not that funny movie reviews

Not That Funny

Where to Watch

Tony Hale (Stefan Lane) Brigid Brannagh (Hayley Richmonde) Timothy V. Murphy (Finneas Patrick O'Neill) John Kapelos (Kevork Sarkissian) K Callan (Toogey Richmonde) Erin Way (Christine) Tanc Sade (Tyler) Nick Thune (Norm Getz) Nan McNamara (Mary) Ronnie Steadman (Ron)

Lauralee Farrer

A love story about a woman who "just wants someone who makes her laugh" and a man who is not that funny. As he tries to learn how to be the man she says she wants, they each find an unexpected chance at happiness.

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Not that funny.

2012 Directed by Lauralee Farrer

A simple story of how far a serious man will go for love.

A love story about a woman who "just wants someone who makes her laugh" and a man who is not that funny. As he tries to learn how to be the man she says she wants, they each find an unexpected chance at happiness.

Tony Hale Brigid Brannagh Timothy V. Murphy John Kapelos Nick Thune K Callan Erin Way Tanc Sade Nan McNamara Ronnie Steadman Matthew Iott Clinton Pickens Elizabeth Montgomery Beth Castle Aaron Paul Ballard Chloe Babbes Paul Moorhead Greg Castle Randy Davenport Melody Horton Stel Pavlou

Director Director

Lauralee Farrer

Producers Producers

Jack Hafer Terence Berry Ron Allchin Tamara Joy Johnson Loren A. Roberts

Writers Writers

Lauralee Farrer Jonathan Foster

Casting Casting

Lindsay Chag

Editor Editor

Matt Barber

Cinematography Cinematography

Brandon Lippard

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Liz Edwards Matt Webb Dawn LaMattina Asher

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Jim Hornbeak

Lighting Lighting

Jeremy Grant Thomas McCarty

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Greg King Jordan McMahon

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Jordan McMahon

Production Design Production Design

Set decoration set decoration.

Ali Matilla

Composer Composer

David Hlebo

Sound Sound

Michelle Garuik Erik Clabeaux Loren A. Roberts

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup makeup.

Burning Heart Productions

Drama Comedy

Releases by Date

12 apr 2012, 13 mar 2014, releases by country.

100 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by elscrlsn ★

My mom started choking on pizza while watching this

Review by Tarbelt ★★★★★

I really liked this film, partly because I didn’t know what to expect and thought it might your typical mushy unimaginative romance. The leading man was balding and in his mid-30s, atypical in the romance genre. You were really drawn, however, to his gentleness and kindness of character. There were some humorous scenes involving the main character’s interactions with a comedian, a guy he hoped to be able to emulate to attract the woman he was interested in. I was often surprised at turns of events, which isn’t something that happens often in this genre. The acting was good, the script was good. The leading lady’s character was inexplicable at times - what did she actually see in the guy she was sort of dating? But oh well, there’s got to be some tension.

Review by nhonan165 ★½

indie meets hallmark in the weirdest way

Review by Elizabeth ★★½

1. it was Not That Funny. 2. there's a character who will not stop talking about how he's Armenian but he's played by a guy who looks Greek and has a thick Greek accent (which is Notably Different from an Armenian accent), and I could not focus on anything else the entire movie. 3. they put in this incredibly depressing scene toward the very end and then use it as a way for the two characters to Finally Get Together which felt so so weird to me. Weird Execution!! felt like maybe the writers hadn't personally experienced the scene that they wrote in!! idk

Review by JaboCalrissian ★★★½

Solid indie dramedy I had never heard of. A fun little surprise.

Review by kgraceb ★★

If you want to watch an incredibly boring movie with incredibly wholesome people, this is the movie for you. 

Whoever said indie hallmark- YES.

Review by Elijah Davidson ★★★★½

(Disclaimer: The writer/director of this film, Lauralee Farrer, is a good friend of mine as are many of the other members of the crew. Of course, part of the reason I'm friends with her (and them) is because she is so thoughtful in her life and art, so I do not believe that our friendship invalidates what I'm about to write.)

A few weeks ago, in composing a capsule reaction to It Happened One Night, I lamented the apparent inability of modern filmmakers to do something interesting with the romantic comedy genre. Last night, upon reflecting on this film (my second viewing), I realized I had been unjust.

Not That Funny probably doesn't pass the Bechdel Test . While there are…

Review by Katie ★★

i liked when the hardware store guy said ‘hi tony’ (to actor tony hale whose character’s name is stefan). 

this has churchy vibes. like one of those veiled jesus production companies made it. nothing overtly religious except for the main character’s emotionally turbulent nightly jogging montages around a closed church. hard to describe.

anyway, i enjoyed watching this because no matter how serious the role, tony hale cannot escape the buster bluth/gary walsh facial expressions. them cow eyes just starin’ up at you. i love it.

Review by stella ½

i could’ve gotten in an actually relationship in the time it took for anything to happen

Review by Maroni ★

Oh wow, this was terrible. Man alive. 

The highlight of this movie was when the store clerk said “Hi Tony” to Tony Hale (Stefan). For real, how did that make it into the movie. I think everyone on set had Alzheimer’s, not just Grandma Toogie.

Review by Brennan ★★

I love Tony Hale as much as the next person but man there is just no meat on this bone to chew. I’ve seen a lot of “Indie Hallmark” comments on here and honestly, it’s hard to disagree ⭐️⭐️

Review by Amy Bergethon ★★★

Truly Not That Funny, but several scenes were very sweet and I rooted for Tony Hale all the way

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Where does Not That Funny rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Streaming charts last updated: 1:13:23 AM, 04/21/2024

Not That Funny is 14774 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 9703 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than The House on Devil's Road but less popular than Wetware.

A love story about a woman who "just wants someone who makes her laugh" and a man who is not that funny. As he tries to learn how to be the man she says she wants, they each find an unexpected chance at happiness.

Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

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Not That Funny – Movie Review – Not That Funny is the Title

Don and Peg Doman · September 5, 2022 · ·

“Not That Funny” is really not very funny . . . but; it’s so satisfying. We found it on Prime.

Lauralee Farrer was the director and the main writer along with Jonathan B. Foster in this funny and touching film. The stars were Tony Hale, K Callan, Brigid Brannagh, and John Kapelos. The film was mostly shot in Siera Madre with some scenes from Hollywood.

A love story about a woman who “just wants someone who makes her laugh” and a man who is not that funny. As he tries to learn how to be the man she says she wants, they each find an unexpected chance at happiness.

I had watched part of the movie before and when I came across the title a few days ago I decided to watch the whole film. It turned out I had watched it with my wife and we had turned in off after half an hour. We must have been sleepy. I watched the film by myself and then over breakfast mentioned the film to Peggy, who had just done the same thing. We were both surprised and thrilled. My favorite scenes and her favorite scenes were duplicates. As they say, “Great minds . . . “

Tony Hale as Stefan Lane is a “dead on” super nice guy, helpful, friendly, and lonely at the same time. Stefan lives with an older woman (Toogey Richmonde played by K Callan) bordering on memory loss. Stefan loves the house and the stories Toogey shares about her granddaughter (Hayley Richmonde played by Brigid Brannagh). Stephan does household repairs and loves the house and the view from his bedroom window. After meeting Hayley, Stefan falls in love. Kevork (played by John Kapelos) is a nice counterpoint for urging Stefan to connect more with Hayley. Stephan holds back in fear but seeks to change his life. He finally has a revelation about himself. Viewers pull for Stephan, but it seems like an uphill battle.

User Review from IMDB:

I saw Not That Funny at Newport Beach Film Festival and thought it was the best film of the fest. Brigid Brannagh is lovely as a daughter returning home to her grandmother’s house in a small California town. Tony Hale is awkward and entertaining as the man who thinks he has to make her laugh to win her heart. Watch for a fun turn from comedian Nick Thune as the man who tries to help Hale learn comedy. I loved the depiction of the little town and the people who can see Hale’s character for the man he really is, especially the relationship between Hale and his friend Kevork, played by John Kapelos. The film is full of little details that feel authentic to the world and town is charming. I’m looking forward to seeing future films from co-writer/director Lauralee Farrer. Check out this film if you get a chance.

This is not a sappy love movie. It’s more about people than it is about any kind of sex or actual love. I would say it’s more about peace and understanding. It’s about real people with real lives and how they live them. It’s a feel good movie and one where you are pulling for everyone in the film . . . even the one rotten apple played by Finneas Patrick O’Neill who did a great boo-hiss performance as Hayley’s boss.

Both Peggy and I recommend this wonderful production.

About Don and Peg Doman

Don Doman/Peg Doman: Professional writers and authors. Ideas and Training - Human Resources/business training products for modern business. PublicDoman - Video production, internet video, website construction and online marketing and social media. NW Adventures - Fun places to visit in the Pacific Northwest: Great Restaurants, Lodging, and People. The Doman Directories - Business directory listings for many categories in Tacoma, Pierce County, and Washington State.

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September 6, 2022 at 11:37 am

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The Most Scathing (But Also Kinda Funny) Movie Reviews From Critics

Whether they specialize in summarizing and rating the latest Hollywood flicks or older classic films, moviegoers value the assessments critics provide online and in print. Good critics often spend years studying the film industry and journalism to contribute fair and unbiased evaluations for their readers, and audiences rely on their opinions when deciding to commit time and money to a film.

As honest and reliable sources in the entertainment industry, reviewers often expose the flaws and shortcomings of the movies they rate. While readers expect to get honest and sometimes unflattering film reviews from their trusted sources, they often assume critics will remain professional and courteous with their words. However, now and then, a critic will hate a particular film so much that they feel obligated to voice their unfiltered opinion. Although their most likely intent is to provide a seriously harsh analysis, the scathing reviews from these critics often come off to readers as quite comical. 

This list features 22 such instances of funny movie reviews from critics who despised the films they critiqued. Some aren't that surprising, as the movies did not go over so well with general audiences, either. (Yet they are still, ultimately, hilarious.) However, some of the featured films won numerous awards , becoming instant classics in the hearts of fans and seemingly every other critic who watched them. 

Vote up the most brutally insulting reviews from film critics that also made you laugh. 

Roger Ebert Likened Watching ‘Battlefield Earth’ To Taking A Bus With Someone Who Doesn’t Bathe

Giving the 2000 film only half a star, Roger Ebert thought sitting through Battlefield Earth was about as enjoyable as sitting next to someone who stinks for a few hours in a tight, enclosed space: 

Battlefield Earth is like taking a bus trip with someone who has needed a bath for a long time. It's not merely bad; it's unpleasant in a hostile way. The visuals are grubby and drab. The characters are unkempt and have rotten teeth. Breathing tubes hang from their noses like ropes of snot. The soundtrack sounds like the boom mike is being slammed against the inside of a 55-gallon drum… Hiring Travolta and Whitaker was a waste of money, since we can't recognize them behind pounds of matted hair and gnarly makeup. Their costumes look like they were purchased from the Goodwill store on the planet Tatooine… The Psychlos can fly between galaxies, but look at their nails: Their civilization has mastered the hyperdrive but not the manicure… Some movies run off the rails. This one is like the train crash in The Fugitive . I watched it in mounting gloom, realizing I was witnessing something historic, a film that for decades to come will be the punch line of jokes about bad movies. There is a moment here when the Psychlos' entire planet (home office and all) is blown to smithereens, without the slightest impact on any member of the audience (or, for that matter, the cast). If the film had been destroyed in a similar cataclysm, there might have been a standing ovation.

