The Babymakers
Netflix | Instant Video | Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar
Written by Peter Gaulke and Gerry Swallow
Starring Olivia Munn, Paul Schneider, Kevin Heffernan, Nat Faxon, Aisha Tyler, Jay Chandrasekhar
Duck Attack Films
Rated R | 95 Minutes
Release Date: August 3, 2012

After being without the internet for about a month, perhaps longer, I was finally able to surf the interwebs at home. And so I had to get all caught up on what I had missed out on, then it was time to fire up the ole PS3 and see what was on Netflix Watch Instant. I know the whole Disney library was added and a bunch more, but I figured the easiest way to get caught up, just go through the recently added ones. Well as you can see, The Babymakers was the first one that I came across that I was somewhat interested in watching.

I was a big fan of Olivia Munn when she was on Attack of the Show, and wished her all the best when she left. It seemed that most of the movies she was involved with ended up being straight to DVD releases, which is never a good sign. But luckily for her, she had a great 2012, with being on The Newsroom and Magic Mike, so hopefully that luck will continue in 2013. I remember seeing Super Troopers and thought it was okay, and not amazing like most people did. And I remember Paul Schneider from Lars and the Real Girl, a great movie you should check out. It’s got Ryan Gosling in it, so that should be enough for most people.

The Babymakers
DIRECTOR: Jay Chandrasekhar
WRITERS: Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow
STARRING: Olivia Munn, Paul Schneider, Kevin Heffernan, Jay Chandrasekhar, Aisha Tyler, Nat Faxon
Millennium Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: August 3, 2012 (limited)

I love me some Broken Lizard. The comedy troupe behind movies like Super Troopers, Club Dread, Beerfest, and The Slammin’ Salmon have brought me hours of joy (often times of the drunken variety).

The Babymakers isn’t a Broken Lizard production, unfortunately, but it does relate to them. Jay Chandrasekhar (director and star of the aforementioned Super Troopers, Club Dread, and Beerfest, as well as director of multiple episodes of hit shows like Arrested Development, Chuck, Psych, and Community) directed the movie, and Kevin Heffernan (the much-quoted Farva from Troopers) star in supporting roles. Paired with lead stars Paul Schneider (who I loved in Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) and Olivia Munn (who I’m also a big fan of from her days on Attack of the Show), create a comedy I can get behind with a gigantic smile on my sometimes-hard-to-please face. With all of these components so appealing to me as a movie fan, The Babymakers was easily a must-see flick.

Just to get it out of the way early, Robert Pattinson does a decent enough job as the lead in the adaptation of the Sara Gruen bestseller Water for Elephants and provides some measure of hope that he may have a viable future once the Twilight series ends. Granted, the only non “vampire” related role I’ve seen Pattinson in without the words “Harry Potter” in the title was last year’s horrendous Remember Me, so seeing the WFE trailers with him in the lead alongside two Oscar winners led me to think he’d be the talent Black Hole in this trio. Again, he’s not, and there are times when his work is better than the film he’s in.

Just goes to show what you can do when you’re not playing a mopey little bitch in an inexplicably popular teeny serial.

Time for some SPOILER TALK! Below are SPOILERS for Water for Elephants. Free free to add your thoughts in the Comments section.

Water for Elephants
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Starring: Christoph Waltz, Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Schneider, Hal Holbrook
Release Date: April 22, 2011

Ask somebody of yesteryear about a circus (because rarely do people attend circuses nowadays) and you’re inclined to get a favorable answer and probably be subjected to many stories recollecting their happiness such an event gave to them. This perspective of the ever-popular big top productions of the early 20th century, promising incomprehensible acts of wonder and merriment, usually comes from members of the audience sitting in awe at the wide-eyed spectacle that unfolds before them. But little are they aware of the events that unravel behind the scenes, such as a ringmaster’s wife being wooed by the circus’ veterinarian. Spectators of circuses are disconnected from all that occurs when elephants, lions, acrobats and horses aren’t dazzling them with their tricks and poetic beauty. But like what David Lynch once taught us in Mulholland Dr.: all is an illusion.

In contemporary times, an old man (played pitch perfectly by Hal Holbrook) hobbling with a cane has escaped a nursing home. He finds himself in pouring rain outside of a circus. Suddenly he comes to a halt and begins to admire the place, maybe looking for lost memories that have passed him by. We learn that he was part the Benzini Brothers circus back in 1931. But maybe that was an illusion, being it was such a long time ago. The owner of the circus (Paul Schneider) who finds this old man is soon given a history lesson regarding the 1931 Benzini circus. Water for Elephants then follows the old man’s story, a guaranteed tear-inducing technique reminiscent of Titanic and The Notebook.