalist, I realized it was really good TV and a rather good substitute. Kyra Sedgwick finally won the Emmy this year for Best Actress in Drama as well. Kyra was also nominated for Golden Globe many times and won in 2007.

Give this a shot. Your favorite moments might just be the ones where she gets her suspects/criminals to confess- her tactics are well worth seeing. And it is good to see Kyra as a leading actress.

Other Posts on Kyra Sedgwick

6 Hollywood Couples: Gorgeous, Glamorous and Happy Together

Phenomenon starring John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick and Robert Duvall

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Filed Under: TV shows Tagged With: crime, drama, j.k. simmons, jon tenney, Kyra Sedgwick, the closer, the closer tv series, the closer tv show, TV shows

I Love You, Man starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel

Posted on July 19, 2010 Written by ripitup

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I Love You Man starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel and Rashida Jones
I Love You Man starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel and Rashida Jones. Image via collider.com

Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is under the impression that his life is perfect. After all, he enjoys his job as a real estate agent and his girlfriend Zooey (Rahida Jones) said yes to his proposal. But as her friends and his family find about their marriage plans, it becomes painfully obvious that Peter doesn’t have any male friends who can be his best man. Zooey’s friend Denise (Jaime Pressly) tries to get him into the group of her grumpy husband Barry (Jon Favreau)’s poker buddies while his gay brother Robbie (Andy Samberg) and his mother (Jane Curtin) fix him up with man-dates. However all these efforts end in disaster as the men either turn up to be weird, annoying or simply gay.

But soon after Peter meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) and it seems like it is a male friendship made in heaven. Sydney is fun, upfront, straight, has a good job, a garage full of guitars, loves the band Rush and he really does enjoy hanging out with Peter. While this newly found friendship makes Zooey at first, it slowly puts a strain on the relationship. After all Sydney is too blunt (his wedding toast suggest Zooey should give Peter “bj”s.), he loves being the ultimate bachelor and questions why Peter is getting married at all and he wants to hang out with him very often. Moreover he seems to have odd ideas on how to make Peter sell more houses- which end up pissing off his boss…

How will Peter manage to balance his problems at work, not losing Zooey and not screwing up his friendship?

A male friend recommended this to me as a very entertaining guy flick and he was right. It is really fun and original. Do not be turned off by the term guy flick because it is a very unisex movie. You may not enjoy watching this with kids or parents, but it is perfect to see alone, with friends or with your date. And you can’t say that for a lot of movies.

I love the whole cast. I always found J. K Simmons (he plays Peter’s father) hilarious, I really crack up every time I see Jane Curtin (a habit from watching the hilarious sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun). Jon Favreau (Vince Vaughn’s writing/acting buddy- director of Iron Man films) seems to love characters that are not easy to get along with and talk way too much as he keeps playing them. But it is OK because is made for these roles.  You probably know Andy Samberg from Saturday Night Live. You can watch this hilarious SNL stint where Andy keeps punching everyone. Rashida Jones starred in the mini romcom series NY-LON with True Blood’s Bill (Stephen Moyer) that takes place in both London and New York, hence the name.

Don’t expect a laugh-out-loud comedy. As much as I watched the film with a huge grin on my face, I didn’t really get stomach cramps. For more laughter, I will suggest  watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It also stars Jason Segel and features Paul Rudd in a small but fun role.

That being said, I have no objection to this film’s high rating 7.3 rating. Written by John Hamburg and Larry Levin, directed by John Hamburg. Made in 2009. Click to watch “I love you, man” trailer on youtube.

****************

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: andy samberg, comedy, I Love You Man, j.k. simmons, jaime pressley, jane curtin, Jason Segel, john hamburg, Jon Favreau, larry levin, Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones

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