Hey folks, Harry here with the long time AICNer Max California and his way way waaaaay early look at Tom Green and Jason Lee's YOU PROMISED. This is a flick that we won't be seeing for quite some time, but it sounds like fans of Tom Green will enjoy it. Of course the recommended theater refreshment for Tom Green films is airplane glue if my memory serves, but heck it has Jason Lee too, so that gets me into the theater... Here's the review...
Hey Harry,
Saw a test screening tonight of a movie that is called either THE PROMISE according to the beginning credits, or YOU PROMISED according to the entry form. It's a comedy starring Tom Green, Jason Lee, Dennis Farina and John C McGinley amongst others, directed by Bruce McCulloch and produced by Brian Grazer (who was in the house, hanging out afterwards). The usual workprint rules applied, there was an occasional jumpy/ scratchy scene and temp music was present (including the James Bond theme in one scene!). It ran around 95 minutes with no end credits and it looks like it'll be PG-13.
Jason Lee plays a regular guy with a fiancee; they've just saved 30 grand which they're going to use to get married and buy a house. But since this is that kind of a movie, along comes his white trash sister, Megan Mullaly of Will & Grace, to hold him to an old promise that he would pay for some of his niece's college tuition, which just happens to be around 30 grand. Lee tries to raise the money by selling old records, calling relatives etc, but nobody wants to help out, so in desperation he calls on his old high school buddy, Duff, played by Tom Green.
Duff is a typically Tom Green-esque lunatic who lives with his mother, runs his own gardening business and has a side job of selling beer to teenagers. The movie follows their wacky/zany/outrageous etc attempts at raising the money, including trying to steal it from a rich nutcase who forces Lee to dress in women's clothing and, er, spoon with him, robbing Duff's uncle's liquor store, and ultimately trying to rob Lee's fiancee's dad (Dennis Farina), who also happens to be Lee's employer (he works at "Homespital" (!), a store that sells motorized wheelchairs and such).
Farina does a good riff on the semi-psychotic dad similar to Deniro in Meet the parents, although his dog Rex threatens to steal the show in some scenes. The great John C McGinley plays a hardass detective determined to catch the would-be thieves in the act, he has a hilarious scene in his office where he explains why he keeps a toothbrush (which Duff has just used) in his drawer, ending with him screaming "GET UP, GET OUT, GET UP, GET OUT" at them over and over. Well I guess you had to be there...
OK I'll make it very clear; whether you like this movie or not will mostly depend on what you think of Tom Green. I happen to enjoy his comedy, I'm in the Moriarty camp of enjoying Freddy got fingered, and although anti-Tom Green types will be pleased to know there is no moose-humping or horse masturbation in this flick (although, there is some dog-humping), it is still Tom Green being Tom Green. With some funny teeth. If you don't like him, this movie isn't going to do anything to change that really. But for the Tom Green fans, he has some instant classic scenes such as when he tries to smash an unbreakable window, and when he and Lee are choosing their false names before the liquor store robbery.
Lee basically plays the straight man and does a decent job, he's playing a different character from his usual snide, sarcastic roles, but there's still enough Jason Lee-ness here to keep his fans happy. I thought the movie worked overall, there were a few scenes that dragged a bit, some of the token sentimental bits didn't really gel with the rest of the film, and the sex scenes between Lee and his fiancee were a bit flat (there's supposed to be a running gag about her always crying when they're screwing, which wasn't really that funny).
So, it's a decent comedy, thankfully free of gross-out gags and bodily fluids flying around, etc!!! No Academy Awards or $200 million blockbuster potential here, but if you're a fan of Tom Green and/or Jason Lee, and you're looking for some laffs, then this is worth checking out.
Max California