• # 2 of 15 on 15 Actor Passion Projects That No One Wanted To See
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Gene Siskel Wanted The Lead To Get Eaten In ‘Jaws: The Revenge’

Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel thought Lorraine Gary's performance tanked 1987's Jaws: The Revenge : 

So, we need a good villain that everyone is afraid of [to carry a storyline]. Right, a great white shark. That solves the problem with the recent Jaws films in that lately the big fish has been eating nobodies. Remember Robert Shaw's old fisherman in the original Jaws ? Remember the police chief Scheider and the ichthyologist played by Richard Dreyfuss? Now those were three somebodies. We didn't want them to die. But in the just-released Jaws: The Revenge the shark's main course is intended to be Roy Scheider's widow, Ellen Brody, a frumpy middle-aged woman played by boring actress Lorraine Gary, who happens to be married to the president of MCA Universal, which finances the Jaws films and which explains her lead role. Let's put it this way: when you see and hear the nasal Lorraine Gary on screen you want the shark to eat her…

The film critic also commended a previous actor for refusing to act in the picture:

Roy Scheider wisely departed the Jaws films, having cashed enough paychecks without losing his self-respect.

• # 76 of 89 on The Best Movies Of 1987, Ranked
• # 41 of 70 on The Scariest Animal Horror Movies Ever Made
• # 48 of 50 on The Greatest Fourth Films of All Time

Roger Ebert ‘Hated Hated Hated Hated Hated’ Rob Reiner’s ‘North’

One descriptive “hate” just wouldn't suffice for Roger Ebert as he voiced his distaste for the 1994 film, North :

I have no idea why Rob Reiner, or anyone else, wanted to make this story into a movie, and close examination of the film itself is no help. North is one of the most unpleasant, contrived, artificial, cloying experiences I've had at the movies. To call it manipulative would be inaccurate; it has an ambition to manipulate, but fails. The film stars Elijah Wood, who is a wonderful young actor… Here he is stuck in a story that no actor, however wonderful, however young, should be punished with….. What is the point of the scenes with the auditioning parents? (The victimized actors range from Dan Aykroyd as a Texan to Kathy Bates as an Eskimo). They are all seen as broad, desperate comic caricatures. They are not funny. They are not touching. There is no truth in them. They don't even work as parodies. There is an idiocy here that seems almost intentional, as if the filmmakers plotted to leave anything of interest or entertainment value out of these episodes… I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.

The hate-heavy line from the review became so famous, Ebert's book collection of bad reviews is titled after it.

• # 63 of 85 on The Best Movies Of 1994
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'New York Post' Reviewer Johnny Oleksinski Would Rather Wake Up Beside A Severed Horse Head Than Watch ‘Gotti’ Again

In a reference to The Godfather, the film that spawned the modern mob movie, reviewer Johnny Oleksinski claimed he would choose being threatened with an animal carcass in his bed over sitting through Gotti for a second time:

I’d rather wake up next to a severed horse head than ever watch Gotti again. The worst movie of the year so far, the long-awaited biopic about the Gambino crime boss’ rise from made man to top dog took four directors, 44 producers and eight years to make.  It shows. The finished product belongs in a cement bucket at the bottom of the river… Travolta, who’s made a career out of Italian stereotypes, obviously thought the Dapper Don would be his Don Corleone. It’s his Chef Boy­ardee. His performance is a leather-faced freak show. And the plot is nonsensical… [It] is an excuse for ­Travolta to shmact and for his wife, Kelly Preston - playing Gotti’s wife, Victoria - to howl like Medea… It’s the worst mob movie ever, but I see a bright future in midnight showings. “The Gotti Horror Picture Show.”

According To Christy Lemire, Even Bennifer Couldn’t Save ‘Gigli’ From Its Terrible Dialogue

Film reviewer Christy Lemire argued that Gigli was “unwatchable,” despite featuring Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in the leading roles: 

Gigli - which spawned the phenomenon the gossip pages and celebrity magazines so lovingly refer to as “Bennifer” - is every bit as unwatchable as the deafening negative chatter would suggest… Even making a little game of it, and trying to pinpoint the exact moment when Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez fell in love, stops being fun after a while… Perhaps it's when he says, in an attempt to seduce her, "I'm the bull, you're the cow." Or when she beckons him into foreplay by lying back in bed and purring, “Gobble, gobble” - which could forever change the way you view your Thanksgiving turkey… If this were a movie starring two B-list actors, or two complete unknowns, it probably would have gone straight to video. After curious masochists and J.Lo fans check it out the first weekend, Gigli probably will have a drop-off in audience that rivals The Hulk - 70 percent - then go to video…  Cameos from Pacino, Christopher Walken as a detective and Lainie Kazan as Gigli's mother don't help, either. Did they owe someone a favor? What are they doing here? Pacino won his one and only Oscar with Brest, [the director and producer of the film], for 1992's Scent of a Woman , but couldn't he have just thanked the director instead?

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• # 74 of 76 on The 70+ Best Crime Romance Movies, Ranked
• # 40 of 40 on The Most Hilarious Mob Comedy Movies

Roger Ebert Had A Lot To Say About The ‘Vomitorium’ That Was ‘Freddy Got Fingered’

Esteemed Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert thought Tom Green should consider bringing rocks into the theater to throw at the audience in case they assaulted him for making such a horrible film:

This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels. Many years ago, when surrealism was new, Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali made Un Chien Andalou, a film so shocking that Bunuel filled his pockets with stones to throw at the audience if it attacked him. Green, whose film is in the surrealist tradition, may want to consider the same tactic. The day may come when Freddy Got Fingered is seen as a milestone of neo-surrealism. The day may never come when it is seen as funny. The film is a vomitorium consisting of 93 minutes of Tom Green doing things that a geek in a carnival sideshow would turn down.

