Seed of Chucky (4 Stars)

This is the fifth film about the killer doll Chucky, a direct continuation of the fourth film, "Bride of Chucky". The previous three films mixed in comedy with the horror, which improved them in my opinion, but this film drives it too far. There's so much humour that the horror is hidden in the background. Having said that, there's one plot line about this film that I like so much that it makes up for all the other weaknesses: the development of Jennifer Tilly as the actress playing herself.

In the fourth film we met Tiffany Valentine, Charles Lee Ray's ex-girlfriend, who was played by Jennifer Tilly. Chucky killed her and transferred her soul into the body of a doll. In this film we meet the real life actress Jennifer Tilly, played by herself, who's a doppelganger of Tiffany Valentine. This is a parody of Jennifer Tilly as the public sees her, and I praise her for making fun of herself. She's conceited, thinking of herself as a better actress than she is, constantly fighting against weight gain, and she's willing to sleep with anyone to get a film part. Tiffany (the doll) idolises Jennifer and thinks she's the greatest actress on Earth, so she makes a plan to transfer her soul into Jennifer.

Jennifer Tilly is one of the sexiest women on Earth. She has the voice of an angel, and a body that could tempt any man to sin. One whisper from her little girl voice would bring me to my knees.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Chucky and Tiffany were killed in the last film. Chucky gets killed in every film, and now Tiffany is continuing in the family tradition. How do they return to life?

At the end of the last film Tiffany had a baby. It was a voodoo pregnancy, so the baby was born within two days. I think a lot of women would prefer to have a voodoo pregnancy. Is there a magic spell to accelerate pregnancies? I'll have to check my copy of "Voodoo for Dummies". The baby was found at the cemetery by an English tourist and taken back to England to be used as a ventriloquist's dummy. The boy was given the name Shitface and forced to perform on stage.

Shitface saw news reports on television about an upcoming film about Chucky and Tiffany. He mailed himself to the Hollywood prop room to meet the dolls that he considered to be his parents. When he arrived he was disappointed to find that they were only studio props with no life at all in them. No fear, he was a prodigious young boy. He'd spent all his life learning voodoo in his spare time, and to top it all off he'd saved the Amulet of Damballa that was abandoned at the cemetery after Charles Lee Ray's body was exhumed. Shitface performed a ritual over the two dolls, calling the souls of Chucky and Tiffany back from the great beyond.

Chucky gives his son the name Glen, but when Tiffany discovers that Glen doesn't have a penis she says he's a girl and calls him Glenda... or calls her Glenda, I'm getting confused what personal pronoun to use. The not-so-happy parents argue about their child's gender, finally grudgingly agreeing to let him choose for himself what he wants to be. Chucky doesn't mind as long as he grows up to be a killer.

The critics are united in claiming that this is the weakest film in the Chucky franchise. I understand why they say it, and if I didn't have a crush on Jennifer Tilly I might agree with them.

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Ip Man: The Final Fight (4 Stars)

This is a biographical film about the life of Ip Man in Hong Kong after the Second World War. It's very different to the Ip Man films starring Donnie Yen in both content and style. When I asked a Chinese friend of mine how historically accurate the Ip Man films are he answered, "The first film is a true story. The second film is only half true. The third film is completely fictional". In contrast, "Ip Man: The Final Fight" tells a very factual, unglamorised version of Ip man's life, based on the recollections of his son.

To name just a few details absent from the Ip Man Trilogy:

• Ip Man was separated from his wife in their latter years.
• Ip Man had a mistress after his wife's death, and his students disapproved of his relationship.
• Ip Man suffered from gastric pain in his later years.

That doesn't mean I like the films with Donnie Yen any less. I still prefer them, because they portray him as a powerful man with super-heroic qualities. "The Final Fight" shows him as a normal man with faults and weaknesses. I prefer fantasy.

It all comes down to what my readers want. I recommend that you watch all the films and decide for yourself what you like most.

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Theatre: Astoria (4 Stars)

This is a play written by the Austrian playwright Jura Soyfer in 1930. It's about the fictional kingdom of Astoria. An American countess – is there such a thing? – wants to give her husband a country for his birthday. She creates the country of Astoria with its own language and culture; it's only missing one thing: it has no land. This makes it a paradise on Earth. There's no unemployment and no poverty. Thousands of people want to become Astorians, so they're given citizenship, but they aren't allowed to live in the country. The Astorian population is in exile. When Astoria declares war it's at an advantage, because its enemies don't know where to drop their bombs.

