Dirty Work (1998)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Norm MacDonald, Artie Lange, Jack Warden, Traylor Howard, Christopher McDonald, Chevy Chase

'Do what you are always best at', is a famous saying once said by some very famous person. Two good friends, Mitch (MacDonald) and Sam (Lange) intend to literally adhere to this phrase. The duo are good at nothing and have changed an infinite number of jobs but somehow cannot find anything stable. The only thing they are good at is creating mischief. The two always pulled pranks at various people in their lives and a sudden brilliant idea makes them want to cash in on this ability of theirs and earn some money. Sam's father needs a heart transplant and his doctor, Dr. Farthings (Chase) wants $50,000 for the transplant and also to pay off some bookies who are looking for him and would kill him in 9 days. The two now have to come up with $50,000, which was already an uphill task, and must now additionally earn that in an impossible nine days' time. The best thing about the movie is the unique concept and story that makes it very appealing at first sight. The reason why one must not give in to this appeal is because of the poor performances and worthless humour. The movie seems to fit the definition of the word 'lame' and lacks the excitement that it otherwise should have had.

Thumbs up: Unique concept and story

Thumbs down: Bad humour and performances

Rating: 5.5/10

Horrible Bosses (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Crime

Starring: Jason Bateman, Kevin Spacey, Charlie Day, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Collin Farrell, Jamie Foxx

Remember that dinner with friends where someone throws a completely stupid idea and everyone plays along and agrees to doing it knowing full well that its just a stupid joke? And remember the next morning when you wake up and you actually think you might want to after all execute that thought that randomly came up over yesterdays dinner? Three friends, Nick (Bateman), Kurt (Sudeikis) and Dayle (Day) contemplated over the thought of killing their bosses and after a few days that thought started moulding into a real thought. Nick's boss, Dave Harken (Spacey) is a maniac who squeezes every drop out of his employees and treats them like slaves. Bobby Pellitt (Farrell) is Kurt's coke addicted boss who has no interest in the company or anyone's welfare and simply wants to have one big party all the time. Dale's boss is the super-hot and sexy Dr. Julia (Aniston) who is a sex maniac and is trying to get Dale to sleep with her. That may not seem all that bad for most people but Dayle is due to get married and he fears being disloyal to his fiance. The trio decide to kill the three bosses and make their life better and approach the first black shady man they meet, Mr. Motherfu***r Jones (Foxx). The movie is cleverly set against the backdrop of the global recession with dwindling job opportunities and showing people doing almost anything to earn some money. Its got a different edge to it and is definitely a good fun watch. A lot of working folk might associate themselves with the feeling of killing their bosses and this movie captures that exact moment. Its not laugh out loud funny but its definitely worth the entertainment.

Thumbs up: Great fun, good plot

Thumbs down: Would have been a repeat watch if it was crazy funny

Rating: 7.1/10

Vicky Donor (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama

Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Anu Kapoor, Yami Gautam, Dolly Alhuwalia, Kamlesh Gill

Conservative families, social issues and lack of acceptance of modern ideologies is a sure shot formula for a Bollywood movies success. Vicky Donor explores the preconceptions of sperm donation that prevail within the conservative Indian society and revealing its true intentions. Vicky Arora (Khurrana) is jobless and lazy and has no motivation or direction in life. His widowed mother runs a beauty parlor and is fed up of Vicky's high cost of living and no income. Dr. Chaddha (Kapoor) is an infertility specialist who cant seem to find the right sperm donor to fulfill the demands of his high profile clients. All his advertisements for sperm donors bear no fruit since the more healthy and versatile people look down upon sperm donation and the only ones who come forward are penniless and jobless people looking to make some easy money. One fine day, Dr. Chaddha spots Vicky and his sixth sense tells him that he is the man he is looking for. A sperm test reveals that his mojo is in top order and after a lot of persuasion and nagging, Vicky becomes a sperm donor. He soon realises that he can make a whole lot of money out of it and makes it his profession. Vicky eventually falls in love with banker Ashima Roy (Gautam) and wishes to marry her, much to the despise of Dr. Chaddha who sees Vicky as his only source of income. The story touches upon the social stigma in a humorous and fun manner but suffers from having a conventional foundation. Initial success, problems arise, the downfall and the eventual happy ending are all very predictable. Its an outline that almost every movie on the planet works on which makes it lose its traction and interest and hence is not unique inn itself. John Abraham has managed to produce a good entertainer with above average performances but still needs to work hard if it needs to make a sounding impact at the box office.

