Columns
Jim Stevens | Lake Theater
'Couples Retreat'
There is a time to advance and a time to retreat, and there is nothing dishonorable about a quick exit from the theater.
How weak are the films in this fall lull? "Toy Story," the 1995 comedy hit now re-released in 3-D, ranked fourth at the box office this weekend. Coming in No. 1 was "Couple's Retreat," starring Vince Vaughn and a slew of others in what is an infrequently almost mildly funny, but more often than not mediocre effort.
Vaughn is Dave. He and his wife, Ronnie, (Malin Akerman), do not have a perfect marriage, but one that, in their minds, works. Dave is busy, working 10 hours a day, they have two kids, and the house needs renovation.
Their friends, Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell), are techno yuppies who have boiled their problems down to a PowerPoint presentation, with the end result that they have to divorce because they have not yet conceived a child. The PowerPoint is one of the better parts of the film.
Their solution is to go to a couple's retreat on a tropical island, but to make it work financially, they need a group rate. So going along are Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis), the football star and cheerleader from high school who married early and who argue a lot, though exactly what their problem is is not spelled out, and Shane (Faizon Love), who is recently divorced and takes along his 20-year-old girlfriend, Trudy (Kali Hawk).
On the island, Jason and Cynthia overanalyze, Joey and Lucy ogle others, Shane can't keep up with Trudy, and Dave and Ronnie wonder whether they do have problems.
There are jokes in the sauna, shark jokes in the water; jokes while doing yoga exercises and getting a massage. But these are tired, recycled lines, sort of like retreads at the retreat.
And there is a peculiar scene with Dave playing Guitar Hero with one of the island employees, who has a funny accent.
In the end, everyone finds love, including Shane, whose ex-wife magically appears on the island. Now how do we get off?
**
New DVD releases
Will Ferrell is lost in a land that is something akin to a dumping ground of American culture. Ferrell portrays Dr. Rick Marshall a "quantum paleontologist" who has a theory about going back into time, or into a parallel universe, to observe the behavior of prehistoric animals. Based on the television show of the same name in the mid-1970s.
"Land of the Lost" was nominated as best comedy in the Teen Choice Awards. Nuff said.
**
Sandra Bullock struts and wobbles in "The Proposal," a romantic comedy that has as many peaks and valleys as the mountains of Alaska. Bullock is an executive with a New York publishing firm who is despised by her employees.
To avoid deportation (she is Canadian), she bullies her assistant, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), into marrying her, which he, of course, refuses until the predictable end.
**
- 'Captain America'
- 'The Losers'
- 'Death at a Funeral'
- 'Date Night'
- 'Clash of the Titans'
- 'Hot Tub Time Machine'
- 'Repo Men'
- 'The Ghost Writer'
- 'Alice in Wonderland'
- 'Cop out'
- 'Shutter Island'
- 'The Wolfman'
- 'The Lovely Bones'
- 'Edge of Darkness'
- 'Extraordinary Measures'
- 'The Book of Eli'
- 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'
- 'Up in the Air'
- DVDs to warm the winter night
- 'Sherlock Holmes'
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Posted Wednesday, Feb. 10 |
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News or Feature Story of the Week by Jim Stevens: Where do Lake Country's richest live?
Sports Story of the Week by JR Radcliffe: Indians hit the stretch running |
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Do you have news or an event that you would like to share with the community? Whether it's a community organization, a business, a local school, or a notable neighbor, we'd love to hear about it!!
- Relay For Life of Lake Country Kickoff-Monday, February 13th
- Oconomowoc Newcomers & Neighbors Monthly Mingle Tues Feb. 14
- UW-Waukesha Continuing Education Classes Offered the week of February 12-18, 2012
- The Rock River Patriots Welcome G. Edward Griffin To Wisconsin
- Master Composter Training Workshop Offiered
- Sussex-Menomonee Falls-Pewaukee Relay For Life Kickoff Event Sunday, February 19th 3:00 PM
- Open House at St. John's Lutheran Mukwonago
- Anti-Bullying assembly
- Summerstage "Break-A-Leg Gala"
- Pancakes at the House
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