Is that a catchphrase? Or epilepsy?

I saw a couple of newish comedies this weekend. Thanks to American Eagle's "try a pair of jeans, see a movie for free" promo, we went to see Talladega Nights last night. It's written by the guys who wrote Anchorman, directed by the guy that directed Anchorman, starring the guy that starred in Anchorman and was produced by the guy that produced Anchorman. That's a whole lot of uses of the same word. It should give you a pretty good idea of what the movie's like.

Now, I can understand why people hate this kind of film - the plot is thin, almost nonexistant, and essentially, it's just a series of one-liners and a few cameos. If you don't think it's funny to see an man saying "Shut up boy, or I'll put you in the microwave" to his grandchild, then fair enough. Unfortunately, I do still find that very funny, and so I enjoyed the film horrendously. There's a lot of joy in seeing John C. Reilly screaming "That's egrarious!" Also, the film has - count 'em! - one people who went to the same high school as me, a silly cameo from Mos Def and Elvis Costello, and the line "If you don't eat Big Red chewing gum, then fuck you." Dumb as three planks of wood, for sure, but at least six percent more fun. Only gripe is that (Academy Award nominee) Amy Adams was barely in it, and her character was pretty useless.

Also, as a footnote, they played a trailer for 'Employee of the Month', which, like the internet one, doesn't look very funny, but this one had 'Good Weekend' by Art Brut playing at the start, which I'm sure only I yelled out loud.

Also, lady and I watched 'Clerks 2' because, well, it's there. I think that being really hardcore into Kevin Smith's earlier films is more of an American thing. To me, they've always been good enough, but with the exception of 'Dogma', nothing has really stood out. 'Clerks 2' features liberal use of the word 'porch-monkey', rooftop dancing, Lord of the Rings, and the usual mix of lowbrow conversation, Randall Graves being Randall Graves, Jay and Silent Bob and Jason Lee being funny for one minute. I lasted longer than Joel Siegel with this film, but I don't think I'd ever see it again. If you like bestia inter-species erotica, check it out. Otherwise, Nascar it up with this guy.