Dirty Work/Fantastic Mr. Fox/Ghost World

Dirty Work (1998)

Written by Frank Sebastiano, Norm MacDonald and Fred Wolf, directed by Bob Saget

As big of a Chris Farley fan I was when I was in elementary and middle school, I can't believe I hadn't seen Dirty Work until just now. Not that it's that big a deal; it's no good at all. However, I'm much more a fan of Norm MacDonald in retrospect than I ever was in those days, and here, he is simply himself: awkward, dry and obvious. He can't tell a joke without laying it all out for the viewer and stressing that it is a joke. I like that about him, though. Also, this might be Farley at his funniest since Tommy Boy. I have nothing to say about the plot or the other performances.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Written by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, directed by Wes Anderson

As big of a Wes Anderson fan as I am, I can't believe I just watched Fantastic Mr. Fox, the film adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's novel, for the first time this past Sunday. Just as I expected, it was gorgeous, funny and touched on the same themes as every other Anderson film (disfunctional family, bad fathers, redemption, etc.). The story, or at least Anderson's version of it, is a little inconsistent, but that doesn't even matter considering the strength of the voice acting performances and overall look of the film. Unsurprisingly, Anderson's clever and unconventional dialogue helps quite a bit, too.

Ghost World (2001)

Written by Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff, directed by Terry Zwigoff

This adaptation of Daniel Clowes' comic book series is pretty terrible. I don't understand this, as Clowes himself co-wrote the film. Aside from Steve Buscemi and Bob Balaban, the acting is atrocious. The cynicism of the two main characters is never funny and gets irritating quickly. The writing is sloppy. There are films with these types of characters and about these kind of subject matters that are much better. Why do people love this one so much?