At the Movies - Race to Blurb Mountain

Ben Lyons on this week's At the Movies found a tweeny-bopper movie that even he did not like in Race to Witch Mountain. Mank did have a comment about the film that made me think of this very show, talking about the poorly executed relationship between Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino:

Mank: There's no chemistry between them, and they have nothing in common . . . And then you mention the special effects, and this is a movie where you anticipate these being what would save the movie and it seems like maybe their budget got cut by 90% right before filming.

No chemistry and little splash? Sounds like the current At the Movies, which promised a big fancy upgrade but seems to have stumbled into a downgrade.

Then there is Sunshine Cleaning, about which Lyons has this to say:

Lyons: This is a Sundance movie in every sense of the word. It's that quirky American indy that's looking to find moments of humor set against the backdrop of dark, tragic moments.

With a blurb like that, pre-gushed with a big smile for the film's marketing campaign, it's got to be good! Except that he goes on to say "I enjoyed some of the performances, ultimately I didn't find it funny enough and I didn't find it emotional enough to give it a 'See It', but check it out on DVD. You can 'Rent It'."

Thanks Ben, at least we know that you are trying to be honest in half of your review. But more importantly, where does he get off talking about Sundance like some well-informed insider? Maybe a more honest comment would be "Based on my experience, the only thing missing from making this movie the penultimate Sundance experience is a series of awful interviews and a bunch of parties with cool people."