- FIFTY PILLS - WIDESCREEN (DVD MOVIE)
Based on the propaganda film from 1936 that has become a cult hit, Reefer Madness is the height of camp entertainment! Framed as a "documentary", a straight-laced high school principal (Alan Cumming) seeks to impart his wisdom about the demon weed by telling a frightful tale about the fate of two innocent teens who fall under the spell of the drugs. Filled with outrageously funny and musical performances by Neve Campbell, Christian Campbell, Kristen Bell and Steven Weber, Reefer Madness is the feel good event of the year!If the idea of making a musical out of Roger Corman's Z-movie quickie
The Little Shop of Horrors sounded weird, stick around for the all-singing, all-dancing
Reefer Madness. Deliriously based on the notorious 1936 anti-pot social-guidance film, this is an ultra-campy enterprise that lands somewhere between
Rocky Horror! and a John Waters comedy. Christian Campbell and the spritzy Kristen Bell play the innocent teens lured into a soul-sapping cloud of marijuana dependence by pencil-mustached pusher Steven Weber and his long-suffering dame, Ana Gasteyer. The cast includes femme fatale Amy Spanger and a cameo by Neve Campbell, who dances her way through one sequence. The musical was written and composed by Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney, who re-create some of the kookiest scenes from the original movie ("Faster! Faster!"). Their funniest idea is to frame the sordid saga with a black-and-white story of a government agent showing a public-service film to horrified small-town citizens; he's played by the reliably sinister Alan Cumming, who also pops up in a variety of guises in the film-within-the-film. The only problem with this made-for-Showtime version of the stage show is that camp tends to wear thin, especially at 109 minutes, despite the expert song parodies. Even the original hour-long
! Reefer Madness got old quick.
--Robert HortonAn amb! itious y oung New Yorker (Kristen Bell), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of those who threw them in: a sausage magnate (Danny DeVito), a street magician (John Heder), an adoring painter (Will Arnet) and a self-admiring model (Dax Shepard). But when a charming reporter (Josh Duhamel) pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing? Oh, type-A, über-focused, tightly wound New York Career Girl, will you never learn? Kristen Bell, the growing darling of romantic comedies, crisply portrays the working gal whose life is super organized and rewarding--except for the pesky lack of a real boyfriend. What will it take to loosen her buttoned-down drive and open her heart to a chance at love? Well, when you're as tough a case as Bell's Beth, you're going to need the heavy artillery: Italy. When Beth visits Rome for the wedding of her sister, ! Joan (Alexis Dziena,
Entourage's Ashley), she's suddenly awash in the city's romance. She visits the famous fountain
d'amore and retrieves coins from it, hoping for magic.
When in Rome succeeds because it allows reality to coexist happily with that magic--which brings forth several potential suitors for Beth. Bell is a delightful actress and brings nuance and depth to a role that's rather two-dimensional. Her suitors include Jon Heder, Danny DeVito, and Josh Duhamel, who plays Nick, a wiseacre hunk with a brain behind that self-effacing nature. When Beth suddenly has five men in love with her--one for each coin--she wonders if Nick's feelings are real, or just the fountain's crazy magic. Duhamel and Bell have an appealing, old-fashioned bantery chemistry, and if the audience knows well before Nick and Beth that they are perfect for each other, well, the journey is pleasant and the leads are engaging. DeVito is hilarious, and other great cameos belong to! Anjelica Huston and Peggy Lipton. Fans of films like
My Bi! g Fat Gr eek Wedding, as well as fans of Bell and Duhamel, will have fun
When in Rome. --
A.T. HurleyOfficial Selection - Tribeca Film Festival 2006; Bonus Features: Filmmakers' Commentary; Deleted & Extended Scenes; Behind the Scenes Featurette
