Funny parts, but overall a waste of time
596537
I read almost exclusively about sailing and really enjoy a well written account of sailing adventures. This book, while occasionally humorous, is really nothing more than Mr Robinson bragging about the fact that he lives on a boat and you don't. In fact, I almost stopped reading after the first couple of chapters, but kept on going, hoping that it would eventually turn around. It did have a few humorous passages  but then he wastes literally an entire chapter (or more) railing about what is wrong with American society. Looking for advice as you prepare to make the move onto a life on the water? Look elsewhere. Mr Robinson's advice is: sell your stuff, get out of debt, sell more stuff, don't buy more stuff, and then buy a boat.
46472
The premise of this movie is so absurd that it could have made a great black comedy, but unfortunately they tried to make a serious movie out of it. The premise is that there's a part of the human brain that controls our sense of self-preservation, and if that part of the brain stops working, you will pretty much automatically kill yourself in whatever way is available. Apparently plants in the northeastern USA felt threatened by man and started emitting a neurotoxin that shuts this part of the brain down, resulting in mass-suicide. (They never said for sure what caused it. Several possibilities were mentioned--terrorism, government experiments, etc.--but in the end it seemed to be implying that the grass and trees were responsible for the deaths of everyone from Boston to Maryland who wasn't able to escape before being affected by the suicide gas.)

In one scene, a policeman shot himself. A nearby cab driver who witnessed the suicide got out of his cab, picked up the dead policeman's gun, and shot himself with it. Then a nearby pedestrian picked up the same gun and killed herself with it, also. It was meant to be shocking, but I was laughing at how ridiculous the whole thing was. Even if there is a part of the brain that prevents us from killing ourselves, if this part stops working, we would still need an actual reason to do it.

In another scene, it was raining construction workers who were walking off the edge of the high rise building they were working on, plummeting to their deaths. One man offed himself by starting a tractor mower, putting it into gear, and laying down in front of it.... Do you see what I mean when I say this could have been a great black comedy?

If it actually was Shyamalan's intention to make a black comedy, he failed, because the humor came through too infrequently. I only laughed at the suicide scenes I mentioned above, and maybe one or two other places, and that's about it. It looked to me, though, like he was actually trying to make a serious, heavy and disturbing movie, and it was anything but. Don't waste your time with this one.
3845880
This movie has 3 major problems:

1 - It takes entirely too long for the monster thing to attack, up to that point it's a How To guide for anyone who wants to write a pathetically boring Relationship struggle movie.

2 - Once the truly interesting part of the film begins, it all ends far to quickly. And Even though the Idea of keeping the Monster largely off camera is pretty compelling, a lot of the shaking camera stuff failed to enthrall me as much as give me a migraine.

3 - I guess I'm not allowed to share spoilers, so let me just say, the plot (besides the "Giant Monster in Manhattan" bit) is just awful and I'll leave it at that.

