Josh Schwartz

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Endless Love Review


Bad

This remake strips away everything that made the 1981 Brooke Shields romance so scandalous. Re-designed for 12-year-old girls, this version of Scott Spencer's novel plays like a dreamy Nicholas Sparks-style fantasy. There's no sense of urgency or danger, and not a single whiff of actual love, despite a lot of heaving sighs and longing glances. Everything on-screen feels like a predictable cliche yearning to pull our heartstrings, but these tricks only work on young teens who haven't seen many movies.

The story centres on good-guy David (Pettyfer), raised by his working-class single dad (Patrick). At his high school graduation, David finally gets up the nerve to talk to the class wallflower, beautiful rich girl Jade (Wilde), who is still grieving over the death of her big brother. There's a spark between them, but Jade's harsh dad (Greenwood) dismisses David as unworthy, then sets out to crush their blossoming romance. Jade's mother (Richardson) and brother (Wakefield) are more supportive, but Dad is so determined to get David out of Jade's life that he inadvertently pushes them even closer together. Surely a happy ending is out of the question.

Only of course it isn't, because we can see that this film doesn't have the nerve to get very dark. Filmmaker Feste only toys around with the nasty side of the story. She can't even let Greenwood play a properly conflicted man; he's essentially bipolar, veering wildly from understanding to maniacal in his reaction to the relentlessly lovely David. Pettyfer's one-note performance merely reminds us of Channing Tatum, but at least he registers on-screen, unlike the vaguely beautiful Wilde. The only performers allowed any complexity are Richardson and Patrick.

Continue reading: Endless Love Review

Fun Size Review


Bad

You know you're in trouble when a madcap comedy is unable to even raise a smile. And it's worse when it strains to include a sentimentally emotional subplot without grounding anything in believable characters or situations. All that's left is a lot of corny toilet humour and eye-rollingly limp schmaltz. Even a decent cast can't rescue this one.

It all happens on one Halloween night in Ohio, when brainy 18-year-old Wren (Justice) and her oversexed pal April (Levy) plan to attend the party of the year hosted by the school hottie. But Wren's mother (Handler) runs off to her own party, leaving Wren in charge of her mischievous 8-year-old brother Albert (Nicoll), who hasn't spoken a word since their father died a year earlier. And Albert quickly ditches Wren, running off for an adventure with a lovelorn convenience store employee (Middleditch). To find him, Wren gets help from the nerdy Roosevelt (Mann), who has a crush on her.

The premise has potential, blending Adventures in Babysitting and Home Alone along with a bit of emotional subtext. But the screenwriters never make anything of it, instead indulging in startlingly unfunny slapstick, jokes about paedophilia and a sappy streak of half-baked sentiment. All of which means that the filmmakers waste their solid cast at every turn. Justice and Levy make an enjoyable if unlikely duo, while Nicholl is full of unpredictable energy. But the filmmakers manage to subdue the usually irrepressible Handler in a badly underdeveloped role that's still the most interesting thing in the film.

Continue reading: Fun Size Review

Fun Size Trailer


Popular high school chicks Wren and April can't believe their luck when they are invited to long-haired heartthrob Aaron Riley's much anticipated Halloween party. It appears Wren's only problem is to work out what her costume's going to be; that is until she's about to leave the house and her mother drops the bombshell that she's to babysit for her eccentric younger brother Albert while he goes Trick-or-Treating dressed as Spider Man. As if things weren't bad enough, while Wren and April are moping about missing the party, Albert disappears on his own. Anxious that her mother will find out she's been neglecting her responsibilities, Wren and April set out on a frantic search for Albert; who is being used an accessory by a man who has set out to avenge a broken heart; whilst swindling 'nerds' and suffering public humiliation along the way.

Continue: Fun Size Trailer

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Josh Schwartz Movies

Endless Love Movie Review

Endless Love Movie Review

This remake strips away everything that made the 1981 Brooke Shields romance so scandalous. Re-designed...

Fun Size Movie Review

Fun Size Movie Review

You know you're in trouble when a madcap comedy is unable to even raise a...

Fun Size Trailer

Fun Size Trailer

Popular high school chicks Wren and April can't believe their luck when they are invited...

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