Tag Archives: Hannibal Burress

Movie Review: Tag

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tag posterIt’s rare for a movie with so simple a premise to be not only uproariously funny but also heartfelt. The based-on-a-true-story of childhood friends who have been playing the same game of tag for 30 years is one of the funniest comedies of the year and pushes the boundaries of good taste in numerous ways.

One key theme here is these middle aged dudes all play a child’s game to try to stay young. This captures that fun and sense of play. It also captures that perfect sense of what it was to be young and have absolutely no filter– an 11-13 year old boy has probably the foulest mouth and mind on the planet, and most of these guys never completely grew up from that. It also features a great throwback soundtrack featuring hip hop and hard rock tracks from the 80’s and 90’s, giving the film a specific sense of nostalgia. Also, stick around during the credits to see/hear the cast sing a rendition of the Crash Test Dummies “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.” See? Specific. We’re ready to party like it’s 1994, around which time our team of dummies ostensibly would have graduated from high school.

On our team of tag players are successful veterinarian “Hoagie” (Ed Helms) and his overly competitive wife Anna (Isla Fisher). They first recruit health insurance CEO Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm) when they crash an interview he’s doing with a reporter from the Wall St. Journal (Annabelle Wallis) who joins their game as she smells a story. (This is based on the true story that was published here) They track down stoner burnout “Chili” (Jake Johnson) and crash Kevin’s (Hannibal Burress) therapy session. The goal of all of this to to finally tag their one friend Jerry (Jeremy Renner) who has never been tagged –and they have the perfect opportunity to do so at his upcoming wedding.

And hijinks ensue.

The film, while definitely a comedy which tries to pack as many jokes into every minute as possible, plays out almost more like an action movie. This is in itself incredibly funny, as we see these middle-aged men play tag with all the style and staging of The Expendables or the most recent Fast and Furious movie. Every time they think they have Renner’s character cornered, time slows down and we see inside his mind as he anticipates every move, a la Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey, Jr. It’s a fun device which never gets overused thanks to the comedy always focusing on the characters and these mens’ relationships with each other.

Case in point, in an attempt to sew discord among the group, Jerry invites Cheryl (Rashida Jones) a former flame of both Bob and Chili’s to the wedding. It, of course, works to distract them because “lol these idiot man children playing a game are so predictable.”

What isn’t predictable are exactly the lengths Jerry has gone to in order to plan quick escapes from various situations and the theatricality with which he pulls them off. This includes a showdown in the woods where he literally pulls out a boombox and starts playing Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” to play with their minds.

What also is not predictable was just how sweet this movie is at its heart. Amidst reports like this article from The Boston Globe saying “The Biggest Threat to Middle-Aged Men Isn’t Smoking or Obesity – It’s Loneliness” it is truly great to find an inspiring story of how friends have managed to stay together. And watching the actual friends who the story is based on and their antics in the credits makes this even more worthwhile. While the end of the film gets a little bit tropey and sappy and you realize what’s actually going on, you might feel a little manipulated and tricked, but it’s mostly forgivable due to how fun the rest of the film is.

The cast really makes this film work. Hannibal Buress once again proves he is one of the funniest people on the planet, and his understated delivery and perfect timing are elegantly used here. Whether in a comedy special taking center stage, as the co-host of The Eric Andre Show, or as Peter Parker’s gym teacher, he is comedy’s secret weapon. Oh, and speaking of Spider-Man, it’s worth noting that Jake Johnson, who you may have only recognized from New Girl or Jurassic World is playing Peter Parker in this fall’s animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Isla Fisher is also hilarious and pitch perfect– mirroring in a lot of ways her breakout performance in Wedding Crashers. She also plays up the angle that, as a girl, she’s not allowed to play– and that the rest of the group are completely terrified of her because of how competitive she is. It begs the question why Buress and Fisher aren’t in more films.

This sounds silly, but this movie will make you want to play tag with your friends. In this day and age, that is not such a bad thing. It’s simple, wacky, filthy, irreverent, and utterly fun — just like playing with your friends in elementary and middle school.

3.5 out of 5 stars

TV Review: Broad City S4E8 “House-Sitting”

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Even though it featured the return of wealthy, privileged youngster Oliver (Of “Yas kween” fame.) for a short cameo, guest stars Mike Birbiglia, and has an amazing running laundry gag, “House-Sitting” is probably one of the worst episodes of Broad City ever. Writers Kevin Barnett and Josh Rabinowitz, for the most part, move away from the political comedy of the previous two episodes while keeping the fish out of water theme from “Florida”. The plot of the episode revolves around Abbi, Ilana, Jaime, Lincoln, and Abbi’s high school English teacher-turned-Bumble-date Richard (Mike Birbiglia) housesitting one of Ilana’s very wealthy, former employers while she goes off to the Hamptons with her son in an Uber helicopter. (Apparently, that’s a thing.)