However, visuals, audio, and the rest were overall entertaining. This is not a bad movie, but check your brain at the door.
3319123
Sorry but I can't agree with the other writers.  Yes, there were some funny parts; however, both Sara and Nick are immature, immature and dumb. You'll wait 10 years to consume a marriage?  Come on.  This is too ridiculous to contemplate.
2256716
The movie was too long and just too plain silly. The opening action scene was great, but it went downhill from there.  Even my 12 year old son said it was too long.
1368125
There were parts that were funny and surprising.  It was also crude.  I love Amy Poehler and wanted to like it. Sadly I think she could do better.  When you have to resort to potty humor I think you sell yourself and everyone else short.
4841980
Apologies to the man's fans, but I guess that I just don't "get" Chris Elliott. In this movie, I find his scenes to be just plain gross; I did not find anything he did to be in the least bit funny. That said, the original cast (yes,including the dead ones;no one ever REALLY dies in horror movies ;<) ) is up to their usual antics. Tim Curry and Tori Spelling are the most welcome additions, even thought their most memorable moments are relegated to the deleted scenes (kudos to Ms. Spelling for really cutting loose in her bedroom scene![pun intended]). How much of the spoof you "get" depends on how many of the spoofed films you've seen (or at least their trailers). The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, The Shining, and a slew of stuff you'll remember from somewhere...even if you can't remember from where. And a lot of the bits ARE funny-- some gross/funny, some stupid/funny, some just lame...a lot like the first movie. What's really amazing is the deleted scenes; this is what they CUT?? The wheelchair duel (love the John Woo doves and Matrix-type stuff!), the aforementioned Tori Spelling scene, the obligatory boring exposition scene, possessions, ghost encounters...along with bits of scenes and dialogue that might have helped some of the included scenes work better. Make SURE you watch the extras before rating this DVD; people on drugs should NOT edit movies! So rent this if you don't have anything better to watch...and the rental's cheap (or free)...and you don't have to make an effort to get it.
1144001
It was cute in two parts of the movie and the rest of it was pretty boring and filled with slap stick humor. April and her guy protege were incredibly annoying through the whole movie and the rest of it was basically just generic scenes made from CGI. I was hoping for at least some good coriagraphed fight scenes but no dice.
2454192
Well, there isn't much you can say about it other than it has a few funny moments but otherwise stupid.
3550961
The book starts out seriously funny.  But about a third of the way through I found myself getting annoyed by the main characters.  The protagonist escapes from his normal life and gets in with a crowd of hippy characters, absolute wasters who are permanently stoned, committing petty theft and generally living for the moment.  Yes, the plot is full of funny episodes, but the general drift that you can give up on all your responsabilities, leave your (admittedly hideous) job, desert your wife and children, rip off as many friends and punters as possible; and still get to see your children as often as you like, receive an excellent divorce settlement, remain friends with your ex-wife, and so on, becomes a little wearing.  But what ultimately wore me down was that all this is relentlessly accompanied by a sort of male fantasy, that a beautiful woman will turn up on the first day of your new life, rip off all her clothes at the first opportunity, fall in love with you, provide constant sex, ask nothing in return (sic).
2783456
Very uneven.  Some funny moments, but meanders and longer than it should be for sure.  And goes crude for the sake of being crude rather than it being funny.
3037849
This book had its funny moments - Mainly at the beginning. However, the further one reads the clearer it becomes that the same 3 jokes are being repeated over and over and over again.  She drinks...A lot! She worries about not having sex...a lot!  She abuses and takes advantage of everyone around her.... a lot! What I had hoped would be a quick and fun read quickly turns to tedium.  I would suggest buying this book for a flight that is going to take several hours ...but once you're done with the flight you should know that there is no point in reading any further..you've gotten some laughs and really have covered every aspect of the character that you're going to learn..even if you do sludge through the rest of the story.
4383747
I rented this movie off of a reccomendation that this movie would be funnier than Anchorman and Dodgeball both of which i haven't yet seen. I thought this movie focused way too much on the 2 stupid guys chasing them, and the maudlin of the 3 friends just talking amonst themselves about the death of a fellow friend.

There were funny parts, and there were very bad formulatic jokes. and the overall drug part was dumb. I hate it when they bring drugs into a movie as something funny, I hate drugs. they are the abomination of this world. and just seeing htem onscreen makes me angry and ruins the movie from there on.

the funniest parts of the whole movie was ina deleted scene which they cut, it was the parking space part, where this crazy guy just acts crazy to Seth green. it was hilarious.

This movie had the actors to be really great but most of the movies plot was really stupid.
764823
Funny stuff.  Skips around a BUNCH, and the Movies section is pure page padding, but the Punkin Chunkin section redeems almost every shortcoming.
2300297
This is another movie that I generally liked, but found myself disappointed by. My biggest problem with "Our Idiot Brother" is that it just wasn't that funny. The funniest parts of the movie were almost all present in the trailers. Combine that with a cliched formulaic script where someone comes in and messes with peoples lives, only to find out in the end that it was all for the best, and you end up with a weak boring movie. Paul Rudd is the generic hippie organic farmer, and while I enjoyed his performance, the role just didn't have enough life or believability. His sister's problems have all been done before, there's a frumpy housewife with a troubled household & a cheating husband, a bossy reporter that's too busy to notice to love of her life right next door, and a lesbian couple with one partner going through a bisexual crisis. The three sisters' idiot brother comes into their lives and seemingly screws everything up, but when the smoke passes they realize that he was only bringing to light problems that were already there. I did enjoy the movie, but I just wish it had attempted to be something more
357016
I'll be honest.  I turned off the movie.  It started slow, and never really improved before I gave up.  The parts that were supposed to be funny really fell flat.
4097249
Meh, it was good, not great.  I felt it dragged on and I felt myself skipping through to the end.  There are some really funny parts, some interesting parts, but I felt some sections didn't need to drag on so much.