Despite the comedy it's a philosophical play. What makes a country a country? Does Astoria exist or doesn't it?

The play was performed by amateur actors, the Obersontheim Theatre Group, to which my son also belongs. They put on a magnificent performance. An alienation technique was used to separate the play from reality. At the beginning the theatre director came out and addressed the actors. He told them, "This isn't a performance, it's the dress rehearsal. You can ignore anyone watching you. Your performance doesn't have to be perfect. If you forget your lines you can pick up the script and read it".

It's difficult to believe the play was written as early as 1930, because there seemed to be parallels with the Nazi regime. In one shocking scene there was a military putsch in Astoria. The leader of the army said, "I can restore law and order in Astoria on one condition: you have to give me control of the country".

Jura Soyfer was a Jew who was born in Ukraine in 1912. His family fled to Austria in 1921 after Russia occupied Ukraine. He became a politically active Marxist. He wrote satirical pieces for Communist newspapers in Vienna. He was arrested in 1938 for his Communist activities and imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp. Interestingly, it was not known that he was Jewish. He died of typhoid on 16th February 1939, one day before he was due to be released and allowed to emigrate to the USA.

The Dallas Connection (4½ Stars)

This is the tenth film in the Andy Sidaris collection, made in 1994. After "Enemy Gold", which was made in 1993, it's the second of only two films which were directed not by Andy himself but by his son Drew Sidaris. It could be asked whether these two films are really part of the Andy Sidaris collection, since his only credited role for the two films is as executive producer, a title usually reserved for someone who sits in the background and does nothing. I say that they are part of his collection for the simple reason that he says they are. Besides that, anyone who knows Andy's style will immediately recognise these two films as his. Andy was considering retiring from making films and he wanted his son to take over, but evidently Drew didn't have what it took and Andy had to do everything for him.

A few years ago I was in contact with Julie K. Smith on Facebook. I asked her about Drew, what he's doing now he's no longer a film director, to which she answered that he's living a life of leisure. I interpret that as meaning he's living off his father's inheritance. That's not something I would want to do if I'd had a rich father, but why not? Money is made to be spent, not to be built higher and higher in an ever more unstable mountain.

Julie Kristen Smith was Penthouse Pet of the Month in 1993. She's an actress who's made 40 films since 1987. She appeared in a few films with Julie Strain leading them to be referred to as the Two Julies. Sometimes they were called Big Julie and Little Julie, referring to their respective heights. Julie Smith is 5'6", whereas Julie Strain is 6'1½". I prefer to call them Good Julie and Bad Julie, and I mean it as a compliment to both of them. Julie Smith has an air of innocence about her, even when she's scantily clothed, whereas Julie Strain always looks wicked. This is backed up by interviews they've given. In erotic films there are often simulated sex scenes, without penetration, relying on the camera angle and the motions to make it look like the real thing. A common question asked in the Femme Fatales (sic) magazine was what does a female actress do if she notices that her male partner is getting too excited. Julie Smith's answer was that she stops and calls the makeup girl over, asking to be made to look better, to give the man a dampener and help him to cool down. Julie Strain answered that she expects a man to be excited when he's performing a naked scene with her, so she grinds her hips against his crotch to work him into a frenzy. Is there a better way to highlight the difference between the two Julies?

"The Dallas Connection" reunites the agents Chris Cannon and Mark Austin from "Enemy Gold". They have to solve a mystery. A new space rocket has an advanced spy system that can detect weapons buried below the Earth. The program will be installed in a rocket soon to be launched from Dallas, but to keep it secret it's been divided into four parts that have been encoded on four microchips, carried by four scientists. Three of the scientists are murdered by sexy women in Paris, South Africa and Hong Kong. The murders are too late, because they've already delivered their chips to the Agency in Dallas. The fourth scientist arrives from Argentina, still in possession of his chip. Who is killing the scientists?

The fourth scientist, Dr. Antonio Morales, is played by Rodrigo Obregon. Isn't he usually the bad guy? Yes, and this film is no exception. He wants all four microchips for himself, so he's hired a team of female assassins to kill everyone who gets in his way. The team is made up of Black Widow (Julie Strain), Cobra (Julie Smith) and Scorpion (Wendy Hamilton).

