For Mother's Day, we get a look at three movies that don't exactly scream "Hey mom, we love you!" Ryan Reynolds is back as the Merc with the Mouth, an elderly book club gets into BDSM, and some dogs start talking. Let's take a look at Deadpool 2, Book Club and Show Dogs.
Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at what This Rotten Week has to offer.
He's back! Last we left Wade Wilson, he'd reunited with his gal and had come to grips with the whole "f@#$ed up facial scars and indestructible genetic mutation" piece of his life. The original Deadpool movie was a monster hit with both the critics (83%) and the box office ($330 million). Now Deadpool is tasked with fighting Cable (Josh Brolin who's having a hell of a month after getting the Infinity Stones all wrangled up in Avengers: Infinity War). Cable isn't a standard villain in that he and Deadpool do team up in the comics. It'll be interesting to see how that dynamic plays out on screen. Plus, we get the introduction to X-Force, an offshoot of the X-Men. There's a lot going on here and it looks like a worthy follow up.
Deadpool director Tim Miller was signed on for the sequel but left after having creative differences with the rest of the team. David Leitch took over and he's had some success in this realm. He co-directed John Wick (86%) and helmed Atomic Blonde (77%). The original Deadpool worked so well because it went for the R-rated take on the superhero flick with both the blood and the humor. It wasn't made for kids, and this latest looks to follow the same path. It will be interesting to see if they can replicate much of what made the first successful. Namely, using Reynolds' snarky line delivery along with little-to-no filters to bring the action and laughs to life. From the trailer, I think they get most of the way there, but I don't suspect it finishes as high with the critics the second time around.
What happens when four aging women get together and read Fifty Shades of Grey for their monthly book club? Your answer might be, "Who cares?" But this film posits something else. Namely, we get to see four name actresses explore the world of dating and sex in a way that will appeal to a very small group of moviegoers.
I'm not in this movie's demographic (by a long shot), so it's hard to say exactly how critics will receive the film. On the one hand, the cast is excellent, with Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen as the core group of readers and a bunch of notable male actors rounding out as the love interests. On the other hand, the film looks so unbelievably dumb that I don't think the talent can make up for the story. There wasn't a single laugh in the entire two-minute trailer, and that's typically a bad sign for a film labeled as a comedy. Again, maybe because I'm not the target viewer, others will view it differently. But I'd be shocked if this finished over 50%.
I'd like to tell you I was able to make it all the way through the trailer for this film. But that would be a lie. I got around 40 seconds in and had seen everything I needed. A film that was likely pitched as "Miss Congeniality, but with talking dogs! It's a can't miss!" Show Dogs takes us to the high stakes world of professional dog shows. Not in a creative/ funny way like Best in Show, but rather by pandering to the lowest comedic denominator in an effort to get kids (and unfortunately their parents) into theaters.
Raja Gosnell directs, and if his previous work is any indication, this latest is going to be pretty bad. Gosnell helmed such films as Smurfs (22%), Smurfs 2 _(13%), _Yours, Mine and Ours (6%), Scooby Doo (30%), Scooby Doo 2 (22%), and Big Momma's House (30%). From a critical perspective, that's a real rough 18-year run of movies. My prediction is actually just the average score of his last six films. That seemed like as good a place as any to start in figuring this one out.
Recapping last week:
We went two-for-two with the Rotten Watch last time around with both movies just scraping into within ten percent of their predictions. Life of the Party (Predicted: 31% Actual: 41%) underwhelmed with critics, though the score did trend a little higher than I expected. What saved the movie (in some critics' eyes) was Melissa McCarthy's performance. Those who came in on the positive side cited her ability to overcome a weak script and obvious jokes. These reviews were the minority of course but spoke to why the score actually got close to the halfway mark.
Meanwhile, Breaking In (Predicted: 37% Actual: 27%) was bad, as expected. I probably should have gone a bit lower with my prediction considering the tone of my write up. This movie looked just so silly and very much like something we've seen over and over again at the theaters. Panic Room did it well, most other flicks fail to produce on the "trapped in a house with burglars" motif. This one didn't get there and I suspect most people forget the movie was ever made by week's end.
Next time around we've got Solo: A Star Wars Story. It's gonna be a Rotten Week!
