Perhaps too much Larry David to handle
Added 2/17/2008
In the year 1996, at the end of the 7th season of the hit show he helped create, SEINFELD, Larry David went and made a movie called SOUR GRAPES that showcased similarly neurotic characters dealing with taboo subjects in a comical (albeit politically incorrect) way. It was greeted with a beyond-bashing by critics, the coup de gras Roger Ebert's zero star review, where he claimed he could not remember a movie he disliked as much as this one. Ebert admits to really enjoying David's brilliant CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM on HBO, however, and I can only assume SEINFELD as well. So what happened in Larry's first and possibly last foray into film? Is it really that bad?
Well, no. The film is nowhere near as good as either of Larry's shows, and that can be attributed to many factors. First, his kind of comedy is very episodic, so once it is put into a full-length film, something is lost in translation. Also, the leads are essentially playing Larry/Jerry Seinfeld/George Costanza/Cosmo Kramer kind of hybrids, so there is a sense of perhaps tired familiarity to the whole thing, and also, when people act like Larry David that aren't Larry David, it can be off-putting; yes, George and Jerry pulled it off, but they had teams of writers and such to help perhaps weed out the sheer neurotic nature of David. In other words, this is Larry David at full pessimistic tilt; nobody acts morally right, as there is trickery and cruelty coming out the ears, all because of something extremely trivial.
Anyway, the plot screams SEINFELD/CURB/Larry David: cousins Evan (Steven Weber, from WINGS and various films) and Richie (Craig Bierko, who I have only seen elsewhere in SCARY MOVIE 4 as the Tom Cruise-esque character) head to Atlantic City with their girlfriends for some gambling and hotel sex. Once there, the down-on-their-luck duo try the slot machines, where Evan recommends Richie use 3 coins and not just 1, leading to him lending Richie 2 quarters. Richie wins the jackpot with these quarters, over $436,000, and Evan now feels he is owed at least half of these earnings (2/3 if you want to get technical) because 2 of those 3 coins Richie won with were Evan's. Richie is appalled by the idea, thus setting up a series of cruel jokes, misunderstandings, and CURB/SEINFELD-esque mishaps where Evan and Richie end up without girlfriends and their sanity.
As far as I can tell, critics not only hated the delivery but the material itself. However, this sort of content has been explored very similarly in Larry's other mediums, much more successfully I admit. So it is not that Larry David is not a brilliant guy, but perhaps that he cannot direct his own jokes (strange, I know, but Larry has not directed anything else but this). Like I said, maybe this movie is too much Larry David for one to handle. Without someone else to smooth out the neuroses, you are left with purely unlikable characters doing selfish, appalling things. However, that can be funny and often is here, and I truly believe that the pros outweigh the cons (like a few failed concepts, chief among them the fact that Richie can give himself oral sex... uh huh). So yes, many jokes fall flat, the so-called protagonists are real pieces of work, and in the end, this is not Larry David's finest hour by a long shot, but SOUR GRAPES is pretty good. Preeeety, preeeettty, preeeeetttty, pretty good.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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very freakin' funny!
Added 11/25/2007
SPOILERS BEWARE*****
I don't know why this movie is so maligned- on imdb it gets only 5.4 out of 10. I LIKE this movie a lot. It's funny, it's very accurate in regards to human nature- people do DO this kind of stupid stuff all the time. And the irony in this movie is hilarious!
In this movie one of the 2 cousins wins a jackpot on a slot machine in Atlantic City. The one playing the machine was originally playing only 1 quarter at a time. His friend & cousin tells him that the only way to go is at least 3 quarters. 2 pulls later, he's down to only 1 quarter--- he asks his cousin, "you got 2 quarters, I'm out." He gives them to him and then on the next pull of the handle, JACKPOT- over 400,000 dollars.
Does he owe his cousin any money? That is the question that drives the plot of this movie. And the predicaments they get into are truly funny and their behavior is so true to real life that it's great.
All the performances are fun and funny- especially Weber and Bierko. The used merchants sell this DVD for around $[2-5]... give it a try, I think you'll like it.