Thumbs up: Performances, humour and an all-round urban entertainer

Thumbs down: Predictable plot outline, gets a tad boring at places

Rating: 7.3/10

The Baxter (2005)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Michael Showalter, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Williams, Justin Theroux

If you thought your love life is messed up, you might want to know about the story of Elliot Sherman (Showalter). Elliot calls himself a baxter, or someone who has lost their girlfriend to her ex-boyfriend who casually walks back into her life and sweeps his lady love off her feet. Not once, but twice and it just happened the third time. Elliot was to marry Caroline (Banks) until her high school crush Bradley (Theroux) arrives at the wedding and proposes to her leaving Elliot in a position he is no stranger to. The movie flashes back and goes on to tell you exactly how this awkward situation arose and what comes thereafter. Cecil (Williams) is Elliot's temporary secretary whom he grows fond of and confines his fears of getting dumped again when he is all set to marry Caroline and bring her into his life. The movie builds on an interesting concept, different than what a normal romance comedy would be and attempts at being realistic rather than being idealistic. The movie suffers with being slow and stretched and since it gives away the climax at the very beginning, you know exactly what to expect and hence one is simply expected to enjoy the journey till the end. That, sadly does not happen and your thankful the movie is over rather than getting up with a broad smile and a sense of enjoyment.

Thumbs up: Good idea to explore upon

Thumbs down: Stretched, slow and boring

Rating: 5.7/10

Housefull 2 (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Shreyas Talpade, John Abraham, Zarine Khan, Shazahn Padamsee, Jacqulien Fernandes, Asin, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Johnny Lever, Chunky Pandey, Mithun Chakraborty, Boman Irani

Bollywood comedy needs a serious lecture from Charles Darwin. It seems the theory of evolution applies to each and every entity on this planet except for the Indian film industry and especially its comedy genre. Jai (Talpade) is a bachelor whose parents are visiting Mr. Chintu Kapoor (Rishi Kapoor) and his family asking their daugher Henna's (Asin) hand in marriage. Chintu insults his father and throws him out of the house, much to the anger of Jai. Chintu does not want to get his daughter married to just anyone and demands a rich son-in-law, perhaps maybe even the son of JD (Chakraborty). Chintu's elder brother Daboo Kapoor (Randhir Kapoor) is also looking for a groom for his daughter, Bobby (Fernandes) and has similar demands as his younger brother. Daboo and Chintu are not on talking terms and always try to do something to outdo the other. Enter Jolly (Deshmukh) the son of JD who is good friends with Jai. To get revenge on the Chintu, Jai and JD hire Max (Abraham) to go to Chintu as JD's son and marry their daughter and dumping her before the wedding. Max ends up going to Daboo instead of Chintu and hence the duo now hire Sunny (Kumar) to get the real job done. Jai wishes to marry his sweetheart Parul (Padamsee) and Jolly wants to marry JLo (Khan) but is too scared to talk about his true love in front of his father. The movie is a complete mess of characters with all the male leads constantly switching roles and partners to make, what could possibly be, the worlds biggest botched movie. As all Indian comedy movies, this one too thrives on a complicated and confused story, bad humour, bikini babes and too many stars. It really isnt any different from any other Hindi comedy movie that you might come across and does not even attempt at being so. Charles Darwin, I call thee to come down here and give a lesson or two to these mindless mortals!

Thumbs up: Zarine Khan looks hot, Shazahn Padamsee is hot, Asin sizzles and Jacquelin is every mans wet dream

Thumbs down: Hopeless plot, bad humour worse acting

Rating: 4.9/10

The Great Dictator (1940)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Spoof/History

Starring: Charles Chaplin, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell, Billy Gilbert, Paulette Goddard, Maurice Moskovitch

Charlie Chaplin was known to be the greatest comedian that walked the face of the Earth and who revolutionised cinema's and gave the people of the silent era something to laugh at. Spoofing one of the most notorious dictators of all time, Hynkel (Chaplin) (read 'Adolf Hitler') the Dictator of Tomania (read 'Germany') has come into power and wishes to rid the country of the filthy Jews that tarnish society. A simple Jewish Barber (Chaplin) has returned from hospital when he underwent a memory loss while fighting for his country during the First World War. When he returns to his shop, he is shocked to find how the Ghetto has transformed and the Storm Troopers brutally beat him until Commander Schultz (Gardiner), a man whose life he previously saved, comes to his rescue. The movie humorously showcases Hynkel and his war plans along with the struggles of the Jews to escape from the clutches of the Storm Troopers. The movie shows raw comedy, much different from the movies of today. It might seem bland and unappealing to many, but one needs to be a true appreciator of cinema to enjoy one of Chaplin's finest.

