Never forget Jub Jub

This had so much potential. It seemed like a confused mishmash of schmultz and dark humour. I'd have thought the directors could have made these two opposing themes work in a balanced way. Nope. We got pointless scenes, one-dimensional unpleasant characters, wooden acting, watered down jokes that didn't land and a plot that was lost in the sea of boring. Jack Black carries the movie almost entirely and delivers a couple of good lines but it seemed like he was holding back - probably because it's a family Christmas movie centred around the Devil. The kids did well enough at being likeable. They brought the charm that a family Christmas movie demands but the moment any adult (who isn't JB) enters the scene, any cutesy joy is immediately erased by sheer unpleasantness.

I gave this one star because I did laugh once or twice. If you want mindless fluff, go for it but don't try to think too hard about what you're witnessing. Melissa McCarthy brings a little bit of life into this dull mess. Almost everyone else is painfully wooden and forced. I even found myself despising Alan Cumming. The plot - although simple, was really frustrating. A guy with unlimited wishes tries to reunite his family. He spends days working on a very basic plan - which is 'buy expensive things' (but grrrr at all the advertising in NYC). Random scenes are thrown in supposedly for comedic value (Go to actual hell, Harvard dude) but they all fall flat and add nothing but painfully wasted minutes. The husband has no personality, is incapable of critical thinking, and looks like he would rather push his own kid down than engage with her. The wife is bland and never questions how come a strange woman is now living with her husband. There is no real magic here. It was slapped together with no passion and I almost cried when I learned that it was from the mind of Richard Curtis.

I laughed the entire way through. It was stupidly bad. Some highlights were Bradley Coopers character trying to be incognito and holding his camera at his crotch, snapping pics. He looks like a hilarious creepy perve. Leslie Bibbs dramatic "Nooo!" was cringetastically funny. There was zero chemistry between the two. There was a stronger love connection between Cooper and Vinny Jones. Watch it if you hate yourself.

20 minutes into the first episode and I absolutely could not stand any of the hosts. One woman clearly had issues with men because she made two comments about how much dudes suck. It's presented in a way that seems infantile to the point of being condescending to its audience. It had potential but struggled to deliver.

This movie is one of my all time favourites. In my unimportant opinion, it's so massively underrated. The whole cast was incredible, the story was multi-layered. The songs hit every scene because of the amazing direction. It all flawlessly knits together. I love a movie with strong female leads and this delivered without being preachy or condescending to us women.

It was so bad, I loved it. The scene where the music changed to some twinkly, light-hearted melody had me rolling with confused laughter. Purely awful from start to end but it had my attention. It really stings to see Bruce lower his standards for health reasons. I finished the movie out of respect.