Isn't it romantic? (5 Stars)

When I first reviewed "Isn't it romantic?" in 2019 I said that it was a Netflix original film and would probably not be released on disc. Fortunately, I was wrong. It took a few years, but now it's available on Blu-Ray in the USA. Click on the image above if you don't believe me. It's region free, as all Blu-Rays should be, so you can play it anywhere.

It's a bright, self-aware romantic comedy that plays like both a parody and a celebration of the genre it mocks. Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson and starring Rebel Wilson, the film follows a cynical New Yorker who wakes up trapped inside a glossy romcom fantasy world after a head injury.

What makes it work is its willingness to lean into the clichés it's satirising; sweeping musical numbers, impossibly attractive love interests and picture-perfect cityscapes are all pushed to absurd extremes. Wilson carries the film with sharp comic timing, while Liam Hemsworth and Adam DeVine knowingly play into archetypes of the genre.

It doesn't completely escape the conventions it pokes fun at, and its message about self-love is delivered a little too neatly, but that's arguably part of the joke. Light, fast-paced and intermittently clever, it's an enjoyable riff on romantic comedy tropes rather than a full reinvention of them.

Success Rate:  - 0.4

Grimsby (4½ Stars)

I didn't know what film to watch with my son Benjamin today. A friend of his suggested "The Spy and his Brother". I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Then he told me it starred Sacha Baron Cohen, and it clicked. That's the German title of the film "Grimsby". I don't like film titles being changed in other countries, but in this case I can understand it. To an English person, the word Grimsby immediately conjures up an ugly town in northern England. To a German it's just a weird word that would send him running to Google.

Yes, the film is about a spy and his brother. Sebastian (Mark Strong) is a talented spy who works for MI6. His brother Nobby (Sacha Baron Cohen) is an uncouth layabout with eleven children. They meet after being separated for 28 years. Nobby wants to hold on to his brother, but Sebastian considers him an annoyance. The two brothers couldn't be more different, and the two actors play their roles to emphasise the differences. Sacha Baron Cohen is an eccentric comedian, as in every role he plays, whereas Mark Strong plays his role with deadly earnest, not even smiling.

And the film stars Rebel Wilson as Nobby's wife!

Watching it again today, I really wanted to give the film five stars. I couldn't. I was disgusted by the elephant sex scenes. I had a secluded upbringing. I never saw anything like that, and now I'm too old to get used to it. A typical male elephant has a 36 inch penis when erect. The very thought makes me shudder, without having to witness it close up.

Success Rate:  - 1.4

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Isn't it romantic? (5 Stars)

Netflix Thursday #39

Wouldn't it be terrific to live in an alternate universe that follows the rules of romantic comedies? The first thing I'd do is look for Rebel Wilson and sweep her off my feet. The only problem is that it's a PG-13 universe, so no sex is allowed. There's always a catch.

I should watch more romantic comedies, or romcoms, as they're usually called. Maybe I can do a romcom marathon later this year, starting with "Sweet Home Alabama", a film that I haven't watched for 13 years. Shame on me!

Success Rate:  - 0.4

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Jojo Rabbit (5 Stars)

"Jojo Rabbit" is such an evil film that I'm surprised it was ever made. It's a comedy, but so much of it is a portrayal of things that really happened. You need to have a twisted sense of humour to enjoy what's shown. That explains why I like it so much, but it doesn't explain the film's huge box office success.

Johannes Betzler, nicknamed Jojo, is a 10-year-old boy who lives in Germany during the Second World War. Based on the events, it probably starts in autumn 1944 and continues into May 1945. As a blue-eyed Aryan boy he loves the Führer. He's a member of the Hitler Youth and loves going to their outdoor camps. It's just like the boy scouts, except that the boys shout "Heil Hitler".

Another difference is that there are girls at the camps. Jojo is at the age where he's beginning to tell the difference.

One... two... three... all together now! "Heil Hitler!"

Jojo sits next to his best friend Yorki, who doesn't look quite as Aryan. Don't worry about it. Hitler didn't look Aryan either. But what are they listening to so attentively?

The beautiful Fräulein Rahm is showing the children what a Jew looks like. On another occasion she tells the girls that she's had 18 children for Germany. And yet she's still a Fräulein, not a Frau? I wonder if the children were from 18 different men.

Before the children go to bed, they indulge in exciting activities like burning books.