Thumbs up: Sir Chaplin at his very best

Thumbs down: May not be funny enough for the modern audience

Rating:7.7/10

Evan Almighty (2007)

Genre: Drama/Comedy/Fantasy

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Steve Carrell, Lauren Graham, John Goodman, Wanda Sykes, John Michael Higgins

Bruce Almighty, the predecessor to this movie, focused on Bruce and his tryst with God in the bid to outdo Evan. Now, Evan Baxter (Carrell) faces God (Freeman) when he decides to quit journalism in favour of running for Congress. His slogan, ‘Change the World’ attracts a lot of following and attention which wins him an office in Congress. Congressmen Long (Goodman) is pushing for a new land reform bill for which he wants Evans backing. Evan does the mistake, or maybe the right thing, by asking God for help in ‘Changing the World’. God instructs him to create an Ark if he wants to achieve his goal and forces him to become Noah and build a huge boat which would survive an inevitable flood that God would bring down upon the people of New York. The movie is very different from the previous movie and lacks the slapstick humour and stupidity that is often associated with Jim Carrey. Carrell tries his best at being funny, but is no Carrey. That said, the movie is far from boring and is a decent entertainment and a way to kill time but does not score very high on the 'Movies to Watch Before I Die' list.

Thumbs up: A good entertainer

Thumbs down: Could be funnier, maybe Carrey should have been around

Rating: 6.5/10

The Six Wives of Henry Lefay (2009)

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Starring: Tim Allen, Barbara Barrie, Elisha Cuthbert, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Jenna Elfman, Andie MacDowell, S. Epatha Merkerson, Eric Christian Olsen, Lindsay Sloane, Paz Vega

The name; just read the name, again and again. The title gives away each and every little aspect of the movie but its still my duty to run you through the 90 minute piece of boredom. Henry Lefay (Allen) is a man of many women who starts dating a new one the moment he is bored of the current one. Wife No.1 Effa (Merkerson) the wife that nobody knew existed, wife No. 2 Kate (MacDowell) who thought she was the first wife all along until Effa came by, also the only wife to have borne Henry a child named Barbara (Cuthbert). Wife No. 3 & 5 Ophelia (Elfman) the sex-hungry cougar and the only one to have married Henry twice. Wife No. 4 Veronica (Vega) the Spanish beauty who stayed on with Henry as a business partner and wife No. 6 Autumn (Sloane) who is almost as old as Barbara and Sarah Jane (Dewan-Tatum) his girlfriend whom he was going to marry and divorce Autumn for. Henry dies in a para sailing accident in Mexico and Barbara needs to take care of his last rights, along with bringing all the wives together and coming to a conclusion on how the funeral/cremation should be since Henry conveniently left various instructions with different wives. The movie sounds interesting but it sadly isn't. All hopes of good humour are quickly dispelled and one is left with a boring and dragged movie that had far more potential. Performances were mediocre, some slightly humorous bits were ok and you don't need a psychic octopus to figure out where the movie is taking you. 

Thumbs up: Good story

Thumbs down: Bad execution, lack of good humour

Rating: 5.7/10

Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Raayo Bakhirta, Kartikeya Tiwari, Divyendu Sharma, Nushrat Bharucha, Sonalli Sehgal, Ishita Sharma

The biggest tragedy of a mans life, without a girlfriend your sex and love deprived and with one all the happiness of your life is sucked. Three young men learnt this the hard way when they decided to abandon to path of 'guys only' to tread the path of love and lust. Rajat aka Rajjo (Tiwari) starts dating Neha (Bharucha) an over-possessive, demanding and dominating woman. Liquid aka Nishant (Divyendu Sharma) falls in love with Charu (Ishita Sharma) a fresher at work but unfortunately she is already booked in a long-distance relationship. Choudhry aka Vikrant (Bakhirta) gets into a relationship with Rhea (Sehgal) who keeps going back to her ex and cant seem to get over him. Each of them become dogs behind their respective women and realise that they have lost all the fun and frolic that previously existed in their lives. The movie starts off at a good note with funny, urban humour and a constant cascade of abuses. The movie is a decent entertainer overall but suffers from the typical Bollywood infection. Its stretched, over-dramatised, needless songs and progresses slowly. The humour soon fizzles towards drama and romance and concludes with a highly predictable outcome. Yet, in spite all these flaws, the movie is a good watch especially either with your loved ones or a gang of friends.