The girls work undercover as strippers in the Cowboys club in Dallas. No one would suspect that these three harmless looking girls are deadly killers. At least, nobody would suspect Cobra and Scorpion. One look at Black Widow is enough to tell you she's evil to the core.

It's obvious, isn't it? But that doesn't mean she's any less dangerous as an assassin. Some men are drawn to deadly women like moths to a flame.

In the film's introduction Andy Sidaris and Julie Strain are joined by Julie's little sister Lizzy. Little is relative. What on Earth did their parents feed them?

Lizzy is visiting Andy to be auditioned for his new film, "Battle Zone Hawaii", along with Nicki Fritz and Victoria Zdrok. The film introductions were made in 2000 or 2001, after Andy had made all 12 of his films. The 13th film was never made. I don't know why. Maybe Andy was in poor health. He passed away in 2007.

The film ends with the usual bottle of champagne shared by the Agency operatives. What better way to celebrate a good job well done! Once more they've killed Rodrigo Obregon and Julie Strain. When will they be back again?

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Hereditary (4 Stars)

This is a difficult film for me to review without giving away spoilers. It's a horror film, but it changes direction frequently, moving seamlessly from sub-genre to sub-genre. If I wanted to explain the film I'd have to tell you most of the plot.

Annie Graham is an artist who makes miniature models based on real life. Her creations look like doll houses, but they're much more detailed. When her mother dies she deals with it by making miniature models of her. Less than a week after the funeral her mother's body is stolen from the grave, but Annie's husband Steve doesn't tell her about it. There are apparitions in the house. Annie sees her mother, which drives her to the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Soon afterwards Annie's daughter Charlie is killed in a car accident. Annie blames her son Peter, the driver, for Charlie's death. Peter blames Annie, because she had made him take Charlie to a party she didn't want to go to. This drives Annie closer to despair. At a support group for people who are mourning a lost one she meets a woman called Joan who teaches her a ritual which will summon Charlie.

I'll stop there. The plot has twists and turns all the way to the final scene.

The film has an atmosphere of foreboding throughout. The Graham family lives in such a creepy old house in the woods that I would have nightmares even without anyone dying. The film overwhelmed me. I need to see it again.

Die Kirche bleibt im Dorf 2 (4½ Stars)

This 2015 film is a sequel to "Die Kirche bleibt im Dorf" ("The church remains in the village"), made in 2012. It continues with the enmity of the inhabitants of the twin villages Oberrieslingen and Unterrieslingen, in particular the families Häberle and Rossbauer. The first film ended on a happy note; romance brought the two families and their villages closer. The second film begins a few years later, and we see that not even love is strong enough to get rid of a feud that's lasted for centuries. The couples have either broken up or they're living in constant distrust of one another.

The village church has been structurally weakened by being moved around in the first film. Collections have been made for church repairs, but the priest has spent all the money on alcohol. Now the worst happens. As a result of heavy rainfall the church falls apart during the Sunday service. There are only slight injuries to the congregation, but the church is beyond repair. The priest rings his bishop to ask for money for a new church, but the answer is No. He's told that the villagers should go to church in Vaihingen instead. The villagers refuse to accept this solution. For them Vaihingen a big city – it has almost 30,000 inhabitants! – so the two warring villages unite to find another solution. They travel to Hamburg to take part in a big band contest that offers a first prize of 50,000 Euros.

The question my readers will be asking is whether it's as good as the first film. It's difficult for me to give a simple answer after only watching it once. I need to watch the two films back to back. The sequel has been criticised for not having anything original, but I don't consider that a problem. People who liked the first film want to see more of the same, and that's what they get. Both films are hilarious.

In case you're wondering where the beautiful town is which is featured in the film, it's Gengenbach, near the French border. It's close enough for me to visit. My son has already been there. The village scenes are filmed in Emmendingen, about 40 kilometers south of Gengenbach. Those are just the filming locations, it's not where the film is set. Oberrieslingen and Unterrieslingen are fictional villages, probably based on Oberriexingen and Unterriexingen, twin villages located close to Vaihingen.

