Sometimes I'm just in the mood for a fun, fantastical, cheesy movie. I can't sum up a long day better, than by curling up on my couch with a blanket and pillow and popping in some mindless entertainment. Such was the case yesterday.
While flipping through one of God's greatest creations, Video On-
Demand (Offered by my cable company; who is not paying me, so they get no mention! Kate - 1, Cable Company - 0...score!), I stumbled across Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm starring Heath Ledger and Matt Damon. I saw this in the theatre and had recently been wanting to watch it again; so I muted the phone, fed my puppy, turned up the surround sound and settled back on my chaise lounge.I was a little late when I jumped on the Gilliam bandwagon. My first of his movies was 12 Monkeys. I was immediately hooked. Shortly thereafter, I began catching up; The Fisher King, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and just about all the Monty Python I could get my hands on. Some I liked, some I didn't. However, I have always enjoyed Gilliam's juxtaposition of reality and fantasy.
Grimm was really no exception. Let me start by saying, all-in-all I really enjoyed the movie. However, I can only rate it a weak 3 stars, because of the movie's less-than-stellar ending. Without giving anything away (in case you want to watch it), I'll just say that it was unbelievably predictable and extremely silly and cliché.
That having been said, I thought the rest of the movie was rather pleasant. Damon and Ledger were hilarious in their roles as Will and Jacob Grimm (respectively), who traversed French-occupied Germany in 1811 ridding villages of ghosts, ghouls and banshees alike. More like The Three Amigos than demonic exorcisers, the brothers find themselves forced to go to a small village (by the always exceptional Jonathan Pryce) which has been plagued by the disappearance of several young girls. Needless to say, mayhem ensues as our would-be heroes find themselves in over their heads.
The Brothers Grimm is certainly not the greatest movie ever made, nor is it the shining star in Terry Gilliam's galaxy of work; but if you're looking for a fun movie to help you escape from the real world, Grimm is as good as any...if you can get past the ending. Ha!
3 comments:
+ Points for being honest and recognizing that movies can be enjoyable on some level when they're not good.
- Points for spelling "theater" with an "-re."
"Offered by my cable company; who is not paying me, so they get no mention! Kate - 1, Cable Company - 0...score!"
ROFL!
I will probably catch this movie one day on Encore or something. Your review makes me not want to change the channel when it comes on. :D
If you want to see Gilliam in his prime, plus get a bit of DeNiro in a strange place in his career between Godfather II and Deerhunter, check out Brazil. Still have that on VHS somewhere. Great stuff.
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