Thumbs up: Different humour from the normal slapstick in Bollywood

Thumbs down: Stretched and suffers from typical Bollywood drawbacks

Rating: 7.0/10

Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama/Comedy/Spoof/Adventure

Starring: Mike Myers, Seth Green, Beyonce Knowles, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Michael Caine

The James Bond with obscenely high testosterone levels is back once more to make the ladies shiver with excitement and save the world. Austin Powers (Myers) has learnt that his father has been kidnapped and is stuck back in time in the '70s. He must go and save him from the clutches of Goldmember (Myers) an obnoxious Dutch who loves Gold and loves eating his dead skin. He encounters an old acquaintance Foxy Cleopatra who is working undercover as a part of Goldmembers team. Austin meets Dr. Evil (Myers) who too has travelled back in time to take Goldmember to the future and help him destroy the world. Austin along with Foxy must prevent Dr. Evil and Goldmember from accomplishing their evil deed and save the world from ultimate doom. The movie series were famously known to spoof various spy movies, especially the James Bond movies which provide the basis for all jokes and story. Myers exceeds expectations but increasing his role from 3 to 4 by executing the character of Goldmember apart from Austin Powers, Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard. Its an insane laugh riot which might seem very similar in humour to its previous movies but is still a very fun movie to watch.

Thumbs up: Mike Myers

Thumbs down: Overdone humour in the series, lacks freshness

Rating: 6.9/10

The Descendants (2011)

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Patricia Hastie

The life of an average American man who suddenly seems to have too much on his hand to control. Matt King (Clooney) is a lawyer based in Hawaii and lives with his wife and two daughters. His relationship with his wife, Elizabeth (Hastie) is strained and friends and family inform him its because there was a lack of excitement. Elizabeth suffers a jet ski accident and goes into a coma. Its only then that Matt's elder daughter Alexandra (Woodley) informs him of her extra-marital affair with an unknown man. Matt is the sole trustee of a family trust that owns a huge chunk of virgin land on one of the islands. Due to a law his trust would expire in seven years and he has no choice but to sell it. Managing his daughters, his wife's accident, strained marriage and the island deal coming together to one average man makes life hard, very hard. Clooney has done a phenomenal piece of acting and rightfully earns the numerous awards he has received for it. The light comedy sprinkled in the first half of the movie and the dramatic second half is the perfect structure for a movie of its kind and is spot-on. The movie is pretty much flawless but suffers from the drawbacks of the genre of the movie. A movie of its kind can get heavy and is slow, attributes that naturally occur and are unavoidable. A definite watch and gives the viewer a lot to reflect upon.

Thumbs up: Fabulous acting, especially Clooney

Thumbs down: Slow and heavy

Rating: 7.7/10

Cedar Rapids (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Kurtwood Smith, Sigourney Weaver

An award-winning insurance agency, Brownstar, has been successful so far in winning the Two Diamonds awards given out annually to the best insurance agency. Brownstar insurance agent Tim Lippe (Helms) is selected to  represent his company this year at the awards ceremony after the agent who usually took up this task decided to move on in life. Tim has never stepped out of his home town, led a sheltered life and is very immature for his age. He has no idea on how he is supposed to live to his boss's expectations and come back winning the awards. He befriends his roommates Dean Zeigler (Reily) the very man whom his boss asked him to stay away from, and Ronald Wilkes (Whitlock Jr.). He is attraction to Joan (Heche), nervousness about winning the award, learning about independent life the hard way and getting accustomed to reality make those few days seem far longer than they were intended to be. The movie is pretty much your average run-of-the-mill comedy movie but it wont fail to entertain. Its light, funny, cheerful and uplifting and would try very hard to make you smile.