"Die Kirche bleibt im Dorf" has developed into a franchise. Apart from the two films there's a TV series that has run from 2013 to 2018. The series takes place before the events of the first film. The television station has shown itself generous enough to publish all four seasons of the TV series for free viewing on YouTube. This is a link to the first episode. I'll leave it up to my German speaking readers to find the rest.

Ocean's 8 (4 Stars)

Debbie Ocean, the younger sister of Danny Ocean from the Ocean's Trilogy, is released after spending five years in prison for art fraud. She's spent this time meticulously planning an extravagant jewel robbery in her head. All she needs to do is find a team to help her. She assembles a team of six women with different skills around herself. It's only women, because she doesn't trust men. It was a man who snitched on her and got her thrown into prison. The eighth woman is added late in the film.

The target is a diamong necklace worth $150 million that's been locked in a vault at Cartier in New York for 50 years. They manipulate the host of the yearly Met Gala event into borrowing the necklace to wear at the event. She's accompanied at all times by two armed security guards, but Debbie has everything planned.

This is a very good film about suave and manipulative women who manage to keep their cool while fighting against overwhelming odds. The film takes time to introduce all the characters, and by the middle of the film we're rooting for them and hoping they'll be successful. Sandra Bullock is excellent as the criminal mastermind who doesn't actually take part in the robbery; she just stands back and watches as her team do their jobs.

Marvel Years 03.09 - September 1963

September 1963 was one of the most exciting months for Marvel. Not one but two super-teams were introduced in new comics. The X-Men were a typical team of newly created heroes. The Avengers were a team of existing heroes, all of whom had their own comics (except for the Hulk, whose comic had been cancelled after six issues). It's generally accepted that Fantastic Four #1 ushered in the Marvel Age, but The Avengers #1 – the Avengers were a more significant group than the X-Men in the 1960's – lifted the Marvel Age to the next level.

The Avengers #1

Title: The Coming of the Avengers

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Avengers: Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Wasp, Hulk

Villain: Loki

Regulars: Rick Jones

Guests: Odin, Jane Foster, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Susan Storm

Even though I enjoy the comics published from November 1961 until now, I consider The Avengers #1 to be the best comic so far. It's brilliant. I don't just mean the story. Look at the artwork of the first page. That's Jack Kirby at his best.

This story starts with Loki trying to provoke a fight between Thor and the Hulk. Rick Jones suspects that someone is interfering with the Hulk and sends a radio message to the Fantastic Four asking for help. They receive the message too late, but Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp answer the call. At the end of the comic they form a team, together with the Hulk. Please note that in contrast to the recent films, Captain America isn't the first Avenger. He wasn't one of the five founding members. If anyone, Ant-Man has the right to be considered the first Avenger as the one who suggested the team.

I've added a line in the monthly statistics with the names of the group members. This is important, because the Avengers changed their lineup frequently. I'll also do this with the X-Men, because there were a few membership changes as well.

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X-Men #1

Title: X-Men

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

X-Men: Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman, Marvel Girl

Villain: Magneto

Regulars: Professor X

This is the second new comic with a new team this month. It's a slightly new concept to Marvel's previous heroes. The team members haven't acquired their powers though freak accidents like gamma rays or radioactive spiders; they were born with powers. They are called mutants, a new genetic development in human evolution, kick-started by atomic power. In the early days of Marvel the arrival of mutants is always connected with atomic power, so no mutants were born before 1945. This is in contrast to the X-Men films, which show Magneto as a young boy with powers in the Warsaw Ghetto.

The comic begins with the X-Men consisting of four members: Cyclops, Angel, Beast and Iceman. After a few pages the fifth member arrives, Marvel Girl. I've decided to follow comic tradition and not consider Professor X a member of the X-Men, even though he frequently takes part in their battles. He's their mentor, not a costumed crime fighter.

There are two things that were different in the first few issues of X-Men.

Iceman looks like a snowman, not a block of ice.

Cyclops' name is Slim Summers. Slim is obviously a nickname, and we don't find out his real name for a few months.

There's no mention of Magneto's past history with Professor X. As the comics progress there are occasional hints.

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Fantastic Four #18

Title: A Skrull walks among us

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

Villain: Super-Skrull

We last saw the Skrulls in Fantastic Four #2. Now they return, although only one Skrull actually fights against the Fantastic Four. This is a warrior called the Super-Skrull. In addition to the usual Skrull ability of shape-changing he has all the powers of the Fantastic Four.

