Someone Marry Barry (2014)

The way the film hews to tiresome conventions is itself a buzzkill, but worse is its sheer lack of energy[.]

There's a good story to be told here underneath all the gross-out humor that permeates throughout. This movie definitely gives the Farrelly brothers a run for their money. Thankfully though, in spite of that, Tyler Labine and Lucy Punch make this movie more watchable than it would've been otherwise. I can imagine, if I had read the film's script before it was filmed, that I would end up hating it. I'm not big on gross-out movies per se, but I can enjoy them if I'm in the right mood. Problem is, this film passes up a chance to tell a decent story about friendship, adulthood, and maturity in order to throw as much gross-out, and in once instance even blatantly racist, humor at you. These are some pretty universal themes here, because I'm pretty sure in most groups of friends, there's the one that still hasn't grown up, or matured, yet. A perfect example of this concept working perfectly is The World's End, who managed to tell a story about sticking by your friends, even if they're completely inappropriate, in a sci-fi setting. It CAN be done, and I'm pretty sure it could've been done here as well even if you still had the gross-out humor. You just needed a good balance between the humor and warmth. It isn't impossible to pull off. Another issue I have is the cast, more specifically Barry's group. I think they made for a decent group, all things considered. But it never feels like a genuine friendship. You can always tell when they cast a real group of friends, because there's a certain comfort and chemistry that can't be duplicated. For example the Apatow guys...the Seth Rogens, James Francos, Jonah Hill Jay Baruchels, Danny McBrides of the world all have a chemistry with each other where they can believably play friends because they ARE friends in real life. See how it works? Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have that as well, but they're a far 'smaller' group as compared to the Apatow group. I digress, the group, while individually the performances are solid, they never really gel as a group of friends. They're just actors being paid to pretend to be pleasant around each other. Essentially that's what acting is, but that doesn't mean that you can't capture something real from your cast's chemistry with one another. And this film doesn't have that. Perhaps my standards for cast chemistry in these bromances are too high, I've been spoiled by the Apatow group and by Simon Pegg/Nick Frost. I digress, the film follows every rom-com cliches you've grown to detest, with a raunchy twist. The scene where Barry tries to get Mel back with him talking about all the gross things he loves about her is an example. I really don't even know why I gave the film the rating I did. I suppose this is really average at best, but it only gets there thanks to Lucy and Tyler...and some of the lines are funny, but nothing to lose your mind over. Decent movie at best, if the Farrelly brothers are your favorite filmmakers then you'll definitely love this. Everyone else should go watch The World's End.