But “House-Sitting” isn’t all negative. When director Abbi Jacobson isn’t extending a fart noises as hand guns gag to an unbearable length, she, Barnett, and Rabinowitz find some sweet and funny moments in the relationship between Lincoln and Ilana. (After a little bit of hesitation, she calls him her boyfriend.) Hannibal Burress and Glazer have great chemistry and share some fun moments, especially trying on fancy golden outfits and tuxes from the spacious rich people closets. They get to be part of the episode’s best gag, which is various characters losing their damn minds that the super fast and spacious multiple washing machines in the house’s basement that apparently the owner herself doesn’t even know about. Broad City is at its best either when it’s in “It’s funny because it’s true” mode or doubling down on Abbi and Ilana’s friendship, and this running joke with a twist ending definitely fits into the first categories for users of weird, shaking washing machines or have had one too many quarters eaten at laundromats/rooms.

The bad (and gross) comes from Abbi’s plotline, which has her going on a really awkward date with her old English teacher, Richard. Birbiglia plays the role of sleazy wannabe intellectual very well, especially in his tweed jacket, making the most of an uncomfortable part where he admits to masturbating to his students. He still sees Abbi as his student and not a woman in her late 20s, and did I mention that Jaime is watching the whole thing behind stuffed animals in Oliver’s bedroom. Obviously, Barnett, Rabinowitz, and Jacobson portray Richard as a terrible person, but seeing the whole ingenue/mentor forbidden romance thing for the millionth time isn’t really funny.  They really lean into some darkness in Ilana’s long monologue where she basically says that teachers jerking off to students is better than having sex with them. Ilana has said plenty of problematic stuff in Broad City, but this is honestly one of her worst moments.

The way Barnett, Rabinowitz, and Jacobson handle the end of the Richard/Abbi storyline is just plain weird as they start by Abbi telling him off and then turn into a half-assed Breakfast Club parody complete with the most overused 80s teen movie song of all time. (At least, they use the original and not the bad pop punk cover like Easy A did.) The storyline comes across as gross and pointless and just an excuse to give Abbi something to do while Lincoln and Ilana define their relationship and healing from adult circumcision Jaime tries to avoid getting a boner, which is adorable as much the Abbi B-plot is disgusting. I guess it reinforces that Abbi isn’t relationship material, but it’s mostly just frightening.

A bottle episode inside a palatial New York City mansion is a fun premise, and Abbi Jacobson seems to have a good time playing with the opulence of the interiors while Kevin Barnett and Josh Rabinowitz’ bidet setting jokes really cracked me up and fit the characters of Abbi and Ilana. However, this fun and some sweet Ilana/Lincoln material is unfortunately overshadowed by the appearance of a creepy pedophile character played by a pretty good comedian that also takes down Ilana with him in a painful bit where she hopes that Lincoln and her theoretical children are jerked off to by their teacher.

After writing that last sentence, I have to take a shower in the opposite of the setting of this episode…

Overall Verdict: 6.0

TV Review: Broad City S4E4 Mushrooms

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Man, I think a got a contact high from this episode. In Broad City Season 4, Episode 4 “Mushrooms”, writer Abbi Jacobson and director Nicholas Jasenovec cut loose animator Mike Perry, who has mostly worked on the show’s title sequence, to do an almost fully animated mushroom sequence. “Mushrooms” is one of Broad City‘s most stunning episodes to date with vibrant colors and little visual jokes like a skateboarder using a pat of butter to get across a pancake and a kooky blend of animation and live action when Abbi and Ilana run into the real world, namely, getting macarons for Abbi’s boss, Dara’s (Wanda Sykes) wife. But, like a bad trip combined with smoking weed, “Mushrooms” gets a little dark at the end, and Abbi gets some consequences for doing drugs around her boss, oops.

But before the comedown, there’s a glorious trip courtesy of the imagination of Jacobson, Jasenovec, and Perry. It’s a cliche to say that New York is a living organism and/or character in Broad City, but this tired sentiment is truer than ever in “Mushrooms”. Even though they’re playing their characters in voiceover, Jacobson and Glazer bound with energy and big thoughts about love, how moms are basically superheroes, and how pickles and French people are cool. Jasenovec revels in Abbi and Ilana’s trip for the first third or so of the episode and doesn’t cut away to live action people gawking at them, but explores the alleys and tunnels and rivers of this experience with a Bingo Bronson cameo playing the cherry on top. After their separation in previous episodes, it’s also nice to see Abbi and Ilana together enjoying life. The word “love” pops up a lot so this whole sequence is basically an animated dream world version of their friendship. I could look at the color palette of the animation all day and definitely smiled when their tripping-balls-high-five activated the Broad City 1-2-3-4.

