Seeking a friend for the end of the world.

If you love Steve Carell and you love to laugh, this is not the film for you. Seeking a Friend is presented as an apocalyptic tale with a comedic spin. Sure, it had its moments of quirkiness and I even felt a grin creep across my face but only once did I hear the audience laugh…out loud.

The movie opens with a radio broadcast announcing the end of the world is coming in 21 days. There isn’t a solid back story to why this is occurring, it just is. Madness ensues immediately. Middle aged Dodge (Steve Carell) finds himself alone and full of regret. His mission: find the girl who got away many years ago. Instead he stumbles upon the beautiful and sassy Penny (Keira Knightly) who has been living beside him all along. Insert cliché line about how what you want most was always right in front of you. Penny wanted to spend her last days overseas and even boards a plane, but click those red shoes and BAM: that’s the moral of the story.

What seems like a good idea for a movie just never quite took off. The film had heart and sincerity but it was lacking in many other things including believability. I bought into the whole end of the world thing but it’s the simpler things that ended up being the most far fetched. Steve Carell and Keira Knightly…need I really elaborate?

It’s the end of the world, where is Bruce Willis when you need him?

What did YOU think? Tweet me @brookewhoo

-PEANUT BUTTER

Several didn’t get the memo that this was a musical and about 5 or 6 left the theater right away.

With that said, I’m not a huge fan of musicals but it kept my attention throughout the movie. It was a slow start (until almost half way through) but once familiar songs started kicking in, I became more interested. Def Leppard, Journey, Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Twisted Sister and Poison are some of the fantastic songs the characters sing and live out their life challenges throughout the movie.

A small town girl Sherrie (Julianne Hough) meets a city boy named Drew (Diego Boneta) as they both try to pursue their dreams in Hollywood. Tom Cruise (Stacee Jaxx) plays the role of a drunk rock God, that lives in his own world. Alec Baldwwin and Russell Brand ran the Bourbon where every rocker gets their start. I was not a fan of Baldwin’s character, not his best work to me. No ones best work to be honest.

I will say this film helps Julianne Hough shine and puts Diego on the map. As far as Tom Cruise being nearly 50, he looked amazing and played the roll of Stacee Jaxx very well. Julianne Hough became sexier towards the end of the movie. I’m sure several women leaned over to their man to ask if he was “looking at her”. Mary J. Blige had a small roll running a strip club.

I’d give this a 4 out of 10 probably. If you’re a fan of Glee and/or musicals I would absolutely go and see it. If you’re not use to seeing people bust out into dance and song at any given moment, it may not be the best choice for you. I’d rent it on DVD.

XO, Erica DeLong

That’s My Boy is a comedy starring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg and Leighton Meester. The plot of the movie revolves around Donny Berger (Adam Sandler), a 13 year boy who knocks up his teacher. The teacher is sent to prison leaving Donnie Berger all alone to raise a child (Andy Samberg).

Sandler usually does PG-13 movies and this time he stepped it up to a R rated film. I think that’s what helped make this one of Adam Sandler’s better films. There are some good laughs throughout. Definitely worth making a trip to theater to make a date night out of it (or trip with the girls/guys), but not a movie you’ll be talking about all summer. Leighton Meester was beautiful though I wasn’t a fan of her character. The Vanilla Ice cameo was a fun flashback too!

The guests that attended with me also gave “That’s My Boy” two thumbs up. I’d give this movie a 6.5 out of 10.

XO, Erica DeLong