Vanessa Bayer

Reviews

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

When you watch Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, a new buddy comedy written and starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, you start associating other movies with it.  “This is Kristen Wiig’s Austin Powers”,  “This is Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo’s take on A Night at the Roxbury”,  “In fact, this is the best Saturday Night Live movie that never was an SNL skit in the first place!”.  The viewer does this because…

Reviews

The Polka King

Fans of Nacho Libre may be the ones enjoying The Polka King more than other Netflix viewers.  After all, it’s a crooked “Robin Hood” story starring Jack Black as an eccentric entertainer.  The Polka King, however, is a biopic.

Reviews

Office Christmas Party

It’s business as usual for Office Christmas Party, the latest exercise in R-rated edginess being applied to an otherwise toothless situation.  Audiences may have been given a dose of this same seasonal comedy in Bad Santa 2, but a more relevant comparison is between Office Christmas Party and 2011’s A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.

Reviews

Trainwreck

By: Addison Wylie Trainwreck is much more than a vehicle for rising comedic star Amy Schumer.  It’s easily Judd Apatow’s strongest work as a filmmaker, evidence that Schumer’s honesty flows through her long form screenwriting, and the best romantic comedy this critic has seen since 2008’s criminally underrated Definitely, Maybe. Definitely, Maybe is a standard sort of rom-com, where Trainwreck sends home the same type of charm but also reflects contemporary pessimism towards romance.  It…