Happy Birthday America!

In honor of America's Birthday, I figured you'd love to read some of the stuff I wrote for the Observer this week! Great idea, right?

* The Oscars need a fixin' and I'm just the man to make suggestions! Check them out here.

* If Brad Pitt and Steven Soderbergh can't get a movie made, then Hollywood needs to go back to the drawing board. Also, Sony Entertainment co-chair Amy Pascal, you are terrible at this. Get worse.

* And finally... Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. As a major fan of both the first Transformers film and Michael Bay in general, I was disappointed. The fact is, the script for this thing is fairly terrible and discombobulated; none of it makes any sense and it feels completely hacked together. Plus, Shia LaBeouf is, shockingly, not good--and this is coming from someone who really loves his manic acting style, including what he did in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But, with all that being said, stuff explodes, robots transform, Megan Fox looks INCREDIBLY hot (seriously, it's out of control), more stuff explodes and I laughed. I laughed a lot. In the end, Revenge of the Fallen is an entertaining piece of crap. It's not the best movie of the summer (Star Trek and The Hangover have that sewn up), but it's also way better than almost everything else released this summer. Think of it this way: Would you rather watch Revenge of the Fallen or Terminator Salvation. See what I mean?

In case you trek to the theaters this weekend, here's a Viewer's Guide to Revenge of the Fallen for your reading pleasure.

Summer Hours

Since today marks the official start of summertime (hooray!), I figured it would be a good time to put up a blog post! How about that?! I've taken a decent-sized break from 42 Inch Television since the end of the television season in an effort to recharge my batteries for what will undoubtedly be a pretty jam packed fall. But, of course, I'll still try to put up a weekly post for you loyal readers. And, you can always read me, almost daily, over at the New York Observer website (linked to the right, or click here!)

Enough housekeeping! (My least favorite part of any blog is when writers go on and on about how they aren't posting.) Onto some random thoughts!

The Worst Movie of 2009

Using hyperbole like that is usually a bad idea when the calendar only reads June 21st, but I am fairly confident in the sheer terrible awfulness of Year One to proclaim it the "Worst Movie of 2009." In fact, as I said on my Twitter page last night (you should be following me, do so here), this might be the worst movie I've ever seen in the theaters... and that's including current title holder HurlyBurly, which is always my default answer to "what's the worst movie you've ever seen?"

Year One is just an epic fail. It's a comedy, but I'm pretty positive I didn't laugh but one or two times. Literally. Maybe a smirk here or there, mostly directed at something Michael Cera was saying. But, man, even Cera, my Patron Saint of Kindhearted Hipsters, doesn't escape this mess without loads of poison covering him. Now I know what people who saw The Love Guru felt like when they left the theater.

I'm not exactly sure what anyone was thinking here: There is simply no way that funny people like Mr. Cera, Jack Black and David Cross could have thought this was a good movie while they filming. Every joke falls flat and/or sounds like it has been ripped out of some terrible comedy from the '80s--Really Hank Azaria? We're making a "Jews are bad at sports" joke? What decade is this?--and, worse, no one seems to be enjoying themselves.

For director Harold Ramis, it's just another piece of evidence to prove that he has completely lost the funny. Since Groundhog Day, these are his comedies: Stuart Saves His Family, Multiplicity, Analyze This, Bedazzled, Analyze That, The Ice Harvest and now Year One. Oof. It might be time for Mr. Ramis to retire; I shiver at the thought of Ghostbusters 3.

As for Michael Cera, I'm officially concerned. This is certainly the subject of another blogpost, but his shtick has gotten old. In Year One, he does all the things you would expect to see from "Michael Cera" but it isn't nearly as funny as it should be. Maybe that's because the rest of the movie is so bad, or, maybe that's because he's getting played out. Still with Paper Heart coming in August and then the guaranteed awesome Scott Pilgrim vs. The World hitting theaters in 2010, I'm assuming it won't be long before Mr. Cera puts this utter disaster in his rear view mirror. But Year One is a proof that his career could have an expiration date.

