The Lucky One

Writer Nicholas Sparks is best known for one of the most spoken about romantic movies of all time – The Notebook.  Dig deeper and you will find that the man has given you 3 block busters other than The Notebook.  All of them are full-fledged romances.  Nights in Rodanthe (2008), Message in a Bottle (1999) and Walk to Remember (2002).

Whats Your Number?

How many men does a woman have to be with (read sleep with) before she finds the “right” man. Quite a sacrilegious question to ask of an average every day woman in this part of the world right? Even if the number was hovering towards double digits, it would be the best kept secret in the world I guess. As the number increases, it isn’t a matter of pride – and that would probably be embarrassing anywhere in the world. Most of us would be thrilled to cross 5? Or is the number 9 a good one to target? Or is a double digit goal realistic. I can speak for all men when I say that the higher the number, the better it is for our self esteem . But for women – What’s your number?
With Ally Darling (yep that’s her family name) played by the absolute version of the girl next door – sweet, funny, pretty, charming – Anna Faris, the number has touched 19 and will soon be hitting 20. The magic number when the chances of getting a husband reduces to almost zero. A number which is almost twice the national average. Awww!!!! Such a slut right? Not really - just plain unlucky and gullible would be the words that come to mind when you look at her. Just fired from a job that doesn’t really interest her - marketing (sigh). She has to quickly find herself a person who fits the bill and isn’t like the stud boy next door, Colin Shea (Chris Evans) whose mantra in life is to find a girl each day of the week – with looks like his, he doesn’t find the matter challenging in any aspect. He just picks them up like a lizard would pick flies off the wall. What would any man out there to have this rarest of rare talents. But since Anna has crossed the magic figure of 20, and a chance instance of bumping into an ex boyfriend gets her thinking – what if one of my ex boy friends have become successful. It may be well worth it to investigate and find someone who would get suckered right back in. And who can help with this – If you didn’t guess Colin then I suggest an immediate brain scan to figure out if there are any grey cells there which are working. The rest of the story is extremely predictable and I will leave it to you to find out.

WYN is an average everyday Romantic Comedy or Chick Flick. For those who have been following me – you know that I am a sucker for the genre. Especially the ones which are super predictable. With WYN you can actually call out the dialogues that would come in next. To me, it was a wonderful way to start the weekend. Women will love the movie for sure. The men can ogle at some of the hotter babes which make passing appearances coz Anna Faris is not exactly letch material right? The screenplay is quite decent with some good one liners thrown in for good measure. Watch it only if you like the genre. Plus it is very long. Nearly 2 hours. At one time I was wondering if it will ever end. But entertaining nevertheless. 6 on 10.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2886245657/

Little Fockers

They are definitely back with the next edition of hair ripping mayhem. But this time, somehow the humour is a bit more tasteful than usual. Having said that, don’t get your hopes up too high when u dare to watch Little Fockers. I say dare because that is what it would take to watch Ben Stiller’s inanities on screen. The surprising fact though is that the franchise manages to get back together some of the best actors that this world has ever seen – all multiple Oscar winners. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that they would be going through when they have to share screen space with Ben Stiller. But then again, I cannot think of anyone else either, who could do a better job at their roles than Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Striessand. Casting is one aspect that you probably cannot question the Focker Franchise with. They do manage to get the best people for the roles. And the fact that the audiences seem to enjoy it and that this brand of comedy gets the big bucks at the BO should probably count for calling it a successful idea. I know I have never liked the series but hand on my heart, if it is making money then it should be good I guess.


Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is a satisfied man. He has spent the better part of the past 10 years building a family that is stable and a marriage that is quite enviable. He has twins – Samantha (Daisy Tahan) and Henry (Colin Baiocchi) who were born 3 minutes apart and are about to turn 5 (although Samantha seems more like 10 – probably the only casting error in the movie). And obviously keeping the family together and strongly grounded is Pam (Teri Polo). Greg has come a long way over the past 2 years. He is now heading the department at the hospital – kind of like a Head Nurse and in a position that gets him a more than decent pay packet and also some power – including meeting medical reps and screening them before taking calls on the medication.

The gorgeous, but very conrny, Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba) meets him as the medical rep for the new drug for erectile disfunction and smooth talks her way into speaking at a conference about the drug. He tries his best to avoid it but then feels a sense of pride in the opportunity and takes it up eventually. In between all of this, his plans for getting his new house done up before the kids 5th birthday are not on track with contractor Randy (Harvey Kietel) taking his own sweet time. To add to the mess is the legendary Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) who is smarting on how he took his eye of the ball off his other son in law who cheats on his wife i.e. Pam’s sister. Now that he doesn’t have an heir to the Byrnes family, he pitches the concept to Greg who is obviously flattered and considers it to be a huge boost to his ego. Not understanding that it will eventually land him into a lot of trouble.

All this mish mash comes together with the chaos created by Grandpa Jack when he starts doubting that Greg is having an affair with Andi. Matters aren’t helped with Kevin Rawley (Owen Wilson) coming back into the scene. To cut a long story short, utter chaos as is expected from the Focker Series. I genuinely hope to God that this is the last in the series. Anyways, most of the actors are fast getting older and need to spend most of their time in making more quality movies. Time to put an end to the slapstick I say. Also, I was left wondering why is it that it is called “Little Fockers”. There was hardly any focus on the kids. Rounding it up with the added surprise that this was directed by Paul Wietz who did start with American Pie but unbelievably also directed a fabulous movie called About A Boy (Hugh Grant) which was probably his magnum opus. The narration and execution is quite average at best. I don’t like the franchise. So in my books it is a 4 on 10. But if u liked the previous ones, this one is probably the best of the lot.