Thumbs up: Light and fun

Thumbs down: Cliched and can slow in parts

Rating: 6.5/10

Scary Movie 4 (2006)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Spoof/Adventure

Starring: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Bill Pullman, Anthony Anderson, Leslie Nielsen, Conchita Campbell, Beau Mirchoff, Kevin Hart

The Scary Movie series of movies can be attributed with the revolution of spoof movies where the plot never really mattered and all that accounted for was the ridiculous humour derived out of current events, TV shows and mostly movies. The fourth installment of the series decides to take on The Village, The Grudge and War of the Worlds. Cindy Campbell (Farris) has taken up a job as nursing an old-aged woman and finds that her house is haunted by a Japanese child who predicts the destruction of Earth and tells Cindy that only she can stop the alien invasion. Tom Ryan (Bierko) is a divorcee who has to take care of his children Rachel (Campbell) and Robbie (Mirchoff). Tom and Cindy are new neighbours and fall in love with each other just as catastrophe strikes Earth with an deadly alien invasion. Cindy along with Brenda (Hall) and Tom must use the Japanese kids advice and stop Earth from ultimate doom. The movie has derived its core plot from a non-horror movie and hence failed to live up to the brand name to an extent. The jokes are only moderately funny and the full extent of the humour can only be absorbed if one is familiar with the movies/personalities that are being spoofed on. You can watch it but you wont miss out on anything if you chose not to.

Thumbs up: Its not easy to make good movie spoofs

Thumbs down: Not very funny

Rating: 5.6/10

Next Day Air (2009)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Comedy

Starring: Donald Faison, Mike Epps, Wood Harris, Omari Hardwick, Emilio Rivera, Darius McCary, Cisco Reyes, Yasmin Deliz, Lobo Sebastian

There are some movies that make you simply wonder, 'Why'? Why would anyone want to waste all the resources to recreate garbage? Doesn't the world create enough of that already? If you filter the trash, one would find that most of these movies feature African-American crime and comedy that hardly ever appeals to the masses. Leo (Faison) is a simple mail delivery man who delivers post after getting high. In one such instance, he drops of a box full of 10 bricks of cocaine to the wrong house. Guch (Harris) and Brody (Epps) are wannabe gangsters who have befriended a completely unknown person to rob a bank which goes hopelessly wrong. A miscommunication leads them to steal the 'tapes' instead of the 'cash' and now they're broke with no money, until there is a knock on the door and they're delivered an unknown package. Across the hallway, Jesus (Reyes) is awaiting for his coke shipment to arrive from drug lord Bodega (Rivera). The package never comes, Bodega is mad and Jesus is pissing in his pants. Guch and Brody decide to sell the stuff to Brody's cousin Shavoo (Hardwick) not knowing that the package belongs to their friendly neighbour. The movie is the average entertainer with the regular comedy that is often associated from this genre of movie. Watchable, but not commendable.

Thumbs up: Keeps you involved the entire time

Thumbs down: Unexciting and predictable

Rating: 5.8/10

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Genre: Comedy/Crime/Drama

Starring: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York, Rob Lowe, Seth Green, Verne Troyer, Mindy Sterling

James Bond, oops, Austin Powers (Myers) returns once again but the element that makes him the man that he is has gone missing. Austin Powers has lost his mojo. Austin Powers has lost his libido. Austin Powers has lost his manhood. Austin Powers cannot shag! That is bad news for Mr. Powers and even worse for the ladies. Dr. Evil (Myers) sent his secret agent, Fat Bastard (Myers) back in time to 1969 to steal Mr. Powers man-ly elements whilst he is frozen. Powers in the year 1999 suddenly realises that something from within him is gone missing and soon learns of Evil's theft in the past. He too decides to go back to 1969 and get his vital organs back in order and also prevent Dr. Evil from bringing down Washington D.C. with a laser beam perched atop the Moon. Along with his oh-so-sexy accomplice, Felicity Shagwell (Graham) Powers must save the world and bring himself back to the ladies. If you think Mike Myers outdid himself with his dual roles of Evil and Powers, he just raised the bar with a third performance of Fat Bastard. The entertainment quotient of the series is ever increasing with the humour, satire and jokes being fabulous and fun. The abrupt ending of Miss Kensington from the previous movie and the absence of Mrs. Kensington in 1969 seems out of place, but who cares really?