Oh, and I think this is WAY funnier than "Curb your Enthusiasm!"
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Lightweight entertainment
Added 9/7/2006
Larry David of SEINFELD fame made his directing and filmwriting debut with SOUR GRAPES, and you can sure tell it came from the mind that conjured that TV classic (and would later star in the unbelievably funny CUR B YOUR ENTHUSIASM). It takes a nasty "little" situation and makes it into a huge mess.
Two cousins/best friends (Steven Weber from "WINGS" and Craig Bierko) take their girlfriends for a weekend in Atlantic City. Bierko borrows a couple of quarters from Weber, puts them in his slot machine, and hits the jackpot. Weber believes Bierko should split the winnings, since no jackpot would have been won if he hadn't given the quarters. Bierko says, "Hey, it was my machine. Here's your 50 cents." Weber decides to get revenge. Bierko gets revenge for the revenge. And so on. And being a Larry David piece...you just know things won't turn out for the best.
My problem with the movie: It feels and looks just like a TV movie. It's 90 minutes long, but feels at least 20 minutes too long. It's just not enough fun for a whole movie. Weber and Bierko are fine...not great, but okay.
So it is sporadically entertaining, and if you like Seinfeld, you'll enjoy the similarities of plot structure and dialogue. Characters often engage in observations about everyday items, completely apropos of nothing. David himself makes a cameo appearance in an amusing tupee.
But it gets flat towards the end...there just isn't enough here. If you can rent the film, you'll find it's a pleasant diversion. But that's all. Thank goodness David went on to divert us with his brilliant HBO show. One episode of that has 10 times the laughs of SOUR GRAPES. For fans only.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Very funny
Added 2/4/2006
I enjoyed this off-beat comedy a lot, and am looking forward to seeing it again sometime soon. I guess the absurd, off-beat dialog and situations turned some people off. Too bad for them.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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After twenty minutes I had enough
Added 1/6/2006
Maybe the movie would be better with actors better suited to the material, but I found the main characters off-puttingly petty, venal, loud, and obnoxious. Mind you, I love Curb Your Enthusiasm, which parades all those qualities and worse before the viewer, but as a high concept movie it does not work. The pacing is mediocre, the characters are boring, and the premise is inadequate for a feature length movie. I watched this with a friend who is also a fan of Larry David but neither of us could go the distance.
24 out of 27 people found this helpful.
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Perhaps too much Larry David to handle
Added 2/17/2008
In the year 1996, at the end of the 7th season of the hit show he helped create, SEINFELD, Larry David went and made a movie called SOUR GRAPES that showcased similarly neurotic characters dealing with taboo subjects in a comical (albeit politically incorrect) way. It was greeted with a beyond-bashing by critics, the coup de gras Roger Ebert's zero star review, where he claimed he could not remember a movie he disliked as much as this one. Ebert admits to really enjoying David's brilliant CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM on HBO, however, and I can only assume SEINFELD as well. So what happened in Larry's first and possibly last foray into film? Is it really that bad?
Well, no. The film is nowhere near as good as either of Larry's shows, and that can be attributed to many factors. First, his kind of comedy is very episodic, so once it is put into a full-length film, something is lost in translation. Also, the leads are essentially playing Larry/Jerry Seinfeld/George Costanza/Cosmo Kramer kind of hybrids, so there is a sense of perhaps tired familiarity to the whole thing, and also, when people act like Larry David that aren't Larry David, it can be off-putting; yes, George and Jerry pulled it off, but they had teams of writers and such to help perhaps weed out the sheer neurotic nature of David. In other words, this is Larry David at full pessimistic tilt; nobody acts morally right, as there is trickery and cruelty coming out the ears, all because of something extremely trivial.