Like Fantastic Four #17, this story begins by referencing the previous issue's story in the first panel. Stan Lee is slowly building up momentum on his path to creating continued stories.

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Amazing Spider-Man #4

Title: Nothing can stop the Sandman

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko

Villain: Sandman

Regulars: Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson, Liz Allan

This comic introduces Sandman, who goes on to become one of Spider-Man's most frequent adversaries. This is also the comic in which we first find out the name of the blonde girl in Peter Parker's class: Liz Allan.

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Tales to Astonish #47

Title: Music to scream by

Writer: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart
Artist: Don Heck

Villain: Trago

A trumpet player called Trago learns how to play musical notes that hypnotise his listeners. While they are disabled he robs them.

This issue also contains three short anthology stories.

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Journey into Mystery #96

Title: Defying the Magic of Mad Merlin

Writer: Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein
Artist: Joe Sinnott

Regulars: Jane Foster, Loki

Villain: Merlin

The sarcophagus of Merlin, the legendary wizard in King Arthur's court, is sent to New York to be put on display. Merlin isn't dead. He's been lying asleep for the last 1000 years, waiting for the right time to return and conquer the world. We find out that he's not a magician at all, he's a "mutant" who was born with the powers of telekinesis and teleportation.

This villain, who Stan Lee claims is the original Merlin, isn't to be confused with later versions of Merlin invented in the post-canon years.

It's not a mistake that I've listed Loki as a regular character, not a villain. In this issue he doesn't threaten Thor. On the contrary, he offers assistance.

This issue also contains three short anthology stories.

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Tales of Suspense #45

Title: The Icy Fingers of Jack Frost

Writer: Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein
Artist: Don Heck

Villain: Jack Frost

Regulars: Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan

Jack Frost is Professor Shapanka, a disgruntled ex-employee of Tony Stark. He invents a suit with which he can freeze himself in a protective cocoon and freeze others around him in ice blocks.

More significantly, this issue marks the first appearance of Tony Stark's employees and friends, Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts. Happy is an ex-boxer that he hires as his chauffeur. Pepper has been working as Tony's private secretary for a while, but this is the first time we see her.

A typical Stan Lee love triangle develops. Happy immediately falls in love with Pepper, who isn't interested in him because she's in love with Tony Stark. She thinks Tony doesn't want her because he prefers beautiful debutantes to a plain girl like her, but Tony is only pretending to be a playboy Casanova to hide his secret identity; he doesn't want a serious relationship with anybody.

This issue also contains a short anthology story.

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Strange Tales #112

Title: The Threat of the Living Bomb

Writer: Stan Lee, Joe CarterArtist: Dick Ayers

Villains: Eel

Regulars: Susan Storm, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm

Guests: Wizard

The Human Torch battles a villain called the Eel who gets his powers from a suit he wears. As well as being slippery and unable to hold, he can discharge electricity like an electric eel.

We see the Wizard briefly in a prison cell.

This issue also contains two short anthology stories.

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Other comics published this month:

Millie the Model #116 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Modeling with Millie #25 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Patsy Walker #109 (Stan Lee, Al Hartley)
Kid Colt Outlaw #112 (Stan Lee, Jack Keller)
Two Gun Kid #65 (Stan Lee, Dick Ayers)
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #3 (Stan Lee, Jack Kirby)

Busty Cops (3 Stars)

I bought my first DVD player in 2003, but I didn't start writing my blog until September 2010. I bought quite a lot of films in that seven year gap. I've re-watched the best films since 2010, but recently I looked through my DVD collection and I noticed quite a lot of DVD cases that have been gathering dust for more than eight years. "Busty Cops" is one of them, so I took it off the shelf to watch again. I bought it on 25th May 2008 from Amazon for the whopping price of £2.97 along with a few other films directed by Jim Wynorski. I must have watched it immediately after buying it, but I couldn't remember it at all. Why should I have forgotten about a film featuring the beautiful girls on the DVD cover, apart from which I'm a big fan of Jim Wynorski?

Within ten minutes of watching the film it all came back to me. This is an erotic film which was made so poorly that I don't understand how it could ever have found its way to disc.

