Brooks Wisnewski

If you've seen John C Reilly and Will Ferrell movies before, you may be disappointed by the lack of humor and passion in their acting. However, if your favorite Ferrell movie is Elf, you will probably enjoy it moreso than others. We took my grandparents to see it and they laughed out loud a few times. However, my husband and I were falling asleep. I kept waiting for the plot to pick up but it never happened. Nothing was exciting or outrageous, and it quickly became tiresome. For example, the characters would get intoxicated and then there would be a 30 second funny scene, and the characters would sober up and do something else, leaving you wondering what just happened. It reminded me of 22 Jump Street - some goofballs trying to solve a crime. However, in this movie, both the goofball plot and the mystery plot were underbaked, leaving you with some half-hearted romance, a few jokes, ridiculous accents, and a mystery plot that is both confusing and boring. One thing I did like was that there wasn't too much swearing or sex - but are Reilly and Ferrell capable of success within those bounds? The end seemed to set up for a sequel so maybe there will be some redemption. If you have Movie pass or something like it, go see it, but if not, I would save your money.