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Reviews
Murder by Death (1976)
Doesn't Add Up
I couldn't believe so many users gave this top kudos, so I came by to try to even the score a bit...I agree with the reviewer who reasoned that just because it is a Neil Simon play-turned-movie with a star-studded cast, this does not necessarily add up to a good movie, even for murder mystery enthusiasts who enjoy parody. Sure, we had a few laughs (mostly at the beginning) but out of the three of us watching tonight none of us liked it by the end. The over-the-top jokes were offensive and took away from any of the lighthearted humor Simon seemed to be trying for, and the plot didn't even remotely make sense, even for its genre. I would like to take a look at the play sometime to try to see 'whose fault it was', the writer or director. I'm sure it wasn't the actors' fault as I like most of them in other venues. It did make me want to watch a Charlie Chan movie though!, and also gave me a new respect for Peter Seller, who seemed to be the only one who could do something with his character.
Play the Game (2009)
We all hated it
By 'all' I mean me, hubby and our 23 year old son. There were some cute scenes though, like the grandson and his love interest in the Laundromat, and a few good lessons learned. And Andy Griffeth was wonderful as always, as was Doris Roberts. Now onto some of the problems...
I thought the grandfather's character was a rather sleazy role, not worthy of Griffeth. Not only that but it was unbelievable, and perhaps demeaning to older folk. Two octogenarians calling a movie a 'talkie'? My parents used that as a joke, but of course neither they or the older characters in this movie would even have been part of the silent movie era. Just an example. My son also kept looking at the protagonist and saying 'no one likes you!'. ;) He thought Griffeth carried a bad plot though, but I think the premise could have worked, if they could have toned down the sleaze a bit. Sorry, I'm an old fashioned gal. Definitely not Christian values though, despite what some of the characters may learn in the movie. But back to the younger generation. When they make a main character too unlikable, it's hard for us to even want him to 'get the girl'. We really wanted to see if Griffeth 'got his girl' though--you can't make Griffeth unlikable, really--so we skipped a bunch of the movie and tuned in at the end. The general consensus was that we should have done that sooner.