Review Day

There are no spoilers in these reviews.

Our Idiot Brother (PG-13):
This is a pleasant, understated Paul Rudd comedy, good for a few laughs. The title is misleading, and suggests the type of movie that Will Ferrell would star in and poop all over, but Rudd and his co-stars manage to give the proceedings a little dignity. The wrap-up is a little too neat and sudden, but again, this is not supposed to be Oscar-worthy material.

Final Grade: B-

Coupling: The Complete Series:
This is the British series that led to Friends in the US, with slightly more intelligence, frank sex talk, and British accents. The first three seasons were very fun, although the last season suffered from the sudden loss of the best actor (handled with the other actors pretending to talk to him on the phone for several episodes) and the heavy-handed replacement of his character with a more annoying version with the exact same hairstyle. Apparently this actor didn't want to get typecast -- a motivation I don't understand since the series is only 28 episodes in total (British shows don't feel the need to pad a season out with the origins of Jack's tattoos). Free on Amazon Prime.

Final Grade: B

Bumpy Ride by the Hoosiers:
This is actually a re-release of the album, Illusion of Safety. Apparently, the group had issues with Sony under-promoting the album, so they left the label, struck out on their own, and added four new songs to the re-release. The package also contains a DVD of live performances which I have yet to watch. The four new songs are definite B-sides, and don't make the album better on their own (one song is annoyingly repetitive), but more Hoosiers songs isn't a bad thing, and it's always nice to have longer albums for car trips.

Final Grade: B+