This is where I leave you - review

Jason Bateman heads this comedy drama about a family coping with the death of the head of the family co-starring Jane Fonda & Tina Fey.

After catching his wife cheating on him with his boss, Judd decides to attend his father’s funeral on his own and afterwards, following their father wishes, he and his siblings spend the week with their mother in the family home in the hope they can re-connect as a family.

As they mourn the loss of their father, the family spend time together reminiscing and learning about each other’s lives, but as Judd struggles with his marriage break up and attraction to a friend who never left town, Wendy fights her feelings for former boyfriend Horry, Paul and his wife fight over having a baby and Phillip refuses to acknowledge he’s an adult, they realise that no matter what happens in life, family will always be there for you.

I wasn’t really sure about this movie seeing as it’s essentially about death, but it was actually quite funny in places.

While I wouldn’t watch it again, as some movies only need to be seen once, I would recommend it as it shows that no matter what happens in life and whichever direction you go, you will always have your family.

Admission - review

Tina Fey is Portia Nathan, an admissions officer for Princeton University who is up for promotion to Dean of Admissions.

As part of her job, Portia travels the country to advertise Princeton and is asked to visit a new school which focuses more on practical skills after she receives a call from a dedicated tutor and former classmate John Pressman.

Unconvinced that any of the students have the passion to get into Princeton, Portia goes through her normal speech and can’t wait to leave to visit her mother when she is introduced to Jeremiah, a hard working student whose dream is to attend Princeton University.

Convinced Jeramiah is the kind of student Princeton needs, John does all he can to support his application, but he also has another reason for trying to get Portia to know him – he thinks Jeremiah is the son she gave up for adoption when she was in college.

I really enjoyed this movie as it was a simple storyline, but acted well by both Tina Fey and Paul Rudd.

I can now cross this movie off my ‘to watch’ list and I’m glad I had the chance to finally watch it.

Date Night - review

Claire & Phil Foster are a normal married couple living with their 2 children in New Jersey, both with good jobs they follow the same routine day after day. Each week they have a date night to have them a chance to spend time as a couple and although they enjoy their time together, it’s clear their relationship is stuck.

In order to bring the excitement back to their marriage, Phil decides to take Claire to an exclusive New York restaurant on their next date night, but the evening doesn’t quite go according to plan. Not knowing they had to book, the couple are told the restaurant is full and they have no chance of a table, but when a reservation is called and the couple don’t respond, Phil decides to take it.

As they enjoy their meal and manage to get a photo with Will.i.Am (who cameos as himself), Claire & Phil begin to remember what it’s like to be a couple, but when they’re confronted by 2 gun toting men and ordered outside, it looks like taking someone else’s reservation wasn’t such a good idea.

Mistaken as the couple who should have been at the table, Claire & Phil try to explain who they are, but when their night takes an exciting and dramatic turn for the worse as they are chased across New York by hit men with guns, they both realise this wasn’t the kind of excitement they were looking for!

Starring Tina Fey & Steve Carrell - both with great comedic timing, Date Night was a hilarious watch, despite being slightly far-fetched in places, which had me laughing out loud.

Great watch.