Here to take a look at the films coming out in wide and limited release this coming weekend. I’ll give you my thoughts to help you decide what’s worth checking out.
- Mother’s Day – An interweaving tale of women’s experiences on Mother’s Day.
Directed by Garry Marshall (New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day)
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts
I bet the producers of this movie were pretty darn mad when they saw Civil War was opening on Mother’s Day weekend. Since no one wants to go up against that Marvel beast this instead opens a weekend early. This might be a slow one, so maybe it won’t be so bad, but I can’t see multitudes of movie watchers showing up to such a themed movie the weekend before they would rightfully care to see it. Of all these themed movies this clearly seems like the silliest with not too much wiggle room with where to take stories. They are going to have weird connections between characters that bring it all together, but it’s not like it can really be done in a surprising or fresh way. This doesn’t seem worth checking out unless you were a huge fan of the previous holiday movies or are just out of ideas to treat your mom (to be fair moms might eat this up). - Keanu – Two friends; beloved cat must be rescued from a street gang. Yeah!
Directed by Peter Atencio (Key & Peele)
Starring Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Tiffany Haddish
Key & Peele, you so crazy. This is such a weird, hilarious idea that it’s hard not to be charmed by it. Those guys are obviously gifted at comedy as we’ve seen on their sadly short-lived sketch show so it will be interesting to see where their careers go from here. I’m really hoping this is a hit for them. I could see it getting rough if it was a dynamite idea for a sketch but ultimately gets too thin for an entire movie, but I’m definitely interested in seeing how it plays out. The concept of the cat being involved in this gang plot is ridiculous enough but adding in the cat’s being named after Keanu Reeves is just the right extra dose of funny.
- Term Life – A man attempts to evade hitmen long enough that his daughter can cash in on his life insurance policy.
Directed by Peter Billingsley (Couples Retreat)
Starring Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Hailee Steinfeld, Jonathan Banks
Woof! Vince, what’s with that wig? This really looks like a spoof of the Liam Neeson genre, but it’s completely sincere. It also has a plot that feels strikingly similar to the Kevin Costner movie 3 Days to Kill. It would actually be amazing if this secretly was a spoof the whole time and the trailer just made it look serious. I’d be all about that, but as it is this looks not only forgettable but probably one of the weaker Taken knock offs of the past few years. I was one of those that was totally on board with Vaughn in True Detective so I’m here for a career comeback with some more serious roles (for the millionth time go watch him in Clay Pigeons), but this is just another shitty feather in his cap.
Now in limited theaters and VOD. - Special Correspondents – A radio journalist and technician stage their own kidnapping to get out of work.
Directed by Ricky Gervais (The Invention of Lying)
Starring Ricky Gervais, Vera Farmiga, Eric Bana, America Ferrera
Netflix’s foray into movies continues with their pre-established creative partner Ricky Gervais (anyone watch Derek? how is that?). It’s going to be interesting to see how well this movie release structure works. I’m not sure if original movies are really going to be the big draw for subscriptions. This movie looks fairly funny and the premise is fun, but it’s also not a must see in the least. Let me workshop this in 2 seconds and make it a must see – Ricky as the correspondent and Karl Pilkington as his technician. Done! It’s a hit!
Premiering on Netflix on April 29.