Jacobson, Jasenovec, and Perry somewhat (He gives Abbi and Ilana big eyes to differentiate their tripping selves from the regular people they bump into.) continue the happiness into the real world as even tripping on mushrooms, Abbi and Ilana successfully deliver the macarons to Abbi’s boss. Yay, adulting! Also, the macaron buying sequence is another excuse for pretty colors and for Perry to animate an entire scene set in Paris with the character who sells the macarons to them speaking only French. Abbi and Ilana’s speaking patterns are a little off, like Ilana speaking on a beat and clapping when talking with Dara, but they find success to match the color of their trip. Dara has seen Abbi’s old art school website and offers to take time out of her busy schedule to meet with her while Ilana somehow has lucked her way into what ends up being a very kinky three way with an attractive, wealthy couple at the party. However, drugs and professional/sexual opportunities don’t mix unfortunately, and Jacobson takes “Mushrooms to the dark side as Abbi and Ilana come of their trip.

Towards the end of “Mushroom”, Jasenovec and Jacobson give consequences for Abbi and Ilana splitting up just before they’re having a bad trip and mixing mushrooms and weed too early in a logical, very non-anti drug PSA way. When Abbi and Ilana smoke a little too much weed mixed with the mushrooms, Jasenovec slows down the camera speed while showing puffs of color as they become even more incoherent. They have no idea how to act at a party or do sexy things with Ilana constantly going to the bathroom and having hallucinations of Lincoln (Hannibal Burress) because deep down Abbi’s situation is a lot of worst even though initially it looks like her boss is going to be cool with her tripping balls because it’s a weekend, and she’s artsy. But, then, it gets dark and funny when Dara discovers her cat dead and smashed against a door. Yes, Abbi is a pet killer, and it will be interesting to see the upcoming episodes explore the fallout of something I definitely laughed at, but is terrible. So, the girls’ first experience with mushroom didn’t go as planned even though there were definitely some pretty colors in the early going.

“Mushrooms” is definitely one of the most creative and definitely immersive episodes of Broad City thanks to the animation work of Mike Perry, who uses bright colors and dream logic to reinforce the show’s most primal ideas of friendship and having a good time. To be honest, the animation in this episode is superior to a lot of current animated shows like Adventure Time or any of the Netflix animated originals not named Bojack Horseman. But, like a lot of this season and the year 2017 itself, it ends up having a darker bent and consequences. Abbi especially takes one step forward at her boss’ party and then gets thrown off the path five states over.

Overall Rating: 9.8

TV Review: Broad City S4E3 Just the Tips

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You gotta love episode titles that are triple entendre, and this week’s episode of Broad City, “Just the Tips”, references the mad dough that Ilana is racking up as a waitress working double shifts at an upscale Manhattan sushi restaurant, her dollar bill/Obama filled $428 nails that she gets done on her day off, and also Jaime’s episode-long pondering about finally get circumcised. Yeah, director Neil Daly and writer Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello begin the episode all salad days-y with Abbi enjoying sex with her “boyfriend” of six days, and Ilana getting ready to spend some money and party after a rare day off from waitressing.

The first half of the episode is decadent and disgusting as hell with money being thrown around, Ilana knowing no boundaries and trying on new leotards in a sex shop with her brother, and Abbi being totally insufferable about her new boyfriend aka the paramedic from last episode. She mentions him at work meetings and in her voice mail and even ditches a pretty rockin’ party to take selfies for him on a fire escape than turns into her “comforting” a woman (Miriam Shor), who is in a rough spot in a long term relationship. Daly shoots the scene like a mumblecore flick with Jacobson and Shor playing it like empathy filled drama until it takes a turn for the absurd when Jacobson adds some big pauses and extra adjectives to her delivery of the line that she’s been in a relationship for six days. The bubble of her perfect life is popped, and maybe Abbi isn’t “relationship material”. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Do you, girl, and also, Broad City makes a decent dramedy at times. Bevers will always be creepy though especially when he randomly climbs into bed with Abbi and asks about her “man meat”.

