Tropic Thunder (2008)

Occasionally slips into lackluster-ly standard low-brow humour (dancing aside, Grossman is a bit much, and so was Kirk and Tugg’s convo about Simple Jack), but the satirical meta-movie framework that pervades the film offers loads of laughs, from the uproarious opening trailers, news clips, and initial action sequence (the first act was definitely the best) to the ongoing naivety of Stiller’s action star and stubbornness of RDJ’s method actor as contrasted with Baruchel’s earnest Kevin.

6

The Art of the Steal (2013)

Crunch Calhoun, a semi-reformed art thief, agrees to get his old gang back together to pull off one last heist. (IMDb)

There’s good humour here, but the editing feels like a cheap Ocean’s knock-off, the cast’s charisma and chemistry is inconsistent (Dillon is good and Baruchel does his job as comic relief, but Welsh is annoying, “Lola” inconsequential, and Russell overacts), the heists, while fun, are too brief, and the final twist has unconvincing build-up, is revealed much too quickly to revel in, and is anti-climatic to boot. There’s enough here to keep a caper film fan interested, but not enough to satisfy.

6/10 (Mediocre)

 

Knocked Up (2007)

At times outrageous and hilarious, at others, genuinely sweet and heartfelt. Loads of laugh-out-loud moments, with a cast stacked full of comedic gems. It’s a movie of extreme moments that overwhelm the actual story and character development at points, but make it a very memorable and enjoyable watch.

7/10 (Good)

 

This Is The End (2013)

The celebrities-playing-themselves bit definitely provides some good laughs; funny scenes are made funnier because it’s Jay Baruchel being made fun of, not a character, for example. The six leads are all in good form and the other cameos are solid as well. The outrageous apocalypse plot serves as a good backdrop for the humour but as the story progresses and quasi-religious elements begin to enter the mix, it starts to feel much too silly, tainting an otherwise decent comedy.

6/10 (Mediocre)