mgicnick

Calling a movie released only twelve years ago "old school" does sound weird but we are living in weird times that Hollywood decided to fully adopt new ideas.. One of the things I enjoyed in this movie is the plethora of dynamic, confident, masculine, male characters, both good and bad. The main actors, Denzel Washington and Mark Walberg have a good on screen chemistry, the dialog is good, the plot flows smoothly and effortlessly and although it is not a laughing out movie it is still funny and enjoyable. The supporting cast is also excellent except actress Paula Patton being just good enough. A very descent adventure, a good movie to watch.

The 2000s is the top decade for Hollywood comedy in quantity, quality and box office success and most of those comedies are nowadays underrated and forgotten, just like "Blue Streak" that was released just a week before the turn of the millennium. Martin Lawrence is just excellent in his comedic role, this movie is not about winning Oscars, it is about providing laughs and it delivers abundantly having lots of funny moments, an interesting plot and actors that were cast for no other reason other than pure merit, and it shows. What a pleasant funny movie to watch... back from the days when Hollywood was able to make good comedies. Recommended.

I do like Jason Statham, even though he has been pretty much playing the same role of the tough guy that beats everyone up for 20 years, he has that masculine face, voice and presence that goes quite well with those kind of movies. I liked him especially as a "transporter" but also as a "mechanic", I liked him in Crank, I even liked him in the mediocre "The MEG" but what those movies had going on was a half decent script, decent pace, decent direction and a decent supporting cast to complement Jason Statham's very simple, stereotypical but also strangely attractive role. The "A working man" has none of the above, but it is a confused salad of cliches with unnecessary plot arches and a poorly chosen diverse cast that delivers odd and unconvincing performances. It is no surprise that it made 16 million domestically on it's debut weekend, but the fact that it surpassed the "blockbuster" Snow White that tanked on its second weekend to top the box office shows the sad state of affairs in current Hollywood. Hollywood, within a few years, has forgotten how to make movies that people like, so behold the current king of the box office.