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‘Austin Chronicle’ Reviewer Marc Savlov Has Had Mosquito Bites More Passionate Than ‘Twilight’

Austin Chronicle reviewer Marc Savlov didn't fall for the shimmery, fangless vampires in Twilight :

I've had mosquito bites that were more passionate than this undead, unrequited, and altogether unfun pseudo-romantic riff on Romeo and Juliet . Based on the hideously readable (or so my dark beloved tells me) series of "don't call them young adult" novels by Stephenie Meyer, Twilight is the first in what promises to be a lengthy cinematic franchise featuring sexy vampire boys who just say, "No, I don't drink… you ." Teens of a certain mindset (not to mention Dark Shadows fans) will eat it up, as will those who've never borne witness to Christopher Lee's bodice-busting abilities. Goths of a purer (or is that im -purer?) bent will likely put a stake in it early on and exit this soggy take on Suck Valley High in favor of more sanguine affairs (Udo Kier? Frank Langella? Max Shreck!). Another annoyance is how Meyer and Twilight 's screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg play fast and loose with traditional vampiric lore. Not only do these bloodsuckers lack anything resembling fangs (!), but they don't even succumb to sunlight, instead bursting into shimmery sparkles like raver-fairies on acid.

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According To AV Club Reviewer Keith Phipps, Only Two Things Could Have Made ‘Catwoman’ Any Worse

A.V. Club film reviewer Keith Phipps felt that the 2004 film was just an excuse for Halle Berry to parade around in a leather catsuit and that very few things could've made Catwoman any worse: 

Able to leap around with feline grace, wear revealing leather outfits without shame, and improvise cat-themed puns, she is Catwoman, even though she bears little resemblance to the Catwoman from the Batman universe. It's like naming a movie Spider-Man because it's about a guy with eight legs who shoots silk out of his *ss… Mononymical director Pitof cut his teeth on digital effects and music videos, and he directs Catwoman as though he was targeting the attention span of actual cats. He cuts rapidly, keeping the camera in constant motion lest viewers wander off in search of food or a quiet place to nap. It's the least exciting form of excitement imaginable, and the story doesn't prove much of a distraction… Relentlessly gaudy and in love with its PG-13 approximation of kink, Catwoman is essentially an excuse to pose Berry in ever-skimpier outfits. It's all too pre-fab to register as sexy, though, and even the fight scenes look like fashion shoots, complete with anonymous R&B bump 'n' grind musical accompaniment. The film could have turned out worse, but only via the addition of a Tom Green cameo, or an accident in which the actors caught on fire.

• # 94 of 99 on The Best Movies Of 2004, Ranked
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• # 1 of 15 on 15 Times Stars And Filmmakers Talked Crap About Their Own Movies

'Washington Post' Reviewer Jen Chaney Said 'National Lampoon's Gold Diggers' Will Prompt One To Bathe In '10 Gallons Of Disinfectant'

Jen Chaney held nothing back when she reviewed National Lampoon's Gold Diggers for The Washington Post in 2004. The reviewer asserted that audiences would walk out of the theater dumber than they were when they walked in after putting the actors' performances on blast:

Just how repellent is National Lampoon's Gold Diggers ? So stupefyingly hideous that after watching it, you'll need to bathe in 10 gallons of disinfectant, get a full-body scrub and shampoo with vinegar to remove the scummy residue that remains. Some movies leave a bad taste in the mouth. This one causes full-on halitosis… It's hard to say what's most offensive about Gold Diggers . Is it the tastelessness of seeing Lasser - that's "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" to you - and Taylor flaunting their aging bodies for cheap laughs? That's certainly a major factor. These sisters, who engage in randy stripteases and eat mounds of whipped cream off of their much-younger lovers' bodies, are so vile and uninteresting that they make Patty and Selma of The Simpsons look like the twins from the Coors beer commercials.  But what's even more egregious about this alleged comedy is the fact that it was released in theaters at all. Clearly this should have been a straight-to-DVD affair. Then again, that's unfair to the many mediocre movies released solely on DVD. Even they don't deserve to be lumped in with this sub-sub-sub-par waste of 87 minutes' worth of celluloid.

Peter Rainer Suggested Bringing Ear Plugs (And Nose Plugs) To See ‘Batman & Robin’

No actor playing a leading role in the 1997 film Batman & Robin escaped the wrath of Peter Rainer's review for the Phoenix New Times :

Bring earplugs to Batman & Robin . A pair of noseplugs wouldn't hurt, either. The fourth installment in the Batman franchise is one long, head-splitting exercise in clueless cacophony that makes you feel as though you're being held hostage in some haywire Planet Hollywood while sonic booms pummel your auditory canal… The addition of Batgirl (Val-gal Alicia Silverstone) - Alfred's niece, Barbara Wilson - doesn't significantly punch up the proceedings. She seems to be in the movie not so much to give young women in the audience a heroine, but, rather, to set straight our nagging thoughts about two guys wearing capes who live together.  Despite the film's pseudofeminist angle, this new Batman is as macho fetishistic as ever: The opening credits give us full frontal body armor and codpieces, and, in a touching display of gallantry on the part of the filmmakers, Batman's and Robin's body-suit nipples are far more pronounced than Batgirl's… What gets to you isn't Freeze's attempt to revive the wife he froze until he could cure her wasting disease. No, what touches the soul is [Arnold] Schwarzenegger's heroic attempt to get his mouth around the English language - still. Schwarzenegger is game enough to work his accent into a semblance of a comic style - he pronounces it “Bat-min” - but he sounds like a Prussian Mike Mazurki. When you can make out what's he's saying at all. [Uma] Thurman's Poison Ivy is a slinky creeper who spends most of the movie in various botanically tinted body stockings or magenta gorilla suits. With Freeze, Poison Ivy wants to take over Gotham City - the world - and save the plants. She's a cartoon nightmare of a Greenpeacer - or she would be if the filmmakers had any penchant for satire, or humor above the level of an after-school special… The people who made this movie - which, as always, is set up for a sequel - will be laughing all the way to the bank. But isn't there someone in that bank who can lock them all inside a safety-deposit vault and throw away the key?

