This I thought was really funny. Like easily above Thoroughbreds (which was sadly the last movie I watched for this) which was more sporadically funny. This was pretty hilarious throughout. I laughed out loud multiple times, even at some stuff that probably seems relatively minor. The lady confusedly asking "Jesus?" in the church twice, or Ricky trying to heat up that water pack over a fire only to have it burst and douse the fire, or Ricky and the child welfare movie arguing about who was the terminator, there are a lot of scenes that made me laugh here and not just smile. The whole first three quarters of the movie I'd say was consistently great and I thought the writing here was excellent.
I also really, really liked the casting. The main two, of course, but the entire cast here was great, even the small roles. The priest or the hunters or the child welfare lady or the cop, there really wasn't a weak casting in the entire bunch. A lot of really good, comically well time performances here. I was a bit surprised after the opening scene because I thought this was going to have a low budget feel to it, but it really doesn't. It was very well directed too, and well shot. I thought it did a nice job handling the heavy scenes that were mixed throughout to without suffering from tonal whiplash. I guess I would say the death of the dog felt a bit out of place as it didn't really serve any sort of purpose at that point in the film other than "uh oh we need another heavy scene to balance out the fun we're having". Still, it really is one of those movies that you could describe as a "feel good" comedy as much as I hate to use that phrase. I just think it really applies here quite well.
In terms of complaints, I thought the final act was much weaker than everything that preceded it. Not that they didn't know how to end, specifically, but more so that they didn't know how to make it end funnily. It didn't have nearly the same impact as the rest of the movie, and after a pleasant surprise of Rhys Darby showing up, the rest of the movie is sort of just a car chase and the predictable resolution. The movie was also probably a bit formulaic overall, but that I didn't care as much about because I was having fun along the way.
Very good film, and funnier than I was expecting. Definitely an easy, feel good sort of comedy even with some occasional dark bits. Worth watching, easily.
In Bruges - 9/10 Hunt For The Wilderpeople - 8/10 Thoroughbreds - 7/10 Mother - 5/10
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Moops? "I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."