Rendering 12 (Cinema)

The article we’re going to discuss is taken from The Telegraph and is entitled “21 and Over, review.”  It was contributed on 2 May 2013 by Tim Robey and analyzes the new comedy from Hangover writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.

From the very beginning of the review it becomes evident that the author takes a critical view of the movie. First of all, it’s necessary to mention that it mainly consists of men for, as the author says ironically, a list of the roles for women would not leave this movie covered in glory and includes only of a few rather fierce sorority girls? And that’s obviously not an advantage.

Next, Tim Robey provides the reader with some information about the plot, so that the audience could see why he is so skeptical about this movie. So, the plot is about two high-school buddies, who kidnap their pal Jeff Chang on his 21st birthday, even though it’s the night before his big interview for medical school, and, in the author’s words, there’s a terrifyingly stereotypical Asian dad waiting in the wings to tan their hides. As a result of all this, the teeny Jeff Chang (it’s interesting to note that they always call him “Jeff Chang” in full, which is funnier than it sounds) gets utterly wrecked. According to the plot, Chon is comatose, or near it, for so much of the movie’s running time that it starts to resemble Weekend at Bernie’s with a stressed, unconscious Chinese medical student instead of a corpse.

Tim Robey in fact concludes by saying that this exuberant frat comedy succeeds primarily because of its likeable cast. In resolute terms he expresses the view that one of the actors, Miles Teller, is terrific, puckish and endearingly intense, and the promising Skylar Astin matches him every step of the way, so that this company can get just about any party started. Frankly speaking, I cannot quite understand this conclusion, as I don’t believe a good cast can save a badly written film, no matter how hard they might try, and there’re really some examples that I know.