Anyway, the plot screams SEINFELD/CURB/Larry David: cousins Evan (Steven Weber, from WINGS and various films) and Richie (Craig Bierko, who I have only seen elsewhere in SCARY MOVIE 4 as the Tom Cruise-esque character) head to Atlantic City with their girlfriends for some gambling and hotel sex. Once there, the down-on-their-luck duo try the slot machines, where Evan recommends Richie use 3 coins and not just 1, leading to him lending Richie 2 quarters. Richie wins the jackpot with these quarters, over $436,000, and Evan now feels he is owed at least half of these earnings (2/3 if you want to get technical) because 2 of those 3 coins Richie won with were Evan's. Richie is appalled by the idea, thus setting up a series of cruel jokes, misunderstandings, and CURB/SEINFELD-esque mishaps where Evan and Richie end up without girlfriends and their sanity.
As far as I can tell, critics not only hated the delivery but the material itself. However, this sort of content has been explored very similarly in Larry's other mediums, much more successfully I admit. So it is not that Larry David is not a brilliant guy, but perhaps that he cannot direct his own jokes (strange, I know, but Larry has not directed anything else but this). Like I said, maybe this movie is too much Larry David for one to handle. Without someone else to smooth out the neuroses, you are left with purely unlikable characters doing selfish, appalling things. However, that can be funny and often is here, and I truly believe that the pros outweigh the cons (like a few failed concepts, chief among them the fact that Richie can give himself oral sex... uh huh). So yes, many jokes fall flat, the so-called protagonists are real pieces of work, and in the end, this is not Larry David's finest hour by a long shot, but SOUR GRAPES is pretty good. Preeeety, preeeettty, preeeeetttty, pretty good.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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very freakin' funny!
Added 11/25/2007
SPOILERS BEWARE*****
I don't know why this movie is so maligned- on imdb it gets only 5.4 out of 10. I LIKE this movie a lot. It's funny, it's very accurate in regards to human nature- people do DO this kind of stupid stuff all the time. And the irony in this movie is hilarious!
In this movie one of the 2 cousins wins a jackpot on a slot machine in Atlantic City. The one playing the machine was originally playing only 1 quarter at a time. His friend & cousin tells him that the only way to go is at least 3 quarters. 2 pulls later, he's down to only 1 quarter--- he asks his cousin, "you got 2 quarters, I'm out." He gives them to him and then on the next pull of the handle, JACKPOT- over 400,000 dollars.
Does he owe his cousin any money? That is the question that drives the plot of this movie. And the predicaments they get into are truly funny and their behavior is so true to real life that it's great.
All the performances are fun and funny- especially Weber and Bierko. The used merchants sell this DVD for around $[2-5]... give it a try, I think you'll like it.
Oh, and I think this is WAY funnier than "Curb your Enthusiasm!"
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Lightweight entertainment
Added 9/7/2006
Larry David of SEINFELD fame made his directing and filmwriting debut with SOUR GRAPES, and you can sure tell it came from the mind that conjured that TV classic (and would later star in the unbelievably funny CUR B YOUR ENTHUSIASM). It takes a nasty "little" situation and makes it into a huge mess.
Two cousins/best friends (Steven Weber from "WINGS" and Craig Bierko) take their girlfriends for a weekend in Atlantic City. Bierko borrows a couple of quarters from Weber, puts them in his slot machine, and hits the jackpot. Weber believes Bierko should split the winnings, since no jackpot would have been won if he hadn't given the quarters. Bierko says, "Hey, it was my machine. Here's your 50 cents." Weber decides to get revenge. Bierko gets revenge for the revenge. And so on. And being a Larry David piece...you just know things won't turn out for the best.
My problem with the movie: It feels and looks just like a TV movie. It's 90 minutes long, but feels at least 20 minutes too long. It's just not enough fun for a whole movie. Weber and Bierko are fine...not great, but okay.
So it is sporadically entertaining, and if you like Seinfeld, you'll enjoy the similarities of plot structure and dialogue. Characters often engage in observations about everyday items, completely apropos of nothing. David himself makes a cameo appearance in an amusing tupee.
But it gets flat towards the end...there just isn't enough here. If you can rent the film, you'll find it's a pleasant diversion. But that's all. Thank goodness David went on to divert us with his brilliant HBO show. One episode of that has 10 times the laughs of SOUR GRAPES. For fans only.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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