TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIEW OF "MAN UP"

BY CHRISENA RICCI

The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...

I have officially found my new favorite romantic comedy. This film has all of the unfortunate circumstances of Bridget Jones's Diary, with all the discomfort of Meet The Parents and a dash of You've Got Mail sprinkled on top. That is to say that it's a perfect combination of awkward, heartwarmingly honest and tragically dysfunctional.

When single Nancy (Lake Bell) is gifted a self- help book from an annoyingly chipper 24 year old, Nancy accidentally steals a blind date meant for someone else. Every time she considers coming clean about the deception, Jack (Simon Pegg) says something that instantly makes her stop. Once her secret is revealed, the two are pushed together by fate and are forced to spend an entire night out. Every limit is tested. The two run into Jack’s cheating ex-wife, Nancy’s stalker from high school, bad traffic and wrong directions.

It has been a long time since I have been so connected and invested in a comedic story. The man next to me was literally laughing so hard he gave himself a coughing fit. However, don't think that this is only a comedy, because there is much more depth than the stereotypical rom-com. A moving monologue by both romantic leads actually had me surprisingly in tears. The entire film moved at a quick clip with farcical like pacing, but when these specific moments came, the entire film paused, allowing the authenticity carry the pauses.

The soundtrack was engaging and fun, the acting was both high energy and honest, and the story was interesting and my new favorite.

VERDICT: MUST SEE

DIRECTED BY Ben Palmer WRITTEN BY Tess Morris STARRING Simon Pegg, Lake Bell

Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com

CHRISENA RICCI once went to a costume party dressed in an all black dress and black wig. No one there could guess who she was. So she shouted out, "I'm Christina Ricci, without the T or I and add an E!" Everyone stood there confused, she was annoyed, so she stormed off. She never returned to that apartment ever again. Which is fine, because she later realized she was at the wrong party. She now lives in New York City.

ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD // A FILM REVIEW OF "THE WORLD'S END

BY MATEO MORENO

Legend has it there was a boy named Gary King and he had a group of friends who followed him everywhere.  On one magic night, Gary and his friends embarked on a quest that no other human could accomplish: to hit 12 pubs and have a Pint at each, ending with the famed THE WORLD'S END.  Though they gave it a good fight, Gary and his mates never finished that pub crawl, instead ended up on a hilltop overlooking the town that was theirs.  The oracles have predicted for years that Gary would return to the mythic town of Newton Haven, with his mates in tow, to finish the propisized pub crawl and thus will bring peace to all the lands until the end of time.  Um... or something like that.

Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Nick Frost reteam for the third chapter of the "Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy (the first two being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) tackling yet another genre.  Pegg plays Gary King, a washed up alcoholic who hasn't ever stopped trying to recreate the glory days of his high school experience.  When he was a lad, he and his friends tried a 12 pub epic crawl and never made it to the final bar, "The World's End."  Now, 20 years later, Pegg tracks down his mates Andy, Steven, Peter, & Oliver and drags them back to their old stomping grounds to attempt the crawl once again.  But once they arrive, things are far from the same.  Something is rotten in the state of Newton Haven, and everyone there is just a bit... off.  So sets the stage for a rollicking and hilarious trip down memory lane, which included the reappearance of an object of both Gary and Steven's affections Sam (Rosamund Pike), who also happens to be Oliver's sister.  Having tackled Horror and Action, the trio set their sights on Sci-Fi and nail it.  The first half of the movie plays just like a buddy comedy and is thoroughly hilarious and heartfelt.  Then suddenly, the movie goes apeshit and the Sci-Fi element comes in.  And mannnnn does it deliver.  It's strange, wacky, and relentless.  Just another day in the mind of three comedic masters.

Pegg relishes in making Gary look like a jackass, and he really is, but he's also one you can get behind and sympathize with.  You want him to win at the end of the day, if for nothing else than to see him not loose yet again.  He's fast and furious, as is his buddy Andy (Frost).  Frost is all buttoned up and reserved, feeling sorry for Gary's decline over the years.  But once he gets a few Pints in him, Frost lets loose and has you in his comedic pocket from then on.  The entire ensemble of friends are great, from Martin Freeman's (The Hobbit, Sherlock) deadpan Oliver to to Paddy Considine's regreatful Steven, Eddie Marsan's needing to let loose Peter, and the charming Rosamund Pike desperately trying to figure out what the hell is going on.  Showing up for some very funny moments is David Bradley (the Harry Potter films) as the creepy old man who may have all the answers.  The finale may lag a bit, but the final moments make up for it, and it certainly entertains you tenfolds.  Take a trip to The World's End but don't try a pub run before.  Leave that for after.

MATEO'S GRADE: B+

Directed by Edgar Wright Written by Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike  Rated R for Adult Language, Violence  NOW PLAYING

BOTTOM LINE: A strange, odd, hilarious good time.  With this crew, what else would you expect?