Glazer really gets to flex (Literally with her newfound wealth and in the acting department.) in “Just the Tips” making a leotard, dreamsicle wig combo work, throwing back drinks, snorting coke, and genuinely living like a rock star while Abbi is stuck in the second act of a really bad romantic comedy. She’s work very hard and deserves to play hard, dammit. However, Downs and Aniello go beyond just the partying and introduce the variable of Lincoln’s return (Hannibal Burress) with his very even keel, normal girlfriend Steph at the party Ilana was invited to. (And forgot who the host was, oops.) The upbeat score turns a little sadcore, and Ilana kind of loses her composure and realizes how ridiculous she looks before shitting her leotard. And with Abbi doing her relationship counselor, it’s Lincoln, who unzips her leotard so she can clean up. They have a real talk about how they wanted different things in a relationship, and it’s very mature with a side of poop jokes. Ilana definitely had an impact on a certain stage of Lincoln’s life, but he’s ready to do the whole “settle down” thing now.

In Broad City Season 4, Jacobson, Glazer, Aniello, and Downs have consciously tried to write Abbi and Ilana as more mature characters instead of being in a kind of arrested development. But I like how even though they have found professional success that they still make mistakes and are learning about how to navigate relationships and friendship in a pretty hilarious way. One reason I love Broad City is that even when it leans into the characters’ interpersonal drama, it never gets too self-serious. Deciding to have a circumcision as an adult is nice fodder for a C-plot, and it’s nice to see Jaime out on the town rocking a boa and black skirt.

Overall Verdict: 8.0

TV Review: Broad City S308 Burning Bridges

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Over the past 28 episodes (and a webseries), we’ve had the chance to hang out with Abbi and Ilana through their misadventures, awkward moments, and epic journeys. “Burning Bridges” uses this built up good will and characterization and just lets the emotions come out. Because this is a turning point for Broad City as a show and Ilana and Abbi as characters, it fitting that Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson are on writing duties on an episode that shifts the status quo. Abbi and Trey’s (Paul W Downs) one month sex friends thing ends, and the longer, more emotionally resonant relationship between Ilana and Winston (Hannibal Burress) is also over. And it’s not like they’re friends or anything because their former open relationship complicates. I hope that Winston makes a cameo or two as the series continues because Burress’ matter of fact, deadpan delivery is great, and he has a great callback gag in this episode as he is still lugging around Blake Griffin’s basketball shoe as man purse.

But first, the funny stuff. Director Lucia Aniello leads off with a split screen cold open, but switches things up by using a 360 camera effect that you may have seen in those annoying ads on Facebook. The open itself is a simple, yet funny as Ilana has to take a drug test at work and using Abbi’s urine even though she smokes a lot of weed as well. It’s also connected to this episode’s conclusion with the shared drug as companionship motif because they might lie to each other and have relationship struggles, but at the end of the day, they’re still just two friends smoking weed in the bathtub Wait this paragraph was only going to talk about funny things in Broad City, but the feels keep creeping up, which is basically the experience of watching “Burning Bridges”.

For example, the tense, painful for anyone who has tried being in an open or polysexual relationship conversation between Ilana and Winston is preceded by a sunny tracking shot montage of Ilana blithely going through her day. It seems like yet another manic Mon, er, Ilana day, but it gets a little darker when Abbi takes a chair from a guy, who was using it to From his actions on the show and general demeanor, Lincoln is really a kind human being and is trying to let down Ilana as easily as possible. He is straightforward and self-aware about their relationship and wisely doesn’t play the “just friends” card because they’ve really only been sex buddies or talking about sex with other people buddies this season.

But this doesn’t mean Ilana doesn’t feel hurt. And there is a searing pain in her eyes the whole the rest of the episode that she tries to cure with cat-calling random men and women while she’s sitting on a bench with her parents, making out with a married man she falsely assumes is in an open relationship and ends up being a jerk, and just plain walking out when she sees Abbi with Trey. She is currently at a very low point in both her life and career, but Glazer and Jacobson show shades of her old self as she makes dick jokes while smoking weed as the credits wrap. That’s one coping mechanism for heartbreak.

The centerpiece of the episode is a dinner scene as Ilana is celebrating her parents’ anniversary with her brother Eliot (Eliot Glazer) while Abbi is going on her first actual date with Trey. It’s a series of tried and true comedic misunderstandings that culminates in an epic parkour sequence as Trey does the Heimlich on Mrs. Wexel (Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Susi Essman) and finally realize the reason why Abbi has been making worse and worst excuses to leave the table as the night has gone on. (Jacobson’s best work comes when there’s a little truth to the lie like telling Trey, “I’m emotional tonight.”) The fallout of the show is what blows the episode apart as Trey walks in on Abbi telling Ilana that he thinks he’s a “joke” while trying to reunite with him. This is bound to make things awkward because he is her boss at Soulstice. There could be another job search episode in her future.