• # 8 of 265 on The Best Duos of All Time
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Gene Siskel Questioned Who ‘Howard the Duck’ Was Made For

Famed Chicago Tribune movie critic Gene Siskel hated the characters and special effects in Howard the Duck and urged director George Lucas to stick to low-budget films after this 1986 oddity: 

Who was this stupid film made for? It's not a Donald Duck cartoon for little kids - there are too many scenes of sex, violence, and rock 'n' roll that are both dimwitted and inappropriate for little ones. Instead, this $52 million bust-out appears to have been inspired by the special-effects-filled, blockbuster comedy, Ghostbusters ... The story has no center; the duck is not likable, and the costly, overwrought, laser-filled special effects that conclude the movie are less impressive than a sparkler on a birthday cake. George ( Star Wars ) Lucas supervised the production of this film, and maybe it's time he went back to making low-budget films like his best picture, American Graffiti.

Siskel gave the film one star.

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• # 109 of 115 on 50+ Movies That Need Sequels

The Long Run Time Of 'Titanic' Left Critic Desson Howe Thinking, ‘Ok, Sink Already’

In 1997, Titanic was nominated for 14 Oscars and won Academy Awards in 11 different categories. However, not every critic agreed with the movie's sweeping success. Historical events aside, even the drama of Jack and Rose's love story aboard the ill-fated ship wasn't enough to keep critic Desson Howe entertained for three and a half hours:

After this magnificent setup, the movie springs an indiscernible but steady leak. DiCaprio and Winslet make a good-hair, great-body couple… But their story - though meticulously linked with the greater disaster - is only passably involving. (And the less said about Zane's pantomimically nefarious, gun-toting assistant, played by David Warner, the better.) The fanciful, choked-throat bliss the lovebirds are supposed to evoke dissipates in the heat of Cameron's manic passion for the Titanic itself. …the movie's too long. Who wrote the 11th Commandment that says epics should go on forever? Titanic is a good, often stunning movie caught in a three-and-a-half hour drift. As we marvel at the physical spectacle of the Titanic's last few hours, we're left staggeringly untouched by the people facing their last moments. This movie should have blown us out of the water. Instead we catch ourselves occasionally thinking the unpardonable thought: "OK, sink already."

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• # 6 of 50 on The Biggest Movies Of The '90s, Ranked
• # 66 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

Roger Ebert Found ‘Armageddon’ To Be An ‘Assault On The Eyes’

Roger Ebert warned potential audiences that they would most likely rather die than sit through Armageddon in his earth-shattering review of the Oscar-nominated film :

Here it is at last, the first 150-minute trailer. Armageddon is cut together like its own highlights. Take almost any 30 seconds at random, and you'd have a TV ad. The movie is an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained. No matter what they're charging to get in, it's worth more to get out… Armageddon reportedly used the services of nine writers. Why did it need any? The dialogue is either shouted one-liners or romantic drivel. "It's gonna blow!" is used so many times, I wonder if every single writer used it once, and then sat back from his word processor with a contented smile on his face, another day's work done… Staggering into the silence of the theater lobby after the ordeal was over, I found a big poster that was fresh off the presses with the quotes of junket blurbsters. "It will obliterate your senses!" reports David Gillin, who obviously writes autobiographically. "It will suck the air right out of your lungs!" vows Diane Kaminsky. If it does, consider it a mercy killing.

The famous critic hated Armageddon so much that he ranked it as the worst movie of 1998, even beating Spice World for the dishonorable prize.  

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• # 28 of 50 on The Biggest Movies Of The '90s, Ranked
• # 101 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

CNN Reviewer Paul Tatara Found ‘Absolutely Nothing’ Enjoyable In ‘Joe Dirt’

According to CNN reviewer Paul Tatara, Joe Dirt is a film permeated with bad acting and no real plot:

The newspaper ads promoting Joe Dirt - a miserable, free-form trailer-trash parody starring David Spade - boast that the picture has received "0 Directors Guild Awards, 0 Producer's Guild nominations, and 0 Golden Globe Awards." This self-deprecation might be amusing if Joe Dirt suggested that the people who made it are talented individuals who simply dropped the ball. But this script never had a chance of being converted into a decent picture, and they filmed it anyway. So, rather than be criticized for blowing it, either the producers or the studio decided to pretend it was all intentional. The question needs to be asked, then: Why do American audiences accept the stance that silly movies have to be terrible by definition? There's nothing enjoyable about Joe Dirt . Absolutely nothing. Spade's generic nonperformance is the centerpiece of a very wobbly story, and he simply isn't enough of an actor to keep you interested… Joe Dirt 's flashback structure is just as lazy as the humor. It allows director Dennie Gordon to hop, skip, and jump through the material without having to develop the characters or build even a semblance tension. It's not asking too much, by the way, to expect such things… even when you're watching a patently absurd movie. Check out Raising Arizona (1987) to see how overt stupidity can be handled with verbal wit, momentum, and a welcome implication that the audience itself isn't composed of idiots. If Raising Arizona is sophomoric, Joe Dirt is struggling through pre-school.

And in case Tatara's audience didn't quite pick up on his outward distaste for the comedy, he continued his rant in the description of the rating: 

There's not enough gumption in Joe Dirt for it to be genuinely offensive. A dog's testicles get stuck to a porch, and septic tank goo spews onto Joe's head. Is it possible to close America until further notice? Rated PG-13. 92 minutes.

• # 507 of 702 on The All-Time Greatest Comedy Films
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Bosley Crowther Called Warren Beatty’s Performance In ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ ‘Mannered Play-Acting Of A Hick’

New York Times film reviewer Bosley Crowther hated the acting in Bonnie and Clyde and didn't understand the massive public approval that the fictionalized story of two notorious offenders received: 

The performance that Warren Beatty gives of a light-hearted, show-offish fellow with a talent for stealing cars and holding up banks at gunpoint is mannered play-acting of a hick that bears no more resemblance to [Clyde] Barrow than it does to Jesse James. And the sweet prettified indication of Bonnie that Faye Dunaway conveys is a totally romantic exoneration of that ugly and vicious little dame. Likewise, the scattering of poor people in Texas and thereabouts that Arthur Penn has put forth as grateful recipients of the beneficences of Bonnie and Clyde - including a gauzy, grey-haired image of Bonnie's disapproving old Maw - is a skillful but loaded collection of stereotypes of poverty… It… is a grossly romantic, sentimental and arbitrary setting up of a collision of comedy and violence, which spews noise and sparks but not much truth.

