Now straight off I will say I love 1930's screwball comedies and I adore George Clooney, so I had high hopes for this one as I think Mr Clooney definitely has a comedic talent in him as proved in "O Brother Where Art Thou" This movie is a nice way to spend 90 or so minutes, however, it struck me a a very lazy production, lots of obvious goofs and poor editing spoilt it for me.
In general the cast were very good, particularly the supporting cast. George Clooney was excellent really getting into the spirit of his part, Jonathan Pryce was also very good as the slimy 'agent'. My two beefs are with Renee Zellwegger and John Krasinski, who normally are terrific. In this movie I felt Ms Zellwegger was trying to do an impersonation of Rosalind Russell in 'His Girl Friday', this may be Mr Clooney's fault as director, particularly as he professed to watching many screwball comedies before making this film, but, trying this was a big mistake as Rosalind Russell is in a class of her own and Ms Zellwegger is about four classes below when doing this type of material. John Krasinski simply wasn't used well enough, there was a lot of potential in his character which wasn't exploited, he ended up coming across as rather insipid.
Going back on Mr Clooney's record as both director and actor proves he is great at both jobs, even when doing both at the same time, but, I feel he tried to do something light hearted and fun and didn't feel the need to put too much effort in as he does in his more serious projects. Comedy doesn't come easy, even the best comedy requires a bit of hard graft and this is where the problem lies. All I can say if you want to see a genuinely brilliant screwball comedy then watch 'His Girl Friday', 'It Happened One Night' or my personal favourite 'Midnight' or indeed one of the many made during it's hey day of the 1930's, they may be in black and white, but, don't let that deter you as they are real class.
In general the cast were very good, particularly the supporting cast. George Clooney was excellent really getting into the spirit of his part, Jonathan Pryce was also very good as the slimy 'agent'. My two beefs are with Renee Zellwegger and John Krasinski, who normally are terrific. In this movie I felt Ms Zellwegger was trying to do an impersonation of Rosalind Russell in 'His Girl Friday', this may be Mr Clooney's fault as director, particularly as he professed to watching many screwball comedies before making this film, but, trying this was a big mistake as Rosalind Russell is in a class of her own and Ms Zellwegger is about four classes below when doing this type of material. John Krasinski simply wasn't used well enough, there was a lot of potential in his character which wasn't exploited, he ended up coming across as rather insipid.
Going back on Mr Clooney's record as both director and actor proves he is great at both jobs, even when doing both at the same time, but, I feel he tried to do something light hearted and fun and didn't feel the need to put too much effort in as he does in his more serious projects. Comedy doesn't come easy, even the best comedy requires a bit of hard graft and this is where the problem lies. All I can say if you want to see a genuinely brilliant screwball comedy then watch 'His Girl Friday', 'It Happened One Night' or my personal favourite 'Midnight' or indeed one of the many made during it's hey day of the 1930's, they may be in black and white, but, don't let that deter you as they are real class.