Yes, it’s quite late again, which is surprising given there are only three films. Let’s see how they get on.
First up is Get Smart, the story of a bumbling agent in a hand-wavingly explained government spy agency. Ostensibly a comedy, the director manages to fumble the fundamentals with the film suffering from poorly explained sequences, predictability, an over-reliance on slapstick and poor stereotypes. There are funny moments in there (such as the brief fighter jet segment) and the cast (the otherwise excellent Steve Carrell and Alan Arkin) do their best, but there’s simply not much here. A shame.
Shane Meadows has created some of the finest moments in recent British cinema, from Dead Man’s Shoes bleak and grimy revenge story to This Is England’s look at hooliganism and growing up around the wrong people. Unfortunately his run seems to have run out with Somers Town, the story of a boy who has run away to London and befriends a Polish immigrant. Ignoring the pretty obvious shoe-horning of adverts into the work, the plot and characters really lack any depth. The relationships seem hollow and forced, and nothing comes across as natural. Worse, the story really doesn’t go anywhere, with a painful happy ending tacked in rather than dealing with any of the issues raised early on. Had the film focussed on the relationship between the Polish boy and his father, and their lives in London, then maybe it could have done something, but this cut shows the film as shallow; a real pity.
Finally, Step Brothers sees Will Ferrell reunite with collaborator John C. Reilly as two 40-year old brats who still live with their now-married parents. The problem here is that there are very few jokes or funny moments and they almost all extend from this one premise, making the film feel a bit of a one-note wonder. Sure, there are some very funny bits (the wife of Ferrell’s brother is particularly good) but there’s also a lot of dead weight and barely thought out ideas. Still worth seeing, but not up to previous films that duo have worked on together.
So, it’s a bit of a weak recommendation but the winner is Step Brothers.