The reviewer just couldn't get past the public's good opinion of the criminals or the positioning of society as the antagonists, even arguing:

By this same line of reckoning, one could build up a theme of sympathy and sadness on the thought that the system was the enemy of a character named Lee Harvey Oswald who had a penchant to fire high-powered rifles at moving targets, or that the irony of Hitler's terror was that he was so confused by his early rejection that he didn't realize the awfulness of the violence he caused.

Most other publications heaped praise upon the film, and though he'd been considered “the dean of movie critics” for the previous 29 years, Crowther's “retirement” from The Times was announced shortly after his review.

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• # 701 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
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'Washington Post' Reviewer Desson Howe Said ‘Encino Man’ Was ‘Less Funny Than Your Own Funeral’

The plot line and joke sequences in Encino Man flatlined for The Washington Post 's Desson Howe:

A lot is riding on Hollywood Pictures' Encino Man . A youth comedy about a caveman who appears in 20th-century California, it scrambles hopefully after the success of the Bill & Ted and Wayne's World movies, its comic knuckles smashing every bump on the ground. If this Cro-Magnon-dumb film scores, prepare yourself for an avalanche of "isn't teenspeak b*tchin'?" movies… Less funny than your own funeral, its mission is to introduce us to yet another strain of post-surfer Cal slang. The new idioms are uttered by likable MTV personality Pauly Shore and unlikable pug Sean Astin, outcasts at Encino High… The mirth, you should be warned, never stops… If there's a funny line in the movie, it comes from Astin's father, Richard Masur. Frustrated at the ceaseless dudespeak around the dinner table, he finally sputters, "Speak English."

• # 577 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
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Kenneth Turan From The ‘Los Angeles Times’ Thought ‘Fight Club’ Was A ‘Witless Mishmash Of Whiny, Infantile Philosophizing’

Los Angeles Times reviewer Kenneth Turan questioned why anyone would even want to talk about Fight Club :

Fight Club , a film about men who like to fight, is an unsettling experience, but not the way anyone intended. What’s most troubling about this witless mishmash of whiny, infantile philosophizing and bone-crunching violence is the increasing realization that it actually thinks it’s saying something of significance. That is a scary notion indeed… These initial parts of Fight Club are structured in part as satires on the modern mania for consumerism and the cult of New Age sensitivity. Certainly these areas are ripe for sending up, but this film is so contemptuous of anything human, so eager to employ know-it-all smugness, that the cure plays worse than the disease… In one of the more curious footnotes to modern culture, Fight Club plays at times like the bombastic World Wrestling Federation version of Susan Faludi’s Stiffed , also a treatise on men who have “lost their compass in the world” and suffer from “the American masculinity crisis."… Though the film employs dubious plot twists to quasi-distance itself from the weirder implications of a philosophy the Columbine gunmen would likely have found congenial, it’s to little effect. Aside from the protracted beatings, this film is so vacuous and empty it’s more depressing than provocative. If the first rule of Fight Club is “Nobody talks about Fight Club,” a fitting subsection might be “Why would anyone want to?”

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Roger Ebert Criticized The Implausible Plot Holes In ‘Home Alone'

After summarizing the plot of Home Alone as a storyline that encompasses ideas of “scary nostalgia,” Roger Ebert expressed his inability to look beyond the plot holes of the now-classic holiday film:

Home Alone is about an 8-year-old hero who does all of those things, but unfortunately he also single-handedly stymies two house burglars by booby-trapping the house. And they're the kinds of traps that any 8-year-old could devise, if he had a budget of tens of thousands of dollars and the assistance of a crew of movie special effects people... A real kid would probably be more frightened than this movie character, and would probably cry. He might also try calling someone, or asking a neighbor for help. But in the contrived world of this movie, the only neighbor is an old coot who is rumored to be the Snow Shovel Murderer, and the phone doesn't work. When Kevin's parents discover they've forgotten him, they find it impossible to get anyone to follow through on their panicked calls - if anyone did so, the movie would be over… The plot is so implausible that it makes it hard for us to really care about the plight of the kid.

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• # 2 of 50 on The Biggest Movies Of The '90s, Ranked
• # 2 of 126 on The Best Christmas Movies Of All Time

Gene Siskel Called ‘The Shining’ ‘Downright Embarrassing’ In The 'Chicago Tribune'

Though widely appreciated today as one of the best horror movies of all time, The Shining , which made significant deviations from Stephen King's best-selling novel, was less appreciated at the time of its release. One contemporary critic who was far less than impressed was Gene Siskel, reviewing for the Chicago Tribune :

Stanley Kubrick's latest film, The Shining , which is being billed as the "ultimate horror film," turns out to be much less. In fact, it's a crashing disappointment. The biggest surprise is that it contains virtually no thrills… The Shining is more boring- and on a couple of occasions downright embarrassing - than anything else… One of the major problems with the film is that neither Jack nor Wendy do much changing. Right from the beginning she’s a mess, and he’s under terrific tension. There’s virtually no development of character, and we don’t have a clue why they married each other. There’s no attraction between them… At the end, as we watch the film's climactic chase scene, we expect to be overwhelmed by a horrifying image or mood. Instead, we are bored by a chase that is the stuff of amateurs. When Kubrick, late in the film, includes a shot of cobwebbed corpses sitting around tables in a parlor, we think we are looking at some kind of cheap-o horror film from the ‘50s.

In another abridged review of the film, Siskel concluded , “Jack Nicholson parodies himself while Kubrick fails to provide any thrills.”

