Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Ah... back from a few days worth of vacation, my first in many years. Literally. I never take a break, and even three days felt like Heaven. Now it’s back to it, full force, and first up this morning, we’ve got a peek at SERVING SARA, the film that was interrupted by Matthew Perry’s extracurricular activities. It’s finally rolling out this weekend, and here’s what our regular reviewer WICKER MAN had to say about it:
Hey Moriarty,
Wicker Man here with my review of "Serving Sara". Yes, this is the final version, and yes, if only that weren't the case. To be fair, "Serving Sara" has its moments. There are some funny lines and some funny gags, but overall, this is is just a mildly entertaining movie which quickly fades from memory.
Essentially, Matthew Perry plays a New York process server who takes forever to serve people. An amusing opening scene reveals the lengths to which he has to go to just to do his job properly. His ass-chewing boss is played by Cedric the Entertainer, a comic I enjoyed in the "Kings of Comedy" movie but who, here, seems to be stuck in the worst performance Martin Lawrence never gave. His rival process server in the company is played by Vincent Pastore. Perry is assigned to serve Liz Hurley's character with divorce papers sent by her husband, the uber-cool Bruce Campbell stuck in a broadly-drawn Texas cattle-tycoon role. Upon finding out she's being divorced, Hurley decides to serve him first according to New York divorce laws, thus potentially entitling her to some money in a settlement. Promising Perry a payout, Perry agrees to help her serve Bruce and abandons his work obligation of serving her. So basically, Perry and Hurley try to serve Bruce before Pastore can serve Hurley. Got all that?
The problem with this film is simply that none of the characters, save for Perry's (barely) have any backstory or individual nuances. They're just stock characters spouting lines in a hackneyed situation that doesn't offer any urgency or personal investment. It's so easy to give movie characters some shading but here the filmmakers decided that no one, not even the main characters, should have any of that. The standouts in the cast are definitely Perry and Bruce. Yes, Matthew is actually pretty funny. Generally, I like Liz Hurley. Generally. I feel she has some untapped acting resources that simply are not on display here. I actually wish she would take some powerful risks with her acting career. She and Perry have some decent chemistry together, which is a plus, but as is so often the case, the development of their relationship segues into some obvious romantic cliches. The dynamic between Perry, Pastore, and Cedric is stylistically akin to De Niro, Pantoliano, and Ashton in "Midnight Run", only without the latter's electric moments. It pretty much felt like that movie was a more successful blueprint for this one. Sure I laughed several times during "Serving Sara", but in the end all I really wanted was simply a reason to care about anyone in this film or their predicaments, bringing us back to basic character development. This is not the kind of movie you'll keep coming back to, but yes, you may get a few chuckles out of it. If you look closely, you'll also recognize Mike Judge in one scene and spot veteran-comic/"Seinfeld" writer Carol Leifer in another.
On that note, I'm out. Congrats, Scott and Drew. Show this town what you're made of.
Wicker Man
Thanks, WickerMan. Hmmm... so it’s MIDNIGHT RUN if Charles Grodin was hot and Martin Brest wasn’t a great comedy filmmaker? I don’t know about that...
"Moriarty" out.