Self-Promotion Alert!

In addition to my daily writings at the Observer, I'll be doing occasional e-mails for Very Short List. You can sign up for the service here, and I would suggest doing it; Very Short List sends you a daily e-mail highlighting some under-the-radar event in pop culture (television, books, movies, music, websites), so if you like being on the cutting edge this is the service for you. And, it's free! There is no downside here. I wrote this post, but since there are no bylines you'll have to just follow me on Twitter to find out which ones I end up writing.

Also! Did you know I got linked by the New York Times a couple of weeks back? Me neither! (Well, until I saw it on Friday.) On their ArtsBeat blog, Dave Itzkoff linked to my post about how Away We Go was killed by the overly sappy indie rock score (courtesy of Alexi Murdoch). Mr. Itzkoff writes: "[Rosen] gives Todd Phillips’s use of Flo Rida’s “Right Round” in “The Hangover” a hearty thumbs up."

Then! Over at the Village Voice blog Runnin' Scared, Roy Edroso uses my post on '70s remakes to come up with five remakes that he would never want to see. Fun times!

Vegas Baby, Vegas

There has been such a boon of comedy in the last decade that compiling a list of the "funniest" becomes a futile enterprise. Where do you draw the line? Is Old School that much better than Wedding Crashers? Does The 40-Year-Old Virgin top Superbad? Where does something like Tropic Thunder fit in on the list in comparison to Anchorman? What about Knocked Up?

Based on this abundance of laughers, where to rank The Hangover isn't exactly clear. However, wherever it lands--we're currently apt to place it just below Superbad and Old School on our list of favorites--one thing is unequivocally clear: If another movie winds up being be funnier in 2009 than The Hangover, this will go down as one of the great years for comedy in the last twenty.

You've obviously seen the ubiquitous trailer, but in case you don't know the story: Four guys to go Las Vegas for a bachelor party. When they wake up the following morning, the groom is missing, a random baby is crying in the closet, there's a tiger in the bathroom, and the hotel is gloriously trashed. Oh, and they don't remember a thing. The rest of the movie is spent with the three remaining heroes trying to piece together their antics of the prior night while hoping to find the groom before the wedding... which just so happens to be the following day. Think of this as Memento with baby masturbation jokes.

The three guys are played by Bradley Cooper (as Phil, the school teacher/faux-Lothario), Ed Helms (as Stu, the dentist/nerd) and Zack Galifianakis (as Alan, the groom's would-be brother-in-law/probable pedophile). Rarely do I remember ever seeing a movie give Hollywood three legitimate star making performances at one time, but The Hangover manages to do it with ease. These performances are all perfect: Mr. Cooper, with his A-list good looks and willingness to make himself look a like a preening dickhead, seems poised for superstardom--my man crush on him knows no bounds; Mr. Helms builds on the button-downed aggression he has perfected on The Office to give the funniest performance in the film--there is simply no reason why he can't become the next Steve Carell; and Mr. Galifianakis is so absurd, so balls-out ridiculous at all times, that he could probably wind up with a very lucrative career knocking it out of the park in similar roles for the rest of his life; for once, I can't wait to see the deleted scenes on the DVD release, since I imagine there is plenty more of Mr. Galifianakis on the cutting room floor.

The joy of The Hangover lies in its unrepentant forward momentum. From minute one through the closing credits (which are so ribald, it's shocking their prescence allowed the film to keep its R-rating), the film simply doesn't stop. It's cut together like the final thirty minutes of Goodfellas: The pace is relentless and every mundane event seems to hold the weight of something much more vital. The guys treat eating breakfast with the same confused bemusement that they do when they find out they stole a cop car. And the reason all this works so well has a lot to do with Todd Phillips.