Michael Dempsey For ‘Film Quarterly’ Called ‘The Exorcist’ ‘The Aesthetic Equivalent Of Being Run Over By A Truck’

Instead of being converted into a fan, film reviewer Michael Dimpsey expressed his repulsion for The Exorcist in the Summer 1974 edition of Film Quarterly :

The Exorcist is the trash bombshell of 1973, the aesthetic equivalent of being run over by a truck. Evidently a lot of people think that great art is supposed to be like this; if it shocks them, it must be brilliant. The movie is shocking alright - the press has been full of stories about fainting, vomiting, fleeing viewers - but you'd have to be a block of wood not to be shocked by the spectacle of a child systematically turned into a yellow-eyed, slime-spewing, head swiveling monster.  Despite their pontificating about Greek tragedy, the mystery of faith, and Good vs. Evil, director William Friedkin and writer-producer William Peter Blatty have actually made a gloating, ugly exploitation picture, a costlier cousin of those ghoulish cheapies released to drive-ins and flea pits almost weekly in major American cities… Blatty's hackneyed writing… only makes the character's loss of faith look like constipation. 

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• # 16 of 253 on The 200+ Best Psychological Thrillers Of All Time

Russell Maloney Of 'The New Yorker' Labeled ‘The Wizard of Oz’ A ‘Stinkeroo’ With ‘No Trace Of Imagination’

After talking about Walt Disney owning the fantasy realm of movies, The New Yorker 's Russell Maloney roasted MGM's Academy award-winning classic film:

…I sat cringing before M-G-M’s Technicolor production of The Wizard of Oz which displays no trace of imagination, good taste, or ingenuity. I will rest my case against The Wizard of Oz on one line of dialogue. It occurs in a scene in which the wicked witch is trying to persuade Dorothy, the little girl from Kansas, to part with a pair of magic slippers. The good witch interrupts them, warning Dorothy not to give up the slippers, whereupon the wicked witch snarls, “You keep out of this!” Well, there it is. Either you believe witches talk like that, or you don’t. I don’t. Since The Wizard of Oz is full of stuff as bad as that, or worse, I say it’s a stinkeroo. The vulgarity of which I was conscious all through the film is difficult to analyze. Part of it was the raw, eye-straining Technicolor, applied with a complete lack of restraint. And the gags! Let me give you just one. Dorothy is telling the Wizard about the fate of the wicked witch. “She just melted away,” Dorothy says. “ Liquidated , eh?” the Wizard comes back, quick as a flash. He’s a card, that Wizard; you ought to hear him ribbing the boys in Dave’s Blue Room some morning. Bert Lahr, as the Cowardly Lion, is funny but out of place. If Bert Lahr belongs in the Land of Oz, so does Mae West… I don’t like the Singer Midgets under any circumstances, but I found them especially bothersome in Technicolor.

A 'New York' Magazine Review Thought ‘The Thing’ Was Disgusting And Boring

A movie critic for New York magazine didn't find the 1982 version of The Thing particularly scary, or even interesting:

John Carpenter's monster movie is more disgusting than frightening, and most of it is just boring. Unlike the 1951 Thing , an entertaining B movie, Carpenter and screenwriter Bill Lancaster exploit the original premise of John W. Campbell Jr.'s 1938 science-fiction story, “Who Goes There?”… Intending to create total paranoia, Carpenter makes the monster as hideous as possible, and releases a torrent of blood and viscera. But the filmmakers never dramatize the feelings of their indistinguishable characters, and the threat is entirely external. Set in drab rooms and hallways, and shot without a distinctive visual rhythm, The Thing is about as impersonal as a movie can be.

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• # 30 of 253 on The 200+ Best Psychological Thrillers Of All Time
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41 One-Star Movie Reviews That Are Equal Parts Hilarious And Baffling

There exists on Twitter an incredible account dedicated to finding, and sharing, funny movie reviews from Amazon Prime. Most of the reviews posted by Amazon Movie Reviews are one-star reviews, and they often have very little to do with the film itself. They gripe about misleading titles, lack of “realism,” and, maybe not-so-surprisingly, foreign language and black and white films. 

Here are the best, most funny movie reviews of the year, courtesy of Amazon Movie Reviews Twitter.

1. home alone 2.

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6. Hotel Transylvania 3

8. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

10. Avengers: Endgame

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Product Description

A love story about a woman who "just wants someone who makes her laugh" and a man who is not that funny. As he tries to learn how to be the man she says she wants, they each find an unexpected chance at happiness.

Product details

• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 ounces
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Anamorphic, NTSC, Widescreen, Dolby, Surround Sound
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 39 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ September 29, 2020
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Tony Hale
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Ocean Avenue Ent
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08B7G43F6
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #26,416 in Drama DVDs

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Raising Geek Generation 2.0

‘Not That Movie!’ – A Game of Funny Films

Which film was a better superhero movie,  The Lion Actually or Eternal Sunshine of the Galaxy ? Make your choice and hope your teammates agree!

What Is Not That Movie! ?

Not That Movie! is a cooperative party game for 2 to 7 players, ages 8 and up, and takes about 20 minutes to play. It retails for $24.99 and there are a few online stores that carry it, but you may also be able to request it at your local game store if they don’t stock it regularly. The game uses titles from all sorts of movies, not all of which are kid-friendly, but the game itself is fine for kids. (You don’t need to have seen all the movies to play the game, either—it’s not a trivia game.) The game uses some variant rules for 2 players; I recommend playing with at least 3 players for the best experience.

Not That Movie! was designed by Silvano Sorrentino and published by DV Games, with art by Simone Fucchi and Daniele Solfrini.

Not That Movie! Components

Here’s what comes in the box:

• 80 Title cards
• 42 Review cards
• 7 “Not!” tokens

The game board is pretty small, an I-shaped board that unfolds to reveal the game’s title and has room for 5 cards on each side. The whole game has a ’90s aesthetic that is cute but a bit misleading, as there are some movie titles as recent as last year (like  Everything Everywhere All at Once ).

