REPLI-KATE (2002)

Graduate student, Max (James Roday), is bone tired. He’s been working 100 hour weeks for the last six months trying to perfect a cloning machine. The initial tests go well, but then, one sleepy evening, things get out of control when he accidentally clones a magazine reporter named Kate (Ali Landry). Normally, this is where somebody would call in the authorities, but Max and his buddy, Henry (Desmond Askew), aren’t the brightest or most ethical people around, so instead of caring for this new accidental human life, they instead teach this new “Kate” all the most important things in life, like: beer is good, flowers are bad and newspapers can be used as toilet paper. Classy.

REPLI-KATE is a funny film with many humorous moments (I thought the scene where Max took the new “Kate” to the department store to buy a “shitload of bras” was well-written and clever), but overall there was just something missing. I couldn't put my finger on it, but REPLI-KATE just doesn’t have that certain mysterious spark to it to make it into a genuinely funny comedy. Which sucks, because I wanted to like this film more than I did.

Not the greatest cloning comedy of all time, honestly it's only a 5 out of 10 film, but still worth checking out if you enjoy lesser-known comedies. Steady pace, weak direction, zero nudity (unless you count a lame two-second shot from like 50 feet away), good acting (especially by Landry in a dual role), early 2000’s fashions, a different Eugene Levy film (BEST IN SHOW) being advertised on a movie marquee, predictable script, mildly satisfying ending.

Would make a completely stupid and baffling double-feature with CONGO.

HELLCATS (2008)

[Update 03/02/2021: Need to redo this review completely. Fix the screenshots also.]

From the DVD cover and that name I was expecting this to be some sexy crazed, female-oriented sex comedy, but no it's actually a pretty subdued film that reminded me of Ang Lee's EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN.

You have three females, each represents a different age bracket: teen, late 20's and early 40's. All three are having relationship problems. The teen has a boyfriend, but she accidentally discovers she actually has the hots for her female best friend. The middle chick has a slacker musician boyfriend who just sits around his messy apartment doing nothing...except cheating! She dumps him and starts dating a handsome beau hunk who's really nice, but she still has feeling for the loser dude. The older female starts a sex-based relationship with a younger man, but maybe it's based on more than sex.

I liked the movie. The director did an outstanding job of capturing three distinctly different females and chronicling the separate problems they faced, but it could have been a little shorter. Also, that song they used towards the end was fucking horrendous! Good acting, intriguing stories, non-existent sex scenes, no nudity, worth watching if you can find a copy, but nothing worth going out of your way for.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (2010)

Twenty-two year-old George-Michael Bluth is dating a hot girl who's 17. For some unknown reason, his cockblocking hipster friends constantly badger the living shit out of him over this. Then, one night at a party he sees a really cute girl (his age) with pink hair. He dumps the younger girl, hooks up with this new girl and now must "battle" her seven "evil" ex's.  He does, he wins and he gets the girl. The End.

I liked this movie for what it was (at least it tried to be somewhat original), but I was still disappointed. I'm not sure what I expected, but I was really wanting to be blown away and taken for a wild ride. Instead, it's just a bunch of hipsters sitting around talking like they're way down on Quaaludes. Finally, we get to the fight scenes and they're just ehhhh. I never got any since of danger from them. All kinds of violent shit would happen to George-Michael, but none of it ever hurt him. He'd get slammed through a wall or bashed in the face repeatedly and he's still be standing there with those intellectually disabled puppy dog eyes and adorable stroke victim mumble-stutter talk that he always does.

What would have been cool is if, instead of being just one step above "The Power Rangers", SPVTW would have gone for an dark R-rating and thrown in some gritty, blood soaked violence. But, I guess, that's not what the filmmakers were looking for. Oh well.

Mildly interesting watch, but with absolutely zero tension and terrible music I felt disconnected from the entire thing. Worth a watch, but that's about it.