“Burning Bridges” is a huge and potentially risky move for Broad City as Glazer, Jacobson, and Aniello play with some loose serialization by turning Trey and Abbi’s relationship into a kind of three act comedy of errors with a drunk “komboozecha” filled kiss, a Pixar move induced one night stand, and finally an attempt at a real date that fails miserably. Ilana’s storylines have been looser this season with everything from mishaps at a food co-op to volunteering for the Hilary Clinton campaign, but her breakup with Winston is definitely a huge fixed point in her arc and an opportunity to show both her dramatic and comedic range as a performer. And it’s super sad too unless you ship Abbi and Ilana. (This reviewer might…)

Overall Rating: 9.0

TV Review: Broad City S3E04 “Rat Pack”

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Broad City airs Wednesdays at 10 PM EST on Comedy Central.

On this week’s Broad City, Ilana’s hustle game returns as she and her roommate Jaime (played with an extra shot of confidence by Arturo Castro) try to make up the $400 they paid an exterminator to take out a rat in their apartment. There’s a nice play on the boutique of tasty fruit, popcorn, and fancy gift baskets Harry and David with “Larry and David”, and this bountiful basket is the foundation of a house party with a $10 cover charge and a side of every piece of marijuana that Ilana owns in the house. And on Abbi’s side of things, she goes to her first Soulstice trainer party where she is the only one not wearing fitness attire, has one too many alcoholic kombuchas, kisses fellow trainer Trey, and then realizes she needs to meet more.

As it is with basically every episode of Broad City, the cold open is a showcase for some visual panache. This time, director Ryan McFaul goes the handheld camera route and shoots Ilana’s apartment from the rat’s point of view with frantic camera movement and a grainy filter before settling on the great shot of it (later her) munching on Ilana’s latest blunt as she finally wakes up and yells, “Weed thief!” This wild and wacky directing contrasts with the staid, straightforward tone of the exterminator asking for the money and keeping a straight face even as Jaime and Ilana imitate puppy dogs. But McFaul breaks out some style again in a trap music-infused montage of Ilana’s various weed stashes ranging from the inside of a bell pepper to a Russian nesting doll and finally her own curly hair that shows that Broad City can do silent visual comedy as well as it does verbal humor or slapstick.

The presence and possibility of filthy rodents popping up in “Rat Pack” a great nervous tension, but writer Jen Statsky decides to end their saga in a life affirming, drawing parallels with the show’s characters, and still pretty gross moment with the rat having little rat babies snuggled by Ilana. This tender, yet wildly hilarious moment is a callback to Ilana saying earlier that Lincoln, Jaime, and Abbi are her only friends. She might not have a big friend group, but loves the ones she has dearly and involves them in all matter of hijinks.

Unfortunately, Abbi joining Tinder felt a little underdeveloped, especially after the great sight gag earlier in the episode of her wearing a cute, stylish dress to a “work party”, which was a bunch of Soulstice trainers wearing black tanktops and making “that’s what she said” jokes like The Office was still airing. There is the relatable feeling of not being able to find people outside of work and close friends to make out with, but there is so much untapped satirical and comedic fodder left on the table with her dates being the typical old guy, Neo-Nazi, and guy who looks too much like his profile. Abbi not knowing how to swipe left is pretty great though.

On the positive side, this is the first episode since “Citizen Ship” that I enjoyed the character of Jaime as Statsky fills him out a little bit revealing that he only recently came out to his parents (who still live in Guatemala) a few months ago, who haven’t spoken to him since. However, a Larry and David basket with a literal olive branch really perks up his mood, and he exudes confidence by rearranging Ilana’s and his apartment while playing the perfect host to Lincoln’s (Hannibal Burress) Food Network personality in training, Spider-Man quoting head chef. He even gets some romantic sparks towards the end of the episode and gets to firmly, yet kindly point out to Ilana that her famous “Latina” earrings are cultural appropriation as the credits roll. It’s a solid guest performance, and he doesn’t steal the spotlight from Glazer’s frenzied hunt for the rat in the apartment while wearing a cat costume, randomly dancing, and offering opinions on the electronica artist Ratatat and Frank Sinatra and making sure the party doesn’t scatter.

An undercooked online dating subplot aside, “Rat Pack” showcases both Glazer and Ilana at her best: when she’s making money in creative ways even if she doesn’t go to quite the lengths that she did in Broad City‘s first episode where she cleaned a diaper wearing Fred Armisen’s apartment in her underwear to get Lil Wayne tickets.

Rating: 8.1