Bernie

Rating: 9
Genre: Adult Comedy
Starring: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughy

Just when it appeared Hollywood was no longer interested in making comedies for adults, this one shows up. "Bernie" is an intriguing story with interesting characters. The residents of Carthage, Texas, who keep up a steady series of testimonials to Bernie (Black) claim he is the best thing that ever happened to their town. As assistant funeral director, he sings at church, directs the local dramas, and promotes civic activities.

When the meanest woman in town (MacLaine) loses her wealthy husband, Bernie manages to win her over and pry loose much of her money. Did he use her for money for the benefit of the town, or his own? Her domineering presence soon becomes too much for Bernie and he murders her. The murder trial has to be moved to another town because the people of Carthage were unlikely to convict him. Even the trial has its humorous touches in the portrayal of the panel of jurors.

The MatineeIdle has attended only two other movies in the past six weeks and neither was worth writing up - "Deep Blue Sea" (4) and "Cabin in the Woods" (2) Re-runs of old movies on television are preferable to these bummers.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Rating: 7
Genre: Adult Drama/Comedy
Starring: Jason Segal, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer


This movie is one day in the lives of Segal, playing a 30-year-old stoner living in his mother's basement, Helms as his unlikeable brother, and Sarandon as the office-worker mother experiencing her own frustrations. Some comedic moments are set into what becomes a story of meaningful relationships. The final ten minutes are interesting and a bit surprising.

Casa de mi Padres

Rating: 7
Genre: Adult Comedy
Starring: Will Farrell, Genesis Rodriguez, Diego Luna


Farrell, speaking in Spanish, dead-pans his way through this parody of Mexican cinema. With a wink at the audience, we've got the elements of some heavy melodrama starting with Farrell as the dim-witted son of a rancher: a second son favored by the father over Farrell, a beautiful senorita, love making in a river, an ruthless drug lord, and numerous bullet-riddled bodies. 


It's all good fun. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Friends with Kids

Rating: 6
Genre: Adult Comedy & Drama
Starring: Jennifer Westfeldt, Adam Scott, Ed Burns, Megan Fox, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, Jon Hamm


Jason and Julie (Scott & Westfeldt) are best friends since college. They observe how doing things the traditional way (that is, getting married and raising kids in a family setting) doesn't seem to be making their close friends blissfully happy. So, they plan a different path.


They have a baby, split the time with the offspring evenly, and enjoy the freedom to date others while remaining unmarried. They eventually learn that traditions often contain the seeds of validity and breaking away can produce unintended consequences. The cast is a strong one and the move has some worthwhile humor.

Thin Ice

Rating: 6
Genre: Adult Drama
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup, Lea Thompson


Kinnear is a cunning insurance salesman. Arkin is a shuffling old farmer who owns a valuable violin. Crudup is an alarm system installer with a criminal background. These three, and a few other miscreants intersect in a convoluted scam that makes you wonder who is doing what to whom. 


My best advice is don't try to figure out the multiple twists and turns of movie and just relax and enjoy the odd assortment of characters

The Vow

Rating: 7
Genre: Adult Drama (aka "Chick Flick")
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Jessica Lange, Sam Neill

McAdams and Tatum fall in love, marry, and seem destined to live happily every after. then on the way home one night, a truck smashes into their car. Fortunately, both recover, except for one thing: She doesn't remember anything about their courtship and marriage. He tries hard to help her regain her memory, but nothing works. The intervention of her mother and father makes his life more difficult. So after all else fails, he is determined to start all over and make her fall in love with him again. The movie doesn't follow the typical Hollywood formula. For one who appreciates the true meaning of Valentine's Day :), it's a winner.

Red Tails

Rating: 7
Starring: Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard
Genre: Adult Drama

The Tuskegee airmen, an all-black squadron of fighter pilots during WWII, battled on two fronts: against the German Air Force and against the prejudices of the generals who judged them incapable of playing a major role in the sky. The movie focuses on a couple of human interest stories within the larger story. Filled with lots of action over Italy, the movie is uplifting and well worth seeing

A Dangerous Method

Rating: 5
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightly
Genre: Adult Drama

This movie is all about the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Mortensen) and his fellow psychoanalyst, Carl Jung (Fassbender) with Knightly smack dab in the middle playing a recovering patient of Jung. As you might guess, the subject of sexual represseion is at the center of things and creates a rift between Jung and Freud. There's an awful lot of psycho babble in the dialog and this is not a movie that will break any attendance records, but I found it mildly interesting.