Film: Bad Neighbours

I thought I'd do a repeat of yesterday, and just go to the local cemetery this evening - certainly, the weather was beautiful from when I left the house to after lunch. But it disimproved as the evening wore on. Plan B was to go to see Drunken Angel, a Kurosawa film noir, which was showing in the Prince Charles Cinema. Unfortunately, it was showing at 6.40, and I had to go home first. So the only way I could realistically get to see it was if I left work early - but I got stuck into something, which put an end to that plan. So - when I eventually got my computer to connect to the internet - Plan C was Bad Neighbours, showing in my local cinema. At least I could walk there, and by the time I settled on that, I just had time to make it.

I wasn't one bit impressed by the trailer for this. So when I saw it was rating 8.4 on IMDB upon its release, I honestly couldn't believe it! I didn't get around to it last week, and by the time I checked its rating at the weekend, it had fallen to 7.8. Interesting, that. And then 7.7, 7.6.. where it's holding for the moment. Still, 7.6 is a good rating - mind you, it'll be interesting to see how far it falls. Anyway, I was dubious, but said I'd give it a chance - I know Seth Rogen has done good work before.

The outing didn't start off well, when I was left queueing for fully seven minutes to get my ticket. I'd have used a machine, but I had a voucher, which means I had to go to a till. The babyfaced person behind the till then proceeded to immediately antagonise me by asking me whether I wanted a senior ticket. You what?! I glared at her. She eventually gathered that she should charge me as an adult. For goodness' sake, I know I can look a bit ragged at times, but still! And she didn't replace my voucher, as they usually do.

The ads were showing by the time I finally got in - including one for the movie version of Mrs. Brown's Boys! She's everywhere. At least I'd been able to get a seat in the row with the aisle in front of it. There was much hilarity when a couple, coming in in the dark, stumbled into a seat that, to be fair, was unlit, and with a wheelchair space beside it, they'd had no reason to suspect there was an obstacle there. Maybe they had friends in the centre of my row - I don't know, but the row erupted in laughter.

That was about as much laughter as was had in that screen all evening. The plot of this film is simple; Seth Rogen is married to Rose Byrne, whom I mainly know from the Insidious films, and they have a baby daughter. They've just bought their house, invested all their money in it - you know how it goes. Anyway, they're unlucky enough to have a university fraternity set up in the house next door, led by Zac Efron. Vice president is Dave Franco, who played the card shark in Now You See Me. He's unrecognisable here in glasses. And Lisa Kudrow has a cameo as the college dean.

Well. Of course, anyone who is even mildly offended by profanity, nudity, drug use, and sexual innuendo should know to steer clear of this film, or indeed anything made by Seth Rogen. But I'm not offended by those things. What offended me about this film was that it was downright dull. Sure, they had all that stuff, and sure, they had stereotypical frat parties. And there were some very good lines - but only some. And to get to them, you have to sit through a lot of very ho-hum material. As I say, for all that the front row found a couple stumbling over a chair when they entered to be funny, they didn't seem to find much to laugh at for the rest of the film. Neither did I, and I found myself checking my watch a couple of times. I was glad when it ended.

And to think, I could have been watching Kurosawa.. :-(

And to top matters off, the internet connection on my computer has been dodgy all night - I've had to reconnect several times, and have lost count of the number of times it's told me it can't. I'm amazed the connection hasn't dropped while I've been writing this - and me sitting right beside the router!

Off to Guildford tomorrow - so I should already be asleep, of course. And back to Ireland the day after, and to Christy Moore on Saturday. It has to be an improvement on this..