IonicBreezeMachine

Following the events of the previous film, Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), and their two children Brady (Gage Munroe) and Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) have settled into a new suburban neighborhood as Hutch continues his line of work as a government assassin to pay off the massive debt they paid off for the Russian Mafia from Hutch's actions against them. Struggling with burnout from the barrage of assignments and feeling himself drifting from his family, Hutch organizes a family vacation to the resort town of Plummerville where he, his brother Harry (RZA) and father David (Christopher Lloyd) had vacationed some years back. With Hutch, his family, and his father in tow, the group end up at the resort town but following an altercation between the resort owner Wyatt Martin's (John Ortiz) son Max (Lucius Hoyos) and Brady, this leads to an escalating conflict with Sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks) and puts Hutch's vacation on a collision course with the criminal interests the town serves.

Nobody 2 is the sequel to the 2021 film Nobody from 87North Productions which proved to be a modest hit in 2021 as the pandemic began to gradually ease. Development on a sequel began in 2022 with original director Ilya Naishuller preoccupied with Amazons Heads of State leading to Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto making his English language feature debut having contributed to some international but foreign language productions like segments of of the V/H/S series or the Netlfix originals The Night Comes for Us and The Shadow Strays. Nobody 2 doesn't reinvent or expand the world and concept of its predecessor, but it finds enough new angles to make this a fun and engaging revisit.

As with the original film, Bob Odenkirk is really good as Hutch as not only does he sell his scenes as an overworked and over-stressed family man but also succeeds in the elaborately choreographed and darkly comic action sequences which not only showcase his impressive physicality and coordination, but is also well mixed with his natural comic timing. The movie also gives expanded roles to RZA as Hutch's brother and Christopher Lloyd as Hutch's father while also keeping the quirky aspects of the characters in tact (such as never revealing the backstory behind how Harry and Hutch became brothers). Connie Nielsen is also good in her return as Becca who does serve primarily as a straightman to the chaos following Hutch, but is also more involved particularly in a very fun amusement park set climax. Colin Hanks gives an absolutely scene stealing performance as Sheriff Abel playing against his natural likability to play a backstabbingly loathsome little man who you're glad to see get his comeuppance and Sharon Stone is having a blast as the big bad of the film in a fun scene chewing performance.

The film is structured similarly to its predecessor, but some of the charm of the original definitely came from Odenkirk's unconventional casting that was mixed with the surprising turns taken by the plot in the first act where the inciting incident was largely pointless with the plot literally crashing into hutch. Since this is a sequel, Nobody 2 follows the same structure without capturing the same level of punch, but it does try to find some alternate routes to take with the plot. One of the newer additions is Hutch witnessing some of his fighting instincts manifesting in Brady and there's some good moments pertaining to the nature of fatherhood like where Hutch tells Brady to "be a better man than me" or David's moment with Hutch and Harry where he says "you're both improvements on me". It's honestly a really good theme of the movie (probably would've made a better Father's Day release than late August but that's just me), just a shame there isn't more of it but it keeps at a quick pace and with the expert choreography of 87North it makes it a fun if slightly disposable sequel.

Nobody 2 is an enjoyable sequel that doesn't up the ante from the first film but revisits it in a new environment covering the same points from a different angle and new location. Maybe a little too reliant on the first film's structure without fully exploring some of its richer aspects, but fun for what it is.

Friends Lewis Skolnick (Robert Carradine) and Gilbert Lowe (Anthony Edwards) are excited for their first year at Adams College only to be met with the cruel reality that the social hierarchy dictates one's enjoyment and privileged at Adams with the two labeled "Nerds" by the lunkheaded but also established and cruel Alpha Beta fraternity of jocks overseen by Stan Gable (Ted McGinley), Danny Burke (Matt Salinger), and "The Ogre" (Donald Gibb). After the Alpha Betas take control of the freshmen dormitory (after burning down their own house and avoiding consequences due to their University connections), all Freshmen, including Lewis and Gilbert, are reduced to living in a cordoned off part of the college gym. While the university allows displaced freshmen to join fraternities, Lewis, Gilbert and a handful of others branded "nerds" due to race, age, and sexual orientation are rejected by all Adams fraternities. With no other options, the nerds band together and find a dilapidated house and restore it through teamwork and their intelligence, but with cruel vandalism and pranks by the Alpha Betas the nerds take it upon themselves to upend the Alpha Betas' reign of Adams College.

