Reviews

As much as I hate lazy "its X on Drug" descriptions for shows, the FX tag line is probably the most accurate I've ever heard. Sunny is packed with brilliant jokes, witty lines, great set-ups and surprising twists, all anchored in a manically dark setting. In a real running time of 20 minutes, the average episode has more laugh out loud moments and darkly intelligent plotting than most sitcoms manage in a season.

The whole show has an insane energy, with simple but unique characters dragging you along their genuinely bizarre trains of thought into very odd situations.

Arguably the First Season is the weakest but only in comparison. I loved it and was impressed it seemed to get stronger and stronger as it progressed, with Danny DeVito's addition being a god send.

This show is also refreshing in that it mainly avoids the fashion for a strong running plot that many modern comedies are using. This means a more old fashioned style of a 'wacky' adventure a week, with the occasional recurring support character. This in my opinion keeps it fresh, where a lot of other 'mature' sitcoms get dragged down by soap opera style baggage build up, Sunny can pick and choose. If proof be needed it has been optioned for a 10th Season despite its relative cult status.

Best American Sitcom I've seen in some time, and there's plenty of strong contenders (Breaking Bad, Arrested Development, Community) so I don't say that lightly.

I found this an uneven film, which relied on large wacky set pieces set alongside very serious (bordering on mawkish) emotional moments making for an awkward stop-start feel. Some plot points didn't go anywhere and others had nowhere near the possible comic payoff you were expecting.

Personally I found the film lacked a certain energy, in between the large plot points there is very little funny dialogue or character development which ultimately what makes a road movie like this work.

Robert Downey Jnr. plays the neurotic straight man up to 11, but often this leads to him going borderline psychotic, while Zach Galifianakis is seemingly a dozen 'wacky' characters you've seen before all rolled into one. It certainly makes for an odd couple but not the best.

Its hardly a terrible film but it doesn't flow and feels almost like a first draft. I tried to ignore the unrealistic elements and plot holes but there's quite a few. This was disappointing more than anything as the Hangover managed to balance the off-the-wall elements well for comic effect, here however it just left me unfulfilled.

I had expected a fun, simple sports comedy when I saw this. Instead I got a lazy, unfunny, god awful piece of film. Blackball makes a lot of assumptions of it audience, going beyond 'suspension of disbelief' to simply not trying. The love interest effectively appears out of nowhere, falling for the 'hero' at first sight, as he yells at her teenage pupils! The villain is bog-standard 'snob' to the hero's 'slob' but thats what a sport's comedy is, so not a problem. The problem is the young, wild bowler is unlikeable as they come. He's effectively every Adam Sandler character thrown into one but without the redeeming qualities. His relationship with the love interest effectively consists of him being obnoxious and her swooning. It as if the writer took bullet point notes of what a sports comedy is, but forgot why those key points work. At one point there's an 'emotional' moment of victory, barely 15 minutes in, the hero having only had crushing victories. At the halfway mark, apparently the success goes to his head, alienating his loved ones etc. but his personality and actions don't change, he is as irritating and self-centred as ever! There's simply no reason to care. The hero's 'badboy' persona is so overblown and garish, it strikes as a cynical and again LAZY effort. There's a scene where his slick PR agent attempts to win him over through various insincere threats and niceties, while he remains unmoved. That is the definition of this film.

Lazy. This film's only value is as an example of how-not-to.