Thanks to Judd Apatow, the once-sought director has been pushed to the side of relevancy in recent years. His comedies like Old School, Road Trip and Starsky and Hutch feel like relics from a by-gone era when all people cared about was laughing. And, honestly, with the exception of Old School, those films don't hold up all that well. Mr. Apatow one-upped Mr. Phillips by adding large helpings of heart and pathos to the machine, and thus made his movies more than just junk food. Mr. Apatow's films are complete thoughts; up until now, Mr. Phillips' have been strings of funny ideas draped around lazy plots.

Here though, the director takes his game to another level, eschewing conventional romantic entanglements for the pursuit of comedy. As great as Old School is, even the most ardent defender of that film would have to concede that the boring third act subplot of relationship angst between Luke Wilson and Ellen Pompeo almost single-handedly sucks the life out of the film.

In The Hangover, though, it's as if Mr. Phillips actively ignores all that. This is a movie about three men doing ridiculous things, and, while there are girls present (Heather Graham makes a brief appearance, long enough to show her boobs), they are literally inconsequential to the story. You can almost hear Mr. Phillips saying, "Why bother with a female lead when I can have Ed Helms blow his top for the 23rd time?" Kudos for everyone involved for allowing this to happen and for trusting the audience to take the ride without softening the story one iota. Besides, I've always found it insulting to assume that girls are only interested in these comedies if there is a romantic angle to be manipulated. Male or female, funny is funny.

And The Hangover is funny. Sure to be as beloved and remembered as Old School and Superbad, it's the type of film that makes you feel so good when it's finished that you can't wait to see it again. The vibe reminded me of Dazed and Confused, which always makes me want to go to a big kegger and listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Basically, at the end of The Hangover, I wanted to go to Vegas and party.

Hopefully, with a tiger.

And, if I'm lucky, Mike Tyson.

WIR: The Unofficial Start of Summer

Week in Review takes a look back at the week that was on television by using short and pithy comments. Pretty simple formula, right? Enjoy!

MONDAY
Gossip Girl: I wrote about the season finale for the Observer. Just some addition notes: it looks like Michelle Trachtenberg is only signed on for three episodes at the start of season three, which is kinda disappointing. Not disappointing? That Serena will end up going to school in Manhattan. It looks like Josh Schwartz figured out how to make a teen show survive the college years: set it in New York.

24: OK, this sucked. Any goodwill that had been built up throughout the season--a notion which I always felt was overblown--was lost during the season finale. Just so we're clear: some guy we've never heard of has been responsible for every bit of terrorism ever on the show. Good to know. Also, ending your season with the lead character in a medically induced coma is a total fail.

TUESDAY
90210: This show is a total mess: why did they fire Dustin Milligan? Why did they have Annie go all Carrie and then run over something (someone) in a fit of rage? Why would Naomi's sister be the worst person ever other than because the script told her to?

Glee: You can see what I wrote about this show over at the Observer.

THURSDAY
Southland: The season finale was pretty solid, but I'm not sure if this series will survive on my DVR come the fall (the switch to Fridays at 9 doesn't bode well either).

FRIDAY
Party Down: This show will end up getting the same kind of press before its second season that Mad Men did. Do yourself a favor and get on board over the summer. You don't want to be left behind the curve.

Don't Stop Believin'

If you watched American Idol last night, chances are you caught some of Fox's new show Glee, which has being positioned as the television series that will replace oxygen in the near future. The only problem? It's not that good! (Though star Lea Michele is amazing.) I reviewed the pilot for the Observer. Look! An excerpt!

Yet with all that good will, the problems with Glee rest squarely at the feet of Mr. Murphy. Truth be told, we’ve never seen his appeal—Nip/Tuck was only moderately entertaining during its first season and has now become unwatchable; his adaptation of Running with Scissors was one of the worst movies from 2006—but here he just seems in over his head as a writer-director.

You can read the rest here. And you can listen to what I'll readily admit is a pretty fantastic glee club cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" right here. Enjoy!