The film opens with a man and two women being killed in a hot tub by someone throwing in an electric toothbrush. Holy short circuits, Batman! If electric toothbrushes are that dangerous when they get wet I'll never put one in my mouth again. The three people were porn stars who worked for a director called Roman Fields. Three policewomen from the Busty Cop Division are sent as undercover agents posing as porn stars to replace the three women who had been killed. Wait! Didn't I say it was two women and a man? Yes, I did, but the policewomen haven't been briefed properly. They spend the rest of the film talking about the three dead women.

Their investigation skills are awe-inspiring. One by one they approach members of the film crew, flash their badges and say, "I'm an undercover busty cop. I want to ask you about the three dead women". Is that the right way to do undercover police work?

The breakthrough comes when they interview a talking llama who saw the murder being committed. It's not clear why a llama is needed in the house of a pornography director, and it's even less obvious why the llama was in the hot tub room with the three porn stars. Maybe I'm too innocent to understand things like that.

In the final shootout with the killer it looks like one of the busty cops has forgotten her gun. Never mind, she can still hold her hands out and pretend.

"Busty Cops" is supposed to be a comedy, but apart from the plot inconsistencies it's let down by the poor acting. The women in the film – not just the cops – frequently look at the camera. That might work as an alienation technique in a good film, but in this film it just looks like they don't know how to act.

If I were judging this film on the plot and acting alone I'd have to give it a rock bottom one star rating. However, I have to praise the girls for their good looks. They might not be able to act, but they look sexy when they take their clothes off. That earns the film a three star rating, but I can't go any higher. I don't know what went wrong with Jim Wynorski. He's made a lot of erotic films with sexy actresses, but in the other films the sexy actresses could at least act.

Jim doesn't make many erotic films nowadays. He's moved on to making low budget monster movies, mostly giant sharks. In a recent interview he said that people today would rather watch giant sharks than giant breasts.

What??? Who told him that? He never asked me for my opinion.

If you're interested in this film it's out of print now, and rightfully so. You might be able to find a pirate copy on the web, but don't tell anyone I suggested it. I don't approve.

The Clapper (3 Stars)

This film has two interwoven plots. It's a love story and a social commentary on the emptiness of television.

Eddie Krumble works in Los Angeles as a contract actor for infomercials. He's paid to sit in the audience and applaud when products are described. He gets a bonus payment if he stands up and asks a question about the product. A scripted question, of course. The whole infomercial industry is built around lies and false promises. In the film's first infomercial the presenter promises that people can buy luxurious homes with an acre of land without a down payment, and Eddie asks his question. Later Eddie sees the presenter outside the studio and asks him if he could really buy a house like that for himself. The presenter gets angry and tells Eddie he's only doing his job, and if Eddie doesn't leave him alone he'll hit him.

The audiences are all hired actors, but Eddie is over-used. A talk show host recognises Eddie's frequent appearances and starts a city-wide hunt to find the mysterious Clapper.

Billboards are posted all over the city calling on people to identify the Clapper so he can be invited on the show. Eddie goes underground. His job as an infomercial audience member is all he has, and he has to remain anonymous. The whole point of his job is to look like a random man off the street.

The love interest in his life is Judy, a girl who works a gas station, saving money so she can move to Mexico and get a job looking after sick animals. I thought people wanted to move in the opposite direction. I hope Donald Trump's wall won't keep her out.

Eddie is a simple man who enjoys simple pleasures. When he takes Judy out on a date they eat a hamburger. Does he really eat that many fries?

The film has some good ideas, but I don't consider it to be well made. The back story about Eddie's wife having died of cancer is unnecessary. It's intended to show that he has suffering in his life that means he's not as shallow as the person he portrays in the audience, but it's an unwelcome distraction.

The film's best feature is the opening credits sequence, in which Eddie is shown walking to work against a cartoon background. He's a real man in a shallow, two-dimensional world. This is very effective. Even before the film itself started I knew what the film's message would be.

Those are beautiful images, aren't they? Unfortunately, the film doesn't live up to its promise. I wasn't able to sympathise with Eddie and his plight. Usually I enjoy Amanda Seyfried as an actress, but her awkwardness as Judy was over-played and unrealistic. Most of all, the film wasn't funny enough. I think it would have been better if the humour had been cut altogether, making it a serious social commentary.