Then comes Jojo's big test of manhood. He's told to pretend that a rabbit is a Jew and snap its neck. He can't do it. Everyone has his limits. He lets the rabbit go, and everyone laughs at him. The camp leaders give him the name Jojo Rabbit, and it sticks.

But there's one thing that makes Jojo special: he has an imaginary friend. It's not just any imaginary friend, it's Adolf Hitler himself. Adolf appears to him and gives him advice on how to be a good Nazi.

I've been told that it's common for young children to have an imaginary friend. It's not a mental illness, it's a normal part of growing up. I can't relate to this, because I personally never had an imaginary friend. Is it normal to speak aloud to the friend, as Jojo does? I don't know. It's something I need to read about.

Jojo's world falls apart when he finds out that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in the house. She looks nothing like the Jews described by Fräulein Rahm. She doesn't have horns or fangs. Jojo falls in love with her. His friend Adolf is furious, telling Jojo that Jews have the power to mesmerise their victims.

"Jojo Rabbit" is a comedy. It's a coming-of-age drama. But it's also a picture of what life was like in Nazi Germany. What would I have been like? Would I have been a Nazi? Probably. I've never had to live in a country where I'm subject to propaganda every day. Only a beautiful Jewess could change my ways.

It wasn't just about the society. Hitler himself was overwhelming. Ernst Hanfstaengl said of him, "What Hitler was able to do to a crowd in 2½ hours will never be repeated in 10,000 years. Because of his miraculous throat construction, he was able to create a rhapsody of hysteria". There have been many populists over the centuries, but none as powerful as Adolf Hitler.

Let this scene from the film be a stark warning of the dangers of a Nazi ideology. "Never again!" That's what people say. And yet Russia has become a Fascist country, led by a dictator called Vladimir Putin. He holds speeches against the Nazis in order to hide the fact that he's one himself. He's brainwashed his people to believe that he's only invaded Ukraine to protect Russia from NATO. When we hear them giving interviews they sound stupid, but don't be so fast to criticise them. If I lived in Russia and were subjected to Fascist propaganda 24 hours a day, would I be any different to them? I hope I would, but I can't guarantee it.

Success Rate:  + 4.5

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Jojo Rabbit (5 Stars)

Disney Wednesday #18

After watching "Jojo Rabbit" on Disney Plus today, I have two questions:

1. Why haven't I watched it since 2020?

2. Why isn't it in my top 100 films list?

I'll watch it again soon and decide where it deserves to be in my list. But please don't hold your breath while you're waiting?

Success Rate:  + 4.5

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Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (4 Stars)

This is a film that tidily completes the Night At The Museum trilogy. There should never have been a fourth film, even though the final scene leaves it open. Barely. And yet a fourth film was made last year as a Disney Plus exclusive. It's not even a live action film, it's an animated film. I swore I wouldn't watch it, but my grandson Oliver has found out about it, and he wants to watch it. So I'll have to grit my teeth and put up with it. It might be good, but somehow I doubt it.

The best scene in "Secret of the Tomb" is a fight between Sir Lancelot, Theodore Roosevelt and Larry Daley inside an M. C. Escher painting. It only lasts a minute, unfortunately. The fight could have lasted an hour, and it would never have got boring.

Success Rate:  + 0.9

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Isn't it romantic? (5 Stars)

Netflix Thursday #8

Rebel Wilson plays Natalie, an Australian woman working as an architect in New York. She's good at her job, but when it comes to love she's cynical. In romantic comedies the girl always gets the handsome guy, but that's just fantasy. Natalie sees herself as a fat girl who'll never get a man.

Natalie is mugged in a subway station and is knocked unconscious. She wakes up to find herself in an alternate reality. To be more precise, she's now living in a romantic comedy. She's surrounded by handsome men who all find her attractive. She has a gay best friend who lives to serve her. Best of all, an attractive Australian billionaire is in love with her.

Everything in the world follows the rules of romantic comedies, including some amusing little details. Romantic music plays at appropriate moments. She hears voiceovers telling her what to do next. When she swears her words are beeped out, because romantic comedies are PG-13. One other amusing but less pleasant detail is that sex scenes are skipped over. What I mean is that when she has sex she immediately wakes up in the morning and doesn't remember anything that happened. Romantic love in a world without sex? Is that a place she wants to live?

