Trainwreck – Interfering with Amy

Interference killed the comic. Somewhere in here is a great script written by a great writer, but several phases of development later and Trainwreck is an absolute shadow of its original conception. It’s a shame because when you watch this film slowly retreat from greatness to terribleness you will mourn for what could have been.

Amy (Amy Schumer) lives the typical romcom character life in New York, able to afford an apartment she really shouldn’t be given she works in a job that’s less an actual job and more an opportunity for writers to get some cheap gags in. Amy likes to sleep around and avoids committing to a serious relationship, something which hits her sometimes boyfriend and gym enthusiast Steven (John Cena) hard. Amy takes an assignment interviewing sports doctor Aaron (Bill Hader) whom she quickly uses for sex then dismisses. Aaron is persistent though and Amy soon finds herself in an actual relationship. Can she handle it? Well, probably.

It starts great, with a hilarious speech by Amy’s Dad (Colin Quinn) on the failure of monogamy, followed by some hilarious scenes with John Cena failing at talking in and out of the bedroom. Unfortunately then the interference begins, with an overload of cameos by sports stars barely known outside the US and some implausible scenarios all leading to one of the worst film endings in recent memory. I actually looked at the floor it was so fake and manufactured an absolute sell-out by all involved.

It’s obvious having Aaron as a sports doctor serves as a way to have several sports stars cameo and attract a male audience to a ‘chick-flick’. Unfortunately unlike soccer stars these Basketball and American Football players, as well as commentators, do not work outside the US. They also just make what should be realistic characters un-relatable to as all of a sudden their best friends with a millionaire.

Schumer is big business, and will continue to be so. Unfortunately a skilled director like Judd Apatow should have taken the roughness of this character and somehow made her more likeable but he doesn’t, leaving the audience asking why doesn’t the much nicer Aaron (an excellent Bill Hader) just bail for something better? Schumer is funny, but when the emotion kicks in it’s forced.

Judd Apatow can direct, we’ve seen proof, but in Trainwreck once all the script interference is done he does little behind the camera, with a lot of it just feeling clunky and amateurish, almost like a first-time director. Was he asleep?

An absolute shame as there are traces of something great here but with every re-write it appears to have become more false, over referential and just plain bad.

2 out of 5

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – lacks the skill of Brad Bird

Say what you want about Tom Cruise but any man who’s willing to cling to an airplane for my entertainment is good in my books. He’s also managed to deliver one of the best action films of recent years with 2011’s Ghost Protocol, so with an even bigger budget and after the franchise finally settling into its own style surely Rogue Nation is a cracker? Unfortunately not, Ghost Protocol’s huge step forward has just been dealt a massive step back in a clunky film lacking the direction of the previous instalment.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) along with his elite team are on the heels of the top secret ‘Syndicate’; a crime organisation intent on doing bad guy things. Unfortunately for Ethan his team have just been disbanded, making him a wanted man. With the help (or hindrance) of double agent Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) Hunt traverses the globe in his quest, blowing up cars and breaking into all manner of high-security buildings on the way.

Cruise is fine as Hunt. The character is an a-sexual nobody with two purposes; one, drive the plot, and two, do stunts. He delivers in them all and although there’s no development of the character he commits fully to the stunts giving the action an element of realness you don’t get with FX and bluescreen. Computer-whizz and comic sidekick Dunn (Simon Pegg) sees his character earn a great increase in screen time. Unfortunately although not bad, Pegg’s character is too whimsical and pathetic to have in such a ‘dangerous’ film for so long.

The bad guy was a huge let down in the otherwise brilliant Ghost Protocol, again this is the case with Sean Harris completely underused as Soloman Lane, a truly dire ‘evil genius’. Luckily Rebecca Ferguson’s Faust is as entertaining as they come, holding her own in some excellent action scenes. Unfortunately being a woman she probably won’t appear in any more films in the franchise, leaving us with the ridiculously dull Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames as useless lads on the peripheral of the action.

The first hour of the film flows nicely, with a good pace and an excellent set piece in a Vienna Opera. Unfortunately after that it gets clunky, and very boring. The action is decent, but never as exciting as it should be. Director Christopher McQuarrie lacks the skill of Ghost Protocol’s Brad Bird, and never allows the film to be as fun as it should be. It all climaxes in a dreadfully dull pointless chase through a misty London.

The film also let’s itself down by cohabiting the homeland of James Bond. London is a damn fine city but it’s been used to death by Bond and in Rogue Nation is frankly dull and boring. Had they kept to more unique settings like Casablanca and Vienna it could have had a more memorable look and feel, instead of looking like an American remake of Bond.

Not the worst action film of the year, but definitely not one that lived up to its promise. Bring back Brad Bird and with this budget he could make a great Mission: Impossible film. Unfortunately this one only disappoints.

2 out of 5