Romantic Comedy

The Wrong Missy was a miss in our books. Funny at times, but a bit too much like another beloved (by Sky at least) romantic comedy we discussed, Blended. This is probably one we’ll never watch again, but we had a good time discussing it.

Lauren Lapkus killed it as Missy, and Rob Schneider is always great on screen.

SPOILER ALERT!  Watch the movie before proceeding.

Life Lessons Learned from The Wrong Missy

Listen to our episode on The Wrong Missy

Sky: Don’t use easy-to-break passwords.

• Nate (played by the incomparable Nick Swardson) taught us a great lesson with his constant hacking of Tim’s (David Spade) social media and email accounts.

Dusty: Every good lie has a little bit of truth in it.

• Not that we’re telling you it’s okay to lie, but if you must, build in some truth to convince others of the lie.

The always fun Nick Swardson playing a hilarious human resources manager.

Sky: Double-check all digital communications.

• In this day and age, people are losing jobs and relationships are ending through social media mistakes. Think twice before hitting SEND.

Dusty: Never do anything stupid, wrong, demeaning, for money or your boss.

• Jack Winstone (played by Geoff Pierson) demonstrates exactly how a boss shouldn’t treat employees. You got a boss like this? Get a new job ASAP.

We both agree that rational and calm (Molly Sims’ Melissa) is much preferred over chaotic and crazy (Lauren Lapkus’ Missy).

 

Rotten Tomatoes scores:

• The Audience: 52%
• The Critics: 37%

Grades:

• D from Sky
• D- from Dusty

Check out the IMDB page for more info.

Check out last week’s episode on The Princess Bride.

Groundhog Day is a 90’s romantic comedy classic, and it’s one of Bill Murray’s most memorable roles. The supporting cast was perfect and it’s still fun watching Murray trying to make the best of a terrible situation (and eventually succeeding).

SPOILER ALERT!  Watch the movie before proceeding.

Lessons Learned from Groundhog Day

Listen to our episode on Groundhog Day

Dusty: The end goal should be to serve other people and make others lives better. 

• Serving yourself only, like Phil, doesn’t endear you to those around you.

Sky: Be aware of how others view you.

• Everyone’s making fun of Phil behind his back (Larry: “Did he call himself the talent?”) and he has no idea people dislike him. How you are viewed by those around you is your own fault.

Bill Murray perfectly played a jerky weatherman in Phil Connors, and Andie MacDowell (as Rita) was a great love interest.

Dusty: Everyone hates self-centered people.

• No wonder Phil is disliked by all his coworkers. It was great seeing his character develop through these 10+ years of endlessly repeating the same day.

Sky: Attitude is everything. 

• When Rita told him, “Depends on how you look at it.” He realized that he was looking at this situation all wrong. This flipped a switch in his mind and he went from uncaring Phil to “let’s do some good” Phil.

Stephen Tobolowsky played Ned “Needlenose” Ryerson, a fun and memorable character.

Dusty: Become a piano mover so my kids can be awesome at piano.

• Yep, osmosis works, people!

Sky: Try to be in-the-moment and you’ll enjoy life more.

• Don’t think about the future or the past or about the unchangeable predicament you find yourself in.

Dusty’s favorite scene. “Don’t drive angry.”

 

Rotten Tomatoes scores:

• The Audience: 88%
• The Critics: 96%

Grades:

• A from Sky
• A+ from Dusty

Check out the IMDB page for more info.

Check out last week’s episode on Aquaman.

So I Married an Axe Murderer was more enjoyable for Dusty than it was for Sky.  Maybe because the nostalgia brought him back to his college days watching it with buddies.  Yep, probably more enjoyable watching this one with friends.

Lessons Learned from So I Married an Axe Murderer

Sky: See the local sights as a tourist would.

• I bet only half of the residents of San Francisco and the Bay area have been to Alcatraz or even walked the Golden Gate Bridge. That’s a shame.

Dusty: All yellow lights turn to red.

• Pay attention to the warning signs.

Sky: Just share your concerns with the ones you love.

• Ask her if she is the person you think she could be. If you logically came to this decision, she should understand.

Dusty: Never do open mic at a poet lounge.

• Those places seem a bit pretentious, and neither of us would be comfortable there.

Sky: Google the person you’re dating or about to hire or get into business with.

• As long as they give you their real name, there’s no more guessing if they’re an axe murderer or not.  And, because everyone looks at the socials nowadays, only put things there that you’re proud of.

Dusty: Never kiss your friend’s mom on the mouth.

• She consider you a “right sexy bastard” now.

Let us know what you think of the movie or any lessons you learned that we missed by commenting below.  Or, you can visit out Watch and Learn Facebook Page and comment there.

Learn more about this movie from IMDB.

Critics weren’t fans of this one, but the audience wasn’t thrilled with it either: 54% for critics and 68% for the audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sky has chosen The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part as the next movie we’ll learn from.

If you missed it, last week we discussed RocketMan (1997).

We loved Crazy Rich Asians and had a great time discussing it and the lessons we learned.    It was a supremely enjoyable more-romance-than-comedy romantic comedy.  Fun and memorable characters played by great actors within a believable fish-out-of-water story makes this a must-see movie.

Lessons Learned from Crazy Rich Asians

Possessions will not make you happy, it’s the other things like family, love and experiences that will.

• Rich people may buy a ton of expensive items, but the happiness derived from objects is fleeting.

Try the local “delicacies”.

• That food they all chowed down on in the Singapore street markets sounded and looked so amazing.  That’s it, we’re going one day!

Always play to win. Don’t play to lose

• Playing with scared money and playing to not lose is not a recipe for success.  Rachel Chu (Constance Wu’s character) demonstrated this nicely twice in the beginning with her student and at the end with her future mother-in-law (Michelle Yeoh’s character).

Always be prepared in Singapore for high class events.

• Peik Lin Goh (Awkwafina’s character) is well prepared with various outfits in the boot of her car.

Don’t cheat on your spouse.

• Yep, Astrid’s (Gemma Chan) husband really screwed up by letting his insecurities ruin their marriage.

If something scares you, just do it and grow from the experience.

• Rachel grew significantly from dealing with this entire situation.  Sure, she didn’t know what she was getting herself into, but by sticking through it, she’s a 10x stronger person now for it.

Learn more about this movie from IMDB.

Currently the critics dig on this movie just a little more than the audience, with 93% of critics giving the thumbs-up and 88% of the audience doing so.  Check it out on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dusty has chosen 1987’s Predator as the next movie we’ll learn from.

*Sorry listeners, we switched up the order after we recorded this one.  Top Gun will be coming soon, though.

If you missed it, last week we discussed lessons learned from Blended.