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Reviews7
unsaltedpeanutz's rating
Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman collaborate and con the entire United States voting public. Great idea, right?
Right. That's why it's so disappointing for me to only be able to rate this movie 5/10. De Niro is scruffy and jaded and dry (per usual, but he's great at it), Hoffman bumbles endearingly, and the entire production curls up and dies twenty minutes in. Color me unimpressed.
It's hard to tell what the writers thought the climax was, but they were wrong. Watch the first twenty minutes and you'll be in love, watch the first thirty and you'll be bored. Wag the Dog loses steam after it invests the entirety of itself in one joke: that the public will throw itself behind a war if only the media baits it in that direction.
The rest is downhill. Things go wrong as De Niro and Heche try to keep their heads above water until the election, but not wrong enough to be funny. I'm upset that more energy wasn't put into the script. Did nobody realize they had Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman on the same side of a political satire? Hello? Where was the quick, witty banter? It pains me to say that their interactions were funnier in Meet the Fockers.
All in all, lots of potential but an upsetting execution. The idea of this movie is funnier than the movie itself.
Right. That's why it's so disappointing for me to only be able to rate this movie 5/10. De Niro is scruffy and jaded and dry (per usual, but he's great at it), Hoffman bumbles endearingly, and the entire production curls up and dies twenty minutes in. Color me unimpressed.
It's hard to tell what the writers thought the climax was, but they were wrong. Watch the first twenty minutes and you'll be in love, watch the first thirty and you'll be bored. Wag the Dog loses steam after it invests the entirety of itself in one joke: that the public will throw itself behind a war if only the media baits it in that direction.
The rest is downhill. Things go wrong as De Niro and Heche try to keep their heads above water until the election, but not wrong enough to be funny. I'm upset that more energy wasn't put into the script. Did nobody realize they had Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman on the same side of a political satire? Hello? Where was the quick, witty banter? It pains me to say that their interactions were funnier in Meet the Fockers.
All in all, lots of potential but an upsetting execution. The idea of this movie is funnier than the movie itself.
I have a certain affinity for this movie of the breed where I can't really recommend it, because it really is not a well-planned, well-directed, or comedically sound film. But it appeals to my inner Python because of its history.
It's a virtual "Who's who" of late 1970s comedy. I could not resist the purchase when it came out on DVD, having myself already read the book and the screenplay. Anyone with a taste for early 80s comedy will appreciate the stellar cast: Chapman, Eric Idle, and John Cleese from the Python cast, Cheech and Chong, and half the cast of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Some may know, also, that Marty Feldman had previously worked with Chapman and Cleese in At Last the 1948 Show, the British sketch comedy show that predated Monty Python.
But, as I said earlier, I can't recommend it because I don't know if I would have enjoyed it so much had I not had such an appreciation for the historical value. The gags are good and there is a lot of clever wordplay, but I mostly just enjoy watching such famous personalities acting alongside each other. It's a good one for the collection, but look elsewhere if production value is what you want.
It's a virtual "Who's who" of late 1970s comedy. I could not resist the purchase when it came out on DVD, having myself already read the book and the screenplay. Anyone with a taste for early 80s comedy will appreciate the stellar cast: Chapman, Eric Idle, and John Cleese from the Python cast, Cheech and Chong, and half the cast of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Some may know, also, that Marty Feldman had previously worked with Chapman and Cleese in At Last the 1948 Show, the British sketch comedy show that predated Monty Python.
But, as I said earlier, I can't recommend it because I don't know if I would have enjoyed it so much had I not had such an appreciation for the historical value. The gags are good and there is a lot of clever wordplay, but I mostly just enjoy watching such famous personalities acting alongside each other. It's a good one for the collection, but look elsewhere if production value is what you want.
This movie rings similar to The Departed, but it's not nearly as gripping or well-acted.
Drug deals, gangs, cops, gunfights, car chases. We've seen it all before. And that is really the fault of We Own the Night. It's not a bad film, but it's a film that will be easily forgotten, as it's overshadowed by such greats as Reservoir Dogs and last year's The Departed. The acting is shoddy at times, especially with Duval and Wahlberg, who can't seem to find the right tone for Joseph Grusinski, and flip-flops between the promising young family man cop and the greenie with the hard-ass exterior.
Phoenix is a suave nightclub owner, Bobby Green, who operates on a don't ask-don't tell basis when it comes to the drug deals that are centered on his property. He carries the part off well, managing Bobby's painful transition from passive supporter of the drug trade to undercover rat to full-blown cop. Eva Mendes plays very sincerely the role of Green's promiscuous but caring girlfriend, Amada Juarez. The scenes between Mendes and Phoenix are electric and find chemistry that is lacking elsewhere in the film.
But the bottom line is that the film feels like rehashed mediocre material. Lots of big names in the cast is just not enough.
Drug deals, gangs, cops, gunfights, car chases. We've seen it all before. And that is really the fault of We Own the Night. It's not a bad film, but it's a film that will be easily forgotten, as it's overshadowed by such greats as Reservoir Dogs and last year's The Departed. The acting is shoddy at times, especially with Duval and Wahlberg, who can't seem to find the right tone for Joseph Grusinski, and flip-flops between the promising young family man cop and the greenie with the hard-ass exterior.
Phoenix is a suave nightclub owner, Bobby Green, who operates on a don't ask-don't tell basis when it comes to the drug deals that are centered on his property. He carries the part off well, managing Bobby's painful transition from passive supporter of the drug trade to undercover rat to full-blown cop. Eva Mendes plays very sincerely the role of Green's promiscuous but caring girlfriend, Amada Juarez. The scenes between Mendes and Phoenix are electric and find chemistry that is lacking elsewhere in the film.
But the bottom line is that the film feels like rehashed mediocre material. Lots of big names in the cast is just not enough.