Snatched. (15.)
Directed by Jonathan Levine.
Starring Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Ike Barinholtz, Tom Bateman, Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack. 91 mins.
Before seeing Snatched I thought the probability was that Amy Schumer was a mean spirited, over entitled cow whose “ironic” Ugly American persona was only ever going to be strong enough to support one hit film, Trainwreck, and that she would soon be gently, but determinedly, escorted off stage to join the ranks of the formerly famous. After seeing Snatched I think she is a mean spirited, over entitled cow who may be good for another film or two.
After being dumped by her boyfriend, Schumer drags her uptight mother (Hawn) on holiday with her to Ecuador, determined to “put the fun into unrefundable.” Once there, they get kidnapped, escape and cause havoc in the Amazon. It's a typical American foreign excursion – blundering around oblivious to their surroundings and getting other people killed. It's all a bit forced and frantic and the relationship between her and Hawn doesn't really spark but there are enough good lines to keep it entertaining, and I believe that would still be the case even if Fox hadn't plied us with margaritas and daiquiris for 45 minutes prior to the film. (If Rupert Murdoch's paying, I consider it a moral imperative to try and wring up that bar bill as much as possible.)
The internet is full of people that hate Schumer and Snatched is generating heaps of critical derision. Her inability to recognize that she can be unlikeable, (and the effrontery of her wearing a bikini while being moderately overweight) enrage her detractors but they are the key to why the film works. With her innocent seeming apple cheeks, pale skins and stocky frame, she looks a little like a female Will Ferrell. Though she has little of his comic invention – her jokes generally bludgeon the shortest, most direct route toward a punchline – they both specialise in playing overgrown babies, selfish wrecking balls. Snatched is in the modern tradition of American satires about Americans' delusional sense of entitlement, that act like satire is the last thing on its mind. Which, I guess, is very appropriate for an age when nobody really knows what is being played for laughs any more.
Directed by Jonathan Levine.
Starring Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Ike Barinholtz, Tom Bateman, Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack. 91 mins.
Before seeing Snatched I thought the probability was that Amy Schumer was a mean spirited, over entitled cow whose “ironic” Ugly American persona was only ever going to be strong enough to support one hit film, Trainwreck, and that she would soon be gently, but determinedly, escorted off stage to join the ranks of the formerly famous. After seeing Snatched I think she is a mean spirited, over entitled cow who may be good for another film or two.
After being dumped by her boyfriend, Schumer drags her uptight mother (Hawn) on holiday with her to Ecuador, determined to “put the fun into unrefundable.” Once there, they get kidnapped, escape and cause havoc in the Amazon. It's a typical American foreign excursion – blundering around oblivious to their surroundings and getting other people killed. It's all a bit forced and frantic and the relationship between her and Hawn doesn't really spark but there are enough good lines to keep it entertaining, and I believe that would still be the case even if Fox hadn't plied us with margaritas and daiquiris for 45 minutes prior to the film. (If Rupert Murdoch's paying, I consider it a moral imperative to try and wring up that bar bill as much as possible.)
The internet is full of people that hate Schumer and Snatched is generating heaps of critical derision. Her inability to recognize that she can be unlikeable, (and the effrontery of her wearing a bikini while being moderately overweight) enrage her detractors but they are the key to why the film works. With her innocent seeming apple cheeks, pale skins and stocky frame, she looks a little like a female Will Ferrell. Though she has little of his comic invention – her jokes generally bludgeon the shortest, most direct route toward a punchline – they both specialise in playing overgrown babies, selfish wrecking balls. Snatched is in the modern tradition of American satires about Americans' delusional sense of entitlement, that act like satire is the last thing on its mind. Which, I guess, is very appropriate for an age when nobody really knows what is being played for laughs any more.
