Jump Street, Lives at Home, among big movie new releases this weekend
Three movies out this weekend will try to scratch out some success before the Hunger Games blockbuster comes out next weekend. Of the three new releases, critics gave thumbs up to two, 21 Jump Street and Casa De Mi Padre, but panned the third, Jeff Who Lives At Home.
Three big movies releases are out this weekend: "21 Jump Street," a reboot of the 1980s television series, "Casa De Mi Padre," a Spanish language telenovela and "Jeff Who Lives at Home," a movie with a very self-explanatory title.
Jump Street stars two bumbling police officers who are sent back to high school to conduct an undercover drug operation. Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for The Takeaway, said Jump Street is hilarious.
"I laughed my head off through the whole thing," she said. "What I love about this kind of reboot is they use the TV show as a jumping off point. They don't try to photocopy it. They try to go in a totally different direction."
Meinzer said the difference between adults and kids comes off as both funny and smart in the reboot.
As for "Jeff Who Lives at Home," Meinzer said it's just not funny.
"I thought this was a pretty awful movie," Meinzer said. "My biggest qualm with this movie ... was they didn't know how to wrap it up. So they have the equivalent of the abominable snowman come on screen and stomp all over everything."
Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, agreed. He called it a terrible film, "contrived" and "manipulative."
"But I do want to point out Ed Helms is surprisingly very good in the film," Guzman said.
Though Jeff is a disappointment, "Casa De Mi Padre" is a good movie — if you can find it. Despite starring Will Ferrell, the entire movie is in Spanish with English subtitle and is only in limited release around the country.
"I thought it was a lot of fun," Meinzer said. "One note joke, but a really enjoyable joke with its heart in the right place, especially if you've ever seen a telenovela and enjoy that sort of campiness."
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