Because first you've got some memorable actors in
>> Steve Zahn ("Joy Ride," "Hamlet"),
>> Illeana Douglas, (Action, "Next Best Thing"), and
>> Ally Walker (Tell Me You Love Me, My Wonderful Life),
and in addition to that trait, the extra polish of
>> Jeremy Northram (The Tudors, "Payback," "An Ideal Husband"),
>> William H. Macy ("Fargo," "Thank You for Smoking"), and
>> Ron Perlman ("Hellboy," "City of Lost Children").
Like "Old School," this is a movie for adults and older teens to enjoy, but unlike that movie, this one suits couples, too. You won't get the belly laughs of "Old School," but you'll look forward to seeing this little pleaser for the same reason people enjoy remakes of Shakespeare's comedies (John Boorman's "Where the Heart Is") or Jane Austin (Amy Heckler's "Clueless"): it's not only fun seeing updates on those confused identities, dawning insights, and unfamiliar settings, but it's fun too appreciating what different actors make of these. Plus these guys are always good, and Steve Zahn is inspired crazy.
Northram and Zahn are odd-couple convicts on the run and con men on the make. Zahn, all crank and id, seems to have the harder task pretending to be a gay pageant director enduring the horror of all those sweet little girls, but it's soon clearly a draw as his pretend boyfriend, Northram, smart and smooth, fends off suspicions and a gay suitor. Both men are also suffering from scam-induced blue balls from the off-limits affections of what would otherwise be their love interests.
The attraction of this movie for me is not only these amusing classic tensions, but the original way it resolves these. There's something touching in the determination of Zahn's character to work through the situation that's not like the poignancy of Macy's character or the sensitivity Northram's exhibits. But none of these guys is a wuss either, all the actors have attractive but distinctly different personalities, anyone of which can make you smile.
If you do, check out all of the movies above and then kick it up a notch by seeing "Rosecranz and Guildenstern are Dead" together with Mel Gibson's "Hamlet," or Kenneth Branagh's, or his "Henry V" or him with Emma Thompson in "Much Ado about Nothing" or her in "Sense and Sensibility" or "Gweneth Paltrow in "Emma" or "Shakespeare in Love."
>> Steve Zahn ("Joy Ride," "Hamlet"),
>> Illeana Douglas, (Action, "Next Best Thing"), and
>> Ally Walker (Tell Me You Love Me, My Wonderful Life),
and in addition to that trait, the extra polish of
>> Jeremy Northram (The Tudors, "Payback," "An Ideal Husband"),
>> William H. Macy ("Fargo," "Thank You for Smoking"), and
>> Ron Perlman ("Hellboy," "City of Lost Children").
Like "Old School," this is a movie for adults and older teens to enjoy, but unlike that movie, this one suits couples, too. You won't get the belly laughs of "Old School," but you'll look forward to seeing this little pleaser for the same reason people enjoy remakes of Shakespeare's comedies (John Boorman's "Where the Heart Is") or Jane Austin (Amy Heckler's "Clueless"): it's not only fun seeing updates on those confused identities, dawning insights, and unfamiliar settings, but it's fun too appreciating what different actors make of these. Plus these guys are always good, and Steve Zahn is inspired crazy.
Northram and Zahn are odd-couple convicts on the run and con men on the make. Zahn, all crank and id, seems to have the harder task pretending to be a gay pageant director enduring the horror of all those sweet little girls, but it's soon clearly a draw as his pretend boyfriend, Northram, smart and smooth, fends off suspicions and a gay suitor. Both men are also suffering from scam-induced blue balls from the off-limits affections of what would otherwise be their love interests.
The attraction of this movie for me is not only these amusing classic tensions, but the original way it resolves these. There's something touching in the determination of Zahn's character to work through the situation that's not like the poignancy of Macy's character or the sensitivity Northram's exhibits. But none of these guys is a wuss either, all the actors have attractive but distinctly different personalities, anyone of which can make you smile.
If you do, check out all of the movies above and then kick it up a notch by seeing "Rosecranz and Guildenstern are Dead" together with Mel Gibson's "Hamlet," or Kenneth Branagh's, or his "Henry V" or him with Emma Thompson in "Much Ado about Nothing" or her in "Sense and Sensibility" or "Gweneth Paltrow in "Emma" or "Shakespeare in Love."