Natalie also begins to question whether she's with the right man, just because he's a billionaire and is insanely handsome. Maybe she would be happier with an average man who's closer to her level. That's also an issue in romantic comedies. Romcoms tell stories of women who have to struggle to find the right man.

Natalie is already tired of the Romantiverse, as I like to call it, but she sees no way of returning to the real world. Maybe it's not right to call her old life the real world as if the Romantiverse were fake. It's just as real as the alternate universe in "Pleasantville". Her only chance of happiness is by obeying the rules of romantic comedies.

This is an underrated masterpiece. It might seem like a shallow film, but that's only because it's parodying the shallowness of romantic comedies. There are messages to be taken from the film. Watch it for yourself. It's a film that has something for everyone, whether you want to enjoy a comedy or concentrate on the film's serious aspects.

Success Rate:  - 0.4

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Senior Year (3½ Stars)

Netflix Thursday #7

First I'd like to answer a question that one of my Facebook friends asked me last week. She asked me if I've really only ever watched six films on Netflix. The answer is No. I've been a Netflix subscriber, on and off, for about seven years. I watched many series and films in this time. I also subscribe to Amazon Prime Video, and more recently I've been sharing my son's Disney Plus account. The problem is that over the last couple of years my use of streaming services has become so sporadic that I've been asking myself whether I should cancel my subscriptions. To counter this I started an Amazon Friday feature in May 2021 to encourage myself to watch films online at least once a week. I added Disney Wednesday and Netflix Thursday features later in the year. As a group, I call them my DNA days. I haven't kept up the DNA days on a regular basis, but I always consider films every week on these days.

What I can tell you for certainty is that I've only watched seven films on Netflix (including "Senior Year") since May last year. The number will crawl upwards, but the emphasis is on the word crawl. The DNA posts are useful for me personally to check how much I've been using the three streaming services. My posts are often for myself as much as for others.

Rant over. Now to the film.

Stephanie Conway is one of the most popular girls in school. She's captain of the cheerleader team, she's dating the school's most handsome boy and she's favourite to become the prom queen. Fate strikes. She has an accident in a cheerleader routine that puts her in a coma. She doesn't wake up for 20 years.

After her amusing refusal to believe that her body has changed (Angourie Rice has morphed into Rebel Wilson), she decides to return to high school to continue where she left off. No, it's not about completing her education. She wants to become the prom queen. Does a 37-year-old woman stand a chance in a school full of teenagers?

Things have changed while she was away. Her best female friend is now the school principal. Her best male friend is now the school librarian. Her former boyfriend has now married her main rival for popularity, and their daughter is in her class. But the biggest problem is the attitude changes.

There's no longer a prom king or queen. The idea is that it's depressing for the losers, so nobody should be allowed to win. The cheerleader team is now boring, because sexually provocative dances have been banned. Stephanie takes over the cheerleader team and brings things back to the way they were. The re-institution of the prom queen contest is a more difficult matter.

Rebel Wilson's weight loss has been reported a lot recently. She's reduced her weight from 105 Kg (230 pounds) to 75 Kg (165 pounds). I congratulate her, even though I found her attractive when she was bigger. My problem is that she doesn't fit into the film with her new slim self. If she'd still been her former self, there would have been more opportunity for humour. To say the least, it would have been a very different film. She couldn't have performed the athletic cheerleader stunts in the final scenes.

Many women feel betrayed by Rebel Wilson. She was a big woman who accepted her size and showed that big women can be beautiful. Now she's lost weight drastically, as if she never accepted herself. I can't comment on her motives. All I can say from the viewpoint of a man is that I found her beautiful before and I still find her beautiful now.

17-year-old Stephanie goes to school (Angourie Rice).

37-year-old Stephanie goes to school (Rebel Wilson).

I'd take her to the prom. Wouldn't you?

"Senior Year" was made by Netflix, so it isn't available on disc. It isn't as great as her last Netflix film, "Isn't it romantic?" It starts very slowly, but it gets better towards the end. It isn't as funny as it would have been before Rebel's weight loss. Maybe that was her motive. Maybe she didn't want people to laugh at her any more. I may have laughed at Rebel's films, but I never laughed at Rebel the woman. Instead of humour there's a serious message that it's more important to study than to become the prom queen. Do we really need to be told that?