Revenge of the Nerds is a 1984 college comedy which took inspiration from a news paper article about Silicon Valley computer programmers gaining respect and applied the themes of the article to the framework of college and sexual shenanigans comedies that had become in the wake of films like Animal House and Porky's with their low budgets and high returns making them a routine staple of 80s movie-going throughout the decade. While there was some support for the film, notably from Siskel and Ebert who praised the likable human element in the two leads and themes of the movie, there were many others who lumped the film in with the other sex/college comedies of the time that were produced cheaply and quickly. Despite not attaining major support from the outset, the film nonetheless became a major hit earning $60 million domestically against a $6-8 million budget. Revenge of the Nerds does certainly have many of the crude and raunchy elements of its contemporaries, the thing that gives it an edge is in its characters and its anti-prejudice themes.

As noted by some of its supporters at the time, Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards are perfectly matched and very likable together. While Carradine's Lewis provides the spark with his more mischievous smart alecky character, Edward's Gilbert serves as the emotional anchor as he's established as being the sweetest and most sensitive of the group and sort of the glue that holds their found family of nerds together. The rest of the nerd collective is made up of a variety of memorable personalities like pre-pubescent wunderkind Harold Wormser (Andrew Cassese), the crude and gross "Booger" (Curtis Armstrong), and the openly flamboyant and gay Lamar (Larry B. Scott) who despite embodying many of the exaggerations is positive for the time especially when you consider the nerds are welcoming and (relatively) none-judgmental of him. And of course, what good are your heroes without some loathsome villains?, and Revenge of the Nerds gives us some real loathsome heels in the form of Ted McGinley's Stan despite being the "smartest" of their group is also the most openly sadistic carrying an arrogant and superior smirk on his crafted features that makes him an excellent foil to the nerds as his confidence that he can't be punished for his actions makes his downfall all the more satisfying. The movie also has good supporting players such as Bernie Casey's U. N. Jefferson who as head of a national Black fraternity becomes an unlikely ally to the nerds, or John Goodman's Coach Harris who serves as a secondary antagonist ignoring or even outright encouraging the Alpha Beta's reprehensible behavior.

In terms of the movie's humor you could certainly say it was "of the time" (though filming location University of Arizona had reservations even back then of allowing filming due to the film's portrayal of campus life) and this has led to some reassessment since it's release. Here's the thing, comedy by its nature exists in a flexible reality where the absurd is often as acceptable as the mundane in order to convey jokes or serve story beats and that's the best way to look at Revenge of the Nerds, not as reality but as funhouse mirror image of reality that although distorted carries some truth. One of the notable aspects that has been re-evaluated is the romantic subplot between Lewis and Stan's girlfriend Betty played by Julia Montgomery and the means by which the two get together. Per Montgomery's role in the film, she felt Betty secretly wanted to be with Lewis and leave Stan (and there are hints of this in the movie, albeit in a slightly fleeting manner until a few minutes before the event happens) and much like the funhouse mirror exaggerations of certain persons on display, this is best approached as something of a spin on the "Sleeping Beauty" trope (and I mean the original version where it was MUCH more than a kiss....). This will depend on a person-by-person basis, but I feel like the movie places its values at the forefront (particularly in the ending climax) while sort of bending and twisting them when necessary for the sake of either a joke or plot mechanic.

