Series of Unfortunate Events

[Archie Liberace 4]

A stunningly bad film that managed to take all of the darkness from the book series and left out all of the fun.

 

There seems to be a trajectory in the careers of film comedians - the rise, the stardom, the mega stardom, the films where no one tries to rein in their performances, the slide to clichedom and mediocrity...

 

This applies to Jim Carrey as much as to Mike Myers and Will ferrell. When they work with directors who try to control their hammy tendencies, they can be quite funny. But when the director sits back and lets the actors do whatever they want, the result is disastrous.

 

This film was directed by Brad Silberling who also helmed the Podcast eligible "Land Of The Lost" a few years later.

[thestray 361]

I've never read the books, so I can't comment on that, but I really liked this movie, full stop.

 

I also kinda disagree with your point about comedians too though. I don't think any of those guys least successful movies came down to their "hammy tendencies", but down to poorly conceived films with poor scripts. I don't think it's their performances not being reigned in that results it's in disaster, just that great comedy writers/directors in film are just few and far between, in my opinion. Carrey, Myers, and Ferrell, as performers, I think when they have good material that plays to their strengths are brilliant. Will Ferrell in my opinion never disappoints even when his films do, and for me that's rarely.

[seanotron 2307]

Yeah, I thought this film was widely well-received. I can't remember any egregiously bad casting or script decisions.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I loved this movie and think Carrey was amazing in this role, but how did this get made applies very fairly to a movie with a plot that is the elderly leader of a group of evil actors trying to murder three children including a baby.

 

Oh and the climax is him trying to marry his 14 year old relative.