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (4 Stars)

This is the third and final film in the Night At The Museum trilogy. It was made five years after the second film, and it brings the series to a close. Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) quits his job as night guard at the American Museum of Natural History and is replaced by Tilly (Rebel Wilson).

The film also offers closure in a sadder way. This is the last film made by the great Robin Williams before his suicide. He died after making the film but before it was released, so there's a brief dedication to him at the end.

The three films build a single piece of work, so I strongly advise that you watch them back to back in order. I almost watched them back to back, over a two month period, so I enjoyed them more than I did when I watched them in the past, not even in the correct order.

This is the film where Ben Stiller gets to kiss a monkey. Is that allowed on screen?

He's closing his eyes to lose himself in the passion.

Ben Stiller plays a second role as a Neanderthal called Laaa. This leads to him groping Rebel Wilson's chest. All men are animals, even if they don't show it in public. I'd like to grope Rebel Wilson as well, but I'm too much of a gentleman to give in to my urges.

You can read Rebel Wilson's mind. "That was disgusting! If I'd known what was expected of me I would have asked for more money!"

I've heard rumours that a fourth film is planned. Please don't do it. Leave it as it is.

Success Rate:  + 0.9

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Jojo Rabbit (5 Stars)

This is the fourth film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

Johannes Betzler, nicknamed Jojo, is a 10-year-old boy living in Germany in the final months of the Second World War. He's a proud member of the Hitler Youth, and he wants to impress everyone, despite being awkward and shy. He has an imaginary friend called Adolf Hitler, who encourages him to try harder to be a good Nazi.

Things are complicated when Jojo discovers a Jewish girl called Elsa hidden in his house's wall by his mother. His Hitler friend tells him to denounce her, but he's attracted to her. She's nowhere near as ugly as the Jews in his picture books, who have horns and tails.

The film is hilarious. It's brilliant satire. Towards the end it becomes more serious, but that's to be expected in an anti-war satire. I hope to see it again soon.

Grimsby (4½ Stars)

Sadly, the scene shown above with Gabourey Sidibe and a herd of elephants was cut from the film. As far as I know, it was in the version that was shown to pre-release test audiences, but it was removed from the theatrical release, and even on the Blu-ray it's only included as one of the deleted scenes. I'd like to see it in the film, because it's a very emotional scene, but maybe that's the reason it was cut. The scene might not have been considered funny enough. Or maybe it was considered too offensive that Gabourey was yelling "I dream of Grimsby" while an elephant was taking a shit behind her.

Maybe this picture would look better as an animated GIF. That's a treat I can prepare for my readers the next time I watch "Grimsby".

Here's some elephant porn, in case any of my readers get off on things like that.

Today is the first time I've watched the film since seeing it in the cinema four years ago. I'd forgotten just how funny it is. I was sitting in my room laughing out loud. As I remember, in the cinema I felt disgusted by the scene where Mark Strong was being gang banged by elephants, but even that scene made me laugh today. And the answer is No, I'm not going to publish any pictures of it. You need to watch the scene for yourself. It's beyond good and evil.

The film's glamour is provided by Rebel Wilson. She's a woman with class. In an interview she said that Sacha Baron Cohen rang her personally to ask her to play his wife in the film. He said they would have to have sex first to see if they're compatible. That probably never happened, because Sacha's real life wife, Isla Fisher, also appears in the film. She has to watch him carefully when women like Rebel are involved. I'd be tempted as well.

"Back off, Isla, I'm gonna take your man!"

Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Strong are the perfect comedy double. Sacha is the funny man while Mark is the straight guy. I admit that Mark doesn't look so serious in this screenshot, but come on, it's football! Football fans can paint their faces and still remain serious!

There's a much publicised nude scene with Rebel Wilson – she runs naked across a football pitch – but don't get too excited. It's not her. A body double is used in the scene. So there's another woman with a body like Rebel Wilson? I want to meet her.

"Grimsby" unashamedly plagiarises other films, such as "Hardcore Henry" and "Kingsman", but that doesn't detract from the quality in the least. The action sequences serve as the perfect contrast to the comedy.

Here are a few more photos of Rebel Wilson to make my readers happy.

P. S. The last photo isn't Rebel Wilson.

When I see pictures like this I wish I'd become a film star. But then I remember that Sacha's wife is watching, so he has to remain calm and think about football. And if I were unlucky, I'd be gang banged by elephants as well. No, I'm glad I was never a film star.

Success Rate:  - 1.4

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