While Revenge of the Nerds is certainly of the time in many ways, it also has its heart and occasionally head in the right place so it isn't cynical like Private Lessons or Preppies which helps to explain why it's endured in pop culture (and spawned an ill-advised media franchise). Definitely a good time, just be aware that like a funhouse mirror, the thing reflected is occasionally real but not necessarily reflective of reality.

Bull (Adam DeVine) is a mutt bulldog who unlike the rest of his friends is not neutered which often leads to him getting in to shenanigans around his household where he tries to find sexual release on either peoples' legs or household objects. Bull carries a crush for his next door neighbor and friend, Honey (Kathryn Hahn), a Borzoi and show dog, but feels inadequate to approach her especially in the presence of his rival Sterling (Beck Bennett), another Borzoi show dog with an impressive lineage. When Bull learns his family plans to have him neutered, he runs away with his friends boxer Rocco (Idris Elba), dashund Fetch (Fred Armisen), and beagle Lucky (Bobby Mynihan) for a debauchery filled night of last hurrahs before he has to say goodbye to his testicles.

Fixed is the long in development directorial project from animator Genndy Tartakovsky, whose prolific work includes the likes of Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory, and Hotel Transylvania to name but a few of his contributions to animation. The film stemmed from Tartakovsky's desire to do an animal roadtrip movie that would carry a similar dynamic to him and his real life group of friends which served as the basis for what would become fixed and presumably due tot the success of Hotel Transylvania, Tartakovsky was able to start development in 2018 at Sony Pictures Animation. Despite being produced by Sony, the film was intended to be released by New Line Cinema for 2023 only to fall victim to Warner Bros. Cost saving initiatives of canceling completed releases. As the rights reverted back to Sony, they were free to shop for alternate distribution with Netflix taking up the offer having released a number of Sony Pictures Animation films on their platform. After a tortuously road to release, Fixed.....isn't awful, but it's not exactly Tartakovsky's best work either.

Per Tartakovsky's reputation, the animation is very expressive and energized with a lot of energy and good timing. There's a good sense of personality and character in the designs even if I'm more mixed on for what they're used. This brings us to what Fixed actually is, which is essentially The Secret Life of Pets by way of The 40 Year Old Virgin. Animation is certainly no stranger to sexcapades like Fritz the Cat or even the more recent Sausage Party, but despite Fixed being filled with raunch and vulgarity a plenty, I wouldn't exactly qualify it as "adult" animation. While both Fritz the Cat and Sausage Party were filled with plenty of vulgar language and sexual situations, it was also clear they had something to say with Fritz the Cat spoofing the counterculture of the 60s and 70s (somewhat incorrectly according to R. Crumb) or Sausage Party skewering organized religion so there were actual ideas backing up what was presented. Going even broader to sex comedies, movies like 10 and to an extent the first American Pie took shots at middle aged insecurity and superficiality and the vapid understanding by adolescent high school males who had a very base and shallow understanding of sex. With Fixed, it often feels like the joke begins and ends with sex and aside from being slighty more graphic with dog behaviors as it pertains to pee, poo, and even blood a lot of the time it feels like you're watching something like Secret Life of Pets only with more sex jokes. The only moment that really feels fresh or particularly insightful is a brief sequence where Bobby Moynihan's Lucky falls in love with an intersex doberman named Frankie played by River Gallo, and it's honestly a pretty good moment character wise where his friends are supportive and non-judgmental and it makes you realize there was potential for this concept...only for it to be surrounded by material that aims low.

I didn't hate Fixed, but aside from appreciating some of the animation and vocal performances (particularly Elba, Hahn, and Gallo) I didn't feel Fixed really offered much with its mixture of an R-Rating and animation that wasn't done better elsewhere. It's maybe worth a one time viewing for Tartakovsky (depending on your tolerance for a parade of mainly pee, poo, and sex jokes) but not only has Tartakovsky done better, but so have raunchy animations and sex comedies.