Matt Damon films are usually a good bet.
Just look at his filmography on imdb.com.
His breakout role in “Good Will Hunting” (Oscar, Best Original Screenplay)
“The Talented Mr. Ripley”
The “Ocean’s Eleven” franchise
“The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum”
“Stuck on You” — a personal favorite
“Syriana”
“The Good Shepherd”
“The Departed” (Oscar, Best Picture, Best Director)
“The Informant!”
Yeah, Matt brings it.
But based on the trailer for his latest movie “The Green Zone,” I’m afraid the screenwriter didn’t.
The movie is very Bourne-like, which plays to Matt’s strengths. It’s got Greg Kinnear in it, too, which makes me happy. But the trailer is a literal cliche fest.
How are we supposed to get excited about a film that promotes itself with lines like…
“Let’s roll!”
“I came here to save lives!”
“Put your game face on!”
“You’re my prisoner. I’m taking you in!”
“People are dying out here. I want to know why!”
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with!”
Brian Helgeland wrote “The Green Zone.” He won an Oscar for the “LA Confidential” screenplay and also wrote “A Knight’s Tale” (one of my personal favorites).
Maybe this just wasn’t one of Helgeland’s best efforts.
Or the trailer editor wasn’t in the zone…
Praise be!
I expected to be shocked by “The Book of Mormon,” the new Broadway musical by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
And I was… in an unexpected way.
There are a couple of potentially offensive moments — one in song, one in shall we say ‘visual representation’ — but last night’s audience was game for both.
The show definitely takes its shots at Mormon history and traditions, getting a lot of laughs from the story of Joseph Smith and his golden plates. But the humor, while mocking, is never cruel.
What was unexpected was how much affection Parker and Stone display for the Mormon missionaries at the center of their story. Elders Price and Cunningham are sent to Uganda for their mission and are immediately confronted by poverty, AIDS, warlords, scrotal plagues and more.
Yes…scrotal plagues.
Naive and ill-prepared, uber-Mormon Price has a crisis of faith and schlub Cunningham rises to the occasion in unconventional yet successful ways.
The tone reminded me a bit of the movie Stuck on You, the Farrelly brothers winner about two conjoined twin brothers starring Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon. I worried the film would make fun of the two; instead, it celebrated how their differences made them more uniquely able to succeed in the world.
“The Book of Mormon” has the same charm, the same heart…just more four-letter words.
Above all, it is outrageously funny, with sight gags galore, none of which I will reveal because that would totally blow it. The musical numbers are so clever, and the dance sequences manage to be huge and hilarious at the same time.
“The Book of Mormon” just may be the best musical on Broadway.
Now that I didn’t expect.
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Posted in Broadway, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies, Religion, Television, TV
Tagged AIDS, Broadway, C-word, comedy, commentary, conjoined twins, entertainment, F-word, Farrelly brothers, Greg Kinnear, Humor, Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith and the golden plates, life, Matt Damon, Matt Stone, Mormon history, Mormon missionaries, Mormon religion, Movies, offensive language, plagues, poverty, religion, sight gags, South Park, Stuck on You movie, Television, The Book of Mormon musical, Trey Parker, TV, Uganda, warlords