Thumbs up: Mike Myers as always

Thumbs down: Awkward plot line

Rating: 7.5/10

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Crime

Starring: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, Fabiana Udenio

What would happen if Jim Carrey would play the role of James Bond? You would get Austin Powers (Myers). The British Spy whose every move gives woman orgasms on the street, whose suave style and character are loved by all and the sole person on the planet who can put an end to Dr. Evil (Myers). Its England in the year 1967 when Dr. Evil freezes himself and escapes from Powers to outer space and promises to return again. Not to get outdone, Powers freezes himself too in order to be ready when Evil decides to return. 30 years later, Evil returns once again with plans of world domination and Austin Powers is reborn. The flashy colours of the 60's, the freedom of unprotected sex, the boot-cut trousers and his overtly sexual character are a complete misfit in this era and our spy is finding a hard time to adjust himself. Along with his accomplice, Miss Kensington (Hurley) Austin must stop Dr. Evil from planting a nuclear warhead inside the Earths core which would make every volcano explode. The movie is loaded with satire, humour, spoofs and is made not to make any sense but to simply roll you over with laughter. Myers steals the show with his dual performances of Evil and Powers. Its his British humour, awkwardly humorous scenes and the 60's misfit style are simply fabulous. Its shagadelic baby!

Thumbs up: Mike Myers and the amazing humour

Thumbs down: Some slow scenes that break the flow

Rating: 7.5/10

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (3D) (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Kal Penn, John Cho, Thomas Lennon, Amir Blumenfeld, Paula Garces, Danny Trejo

Harold (Cho) & Kumar (Penn) have entertained audiences in the past when they went to White Castle and Guantanamo Bay. The two best friends perpetually landed themselves in trouble with Harold trying to figure a more reasonable way out and Kumar chosing something more radical. The two friends have not parted ways with Harold tired of Kumar's continued immaturity and not being able to accept adulthood. He has settled down with Maria (Garces) and Maria's family decides to drop in for Christmas. Her father Carlos Perez (Trejo) is a very religious person and believes in celebrating Christmas with all his heart. Harold and him dont get along and Carlos has entrusted Harold with the task of decorating a Christmas tree that he has been growing for years for this special occassion. Kumar is still spending time like a college graduate, smoking weed all day long and finds a package with Harold's name on his doorstep. Not having seen him in all these years he decided to pay him a visht and give the package. Kumar, ever-famous for his blunders, puts Carlos' tree on fire and the two now need to look for a new tree and decorate it before he returns home. The movies have consistently focussed on the duo and their misfortunate events but what made them famous and loved was the slapstick and enjoyable humour. Penn, as usual, brings in all the sex and stupid humour which seemed to lack finesse and character. The movie doesnt have humour like the previous movies, gets extremely boring during unwanted melodramatic scenes and lacks a different plot. Fails to live up to the brands name and a big let down for fans.

Thumbs up: Very few selected scenes that have the Harld & Kumar essence

Thumbs down: Horrible humour, extremely boring at times

Rating: 5.8/10

Puss in Boots (2011)

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Drama/Action/Fantasy/Crime

Starring (voice): Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris

The innocent, brown furred, black-eyed, Spaniard cat from Shrek gets a movie to his own name. Puss in Boots (Banderas) is an outlaw who loots and plunders, not from the innocent, but from those who deserve it, much like Robin Hood. He learns about the magic beanstalk with the Golden Goose that lives high up in the Giants castle and lays golden eggs He embarks on an adventure to find the magic beans when he crosses paths with Kitt Softpaws (Hayek) a cat much like him, out for the same objective. His adventures lead him to once again come face to face with Humpty Dumpty (Galifianakis) an old friend who started stealing from the innocent and hence parted ways. Humpty and Puss had a childhood ambition of growing the beanstalk and now Humpty knows how exactly to do it and needs Puss' help once more. The character of Puss was loved and applauded by all for his cute and suave Latino style. With the Shrek series coming to an end, Dreamworks' attempt at reviving old fairy tales and portraying them contrarty to our normal beliefs might have failed in this attempt. Shrek was loved for its humour and unique plot line, however, Puss in Boots fails on both those aspects with below average humour and an extremely predictable story. Targeted towards young kids, the movie needs heavy humour that the audience could associate with and not the rude, sarcastic and slightly sexual comedy that the movie banks upon. A let-down for people who expected the Shrek magic once more.

Thumbs up: Unique blend of various fairytale characters

Thumbs down: Boring  humour, hopeless attempt at being entertaining

Rating: 6.2/10