Each title card takes a movie title and splits it so that the first half of the title is on the bottom of the card, and the second half of the title is on the top. When two cards are lined up vertically, it creates a mash-up title—and these new titles line up with the 8 number labels on the game board. Since the cards are double-sided, that gives you 160 titles to play around with!

The review cards are small and feature silly “reviews,” a positive review on one side and a negative review on the other, often with usernames that are part of the joke. The bolded terms in the review tend to be the “objective” part of statement, like whether a movie is in black and white or features time travel, but the rest is the reviewer’s subjective opinion of it.

The dials are simple cardboard dials in various colors, each with an image of a TV remote and a notch to reveal a number from 1 to 8. My only complaint about the components in this game is that the dials are a bit loose and spin too easily, so that if you’re not careful you can easily turn to a different number when picking it up. Since you assemble the dials when you first open up the game, I’d recommend adding a small piece of paper or some O-ring stickers between the two layers of cardboard to help with the slipping.

The “Not!” tokens are cardboard tokens with illustrations on them: a slice of pizza, a cat, a scarf. Some of them seem movie-themed and some are kind of random. Each one has a color illustration on one side, and a black-and-white version on the other.

The rules are just on a single folded sheet since it’s a fairly simple game, and the back of the sheet has a section where you can record your scores (per round, and then the total for the game). That was an odd touch—there’s only room for 12 scores on this, and you’re writing directly on the back of the rules. I haven’t been using the chart myself.

How to Play Not That Movie!

You can download a copy of the rulebook here .

The goal of the game is to score as many points as possible over five rounds by getting on the same wavelength as the other players.

Give each player a dial, place the board in the center of the play area, and shuffle the two decks of cards individually. Give the stack of “Not!” tokens to the player who most recently saw a movie.

At the beginning of each round, fill the board with 10 title cards, and then place two review cards at the bottom (one positive, one negative). Read the reviews aloud. (For good measure, read the fractured movie titles aloud as well—but try not to make too many comments about the films just yet.)

Each player secretly chooses the  one movie title that they think best fits  both reviews, and turns their dial to that number. Remember, you’re hoping to choose the same answer as the other players. Place your dials face-down (carefully, so they don’t spin to a different number).

In turn order, starting with the player with the stack of tokens, each player eliminates a title that they think  nobody selected: “not  that movie!” Place the token on the title you’re eliminating, and pass the tokens to the next player. If anyone chose that title, they reveal their dial and the token is flipped over to the black-and-white side.

Play continues until there are two incorrect guesses, or until all 7 tokens have been played. The group scores 1 point for each correct answer, plus a bonus point if all 7 guesses were correct (i.e., everyone chose the same movie title for their answer).

The game ends after five rounds. Total up your score and compare it to the chart on the rulesheet, which will rate your performance between a flop and an Academy Award. (Generally, the fewer players you have, the more points you need because it is more challenging!)

Two-Player Rules

For a two-player game, each player gets two dials and will choose two different titles each round. You use 6 of the “Not!” tokens—if all 6 are placed correctly, you score 2 bonus points. Otherwise the game remains the same.

Not That Movie! is a 2023 Game of the Year Finalist !

Why You Should Play Not That Movie!

Not That Movie! made its debut at Essen SPIEL last fall and was released in the US shortly after, but for whatever reason it’s still been pretty hard to find. I actually received my review copy just in time for Thanksgiving and fell in love with it, but had been waiting to post a review for when it looked like it was actually available, but I still haven’t seen it show up in most of the major online game retailers I’m familiar with, nor on the shelves in my local game stores. However, if you’ve got a local game store, chances are very good that they can order a copy for you if they don’t have it in stock because it’s carried by one of the big US distributors.

Part of the appeal of the game is the very simple gimmick of splitting movie titles in half and mixing them up. While you do get some funny grammatical constructions from time to time ( The French of the Condor ), for the most part it just works really well and just reading the 8 mash-up titles every round is sure to cause some laughs as everyone tries to imagine what sort of movies they are. (Because of the nature of movie titles, it’s possible you may end up with combinations that sound like they could be adult films, but that’s generally a function of the group you’re playing with and it’ll go over the heads of the younger kids.) Certainly if you’re familiar with the original titles, that can influence your impressions of the new titles, but the nice thing about this game is that you really don’t need to know anything at all about the actual films—all you need is an imagination about what’s on the board.

The mini reviews are brief and provide a mix of facts about the film and some subjective opinions. “Handsome  archaeologist : CHECK! Thrilling  adventures . CHECK! What else could you ask for?” Or “I’m not convinced about the idea of using  puppets instead of actors to tell this story.” Again, the magic comes in the random combinations of the two reviews. Was it a light-hearted B-movie that took ten years to make? A silent film about giant robots? Maybe a heist movie that started as a book, then became a game, and then a TV series?

A perfect score is only possible if everyone at the table secretly chooses the same title—if you’re all in sync, you’ll be able to place all of the “Not!” tokens and eliminate everything else and score that bonus point. However, chances are that not everyone thinks the same way, so when it’s your turn, you want to go for whatever you think is most obviously wrong, so that the team can score as many points as possible before reaching two errors. Afterward, it’s fun to see what everyone picked, and there are always conversations about why players made their decisions. I mean, it’s obvious that  500 Days in 60 Seconds is a time travel film; why would you think it was a musical?

One thing I’ve really enjoyed about Not That Movie! is that it works well with a broad range of players: it’s one that I can play with my 9-year-old, my teenagers, and my adult gaming group all together and we can all have fun with it. It can work as a “get to know you” sort of game among strangers and new friends because you start seeing how people think, and it can really shine when playing with people you know well because you can try to predict what the other players are going to pick.

I also like that it’s a cooperative party game—everyone is on the same team, so it’s a nice one to have when you have a mix of experience levels. This is one that you can teach as you go, and the ultimate score is less important than the time spent playing. As far as I’m concerned, this one deserves an Academy Award … or at least our GeekDad seal of approval!

For more information, visit the DV Games website .

Click here to see all our tabletop game reviews.

Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.

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