21 and Over

Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are the writers of Hangover and Hangover 2 amongst some other movies.  They have also written a small movie called Flypaper that starred Patrick Dempsey.  But they surely weren’t the writers of 21 or the American Pie series – at least not to my knowledge.

Why then, would they look at experimenting with a genre of cinema that merges their biggest hit to date with a genre of movies that most of my readers know by now that I hate (read slapstick) is beyond me.  More importantly, they didn’t stop at writing the movie this time around.  They said, “it is high time we directed our own movie”.

 

So they decide to pick up a story that revolves around a 5^th generation Chinese American (should they be called 5^th Generation in the first place – I mean 5 generations would mean they are as good as American no?) called Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) who is going to turn 21 tomorrow.

 

The difficult 90 minutes that follow (difficult for me but not much for a lot of people I am quite certain – especially American Pie fans) narrates how Jeff’s best friends make it a night to remember – ala Hangover style.  Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin) land up on the day before 21 to give Jeff a not so pleasant surprise.

 

However, Jeff’s father – the notorious Dr. Chang (François Chau – are you French or Chinese – decide) – would have nothing of the sort happening.  He has moved heaven and earth to come up with an opportunity for Jeff and an interview has been fixed on the morning of his 21^st birthday.  What kind of a sadistic dad would do that?  So, if the boys have a blast, they had better be back before the clock strikes 7.

 

There is no dearth of excruciatingly painful screenplay that is often confused with comedy by a big chunk of the audience.  A lot of the supposed comedy is of a sexual nature that involves egg on face while narrating cheesy one liners that are also supposed be pick up lines.

 

I finally noticed blurring in Hollywood cinema that the censor board has not cleared.  So that’s good news for a lot of movie makers.  So if you find running around Washington University with a teddy bear glued to your crotch Or being spanked by Latina sorority sisters as punishment to be funny then you must watch 21 and over.  I for one would probably change channels if its on.  4 on 10.

 

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4080248601/?ref_=tt_ov_vi