77 - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

Connection To CAN'T HARDLY WAIT - Jennifer Love Hewitt.

I mentioned in the post Seventy Five Films, about a couple of films I desired to revisit which included Shanghai Knights and this movie - Josie and The Pussycats was the last movie I'd watched before then and decided to go Can't Hardly Wait for 76 which features Jennifer Love Hewitt, you would guess I did this on purpose to get the chain to go that way to get to this film, but no it didn't occur to me at all at first, I was close to putting on Not Another Teen Movie (which spoofs part of Can't Hardly Wait) before my memory came back on JLH in this movie.

I really don't know why I have a desire to revisit this movie, it's maybe because I've watched a few late 90's horrors this month (Halloween H20, The Faculty), and they've both had a Kevin Williamson connection which I guess goes to show the impact Scream and he had on horror of the late 90's, and of course the original I Know What You Did Last Summer was written by Kevin Williamson - which I like to think he'd written years before and put in a draw until the studios came knocking and he just dusted it off but anyway this is Williamson-less and without spoiling the outcome of the first movie as two returnees in Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr.

My memory told me it wasn't a particularly good movie but watching it now, honestly despite it's faults I actually enjoyed watching it and for this purpose of just this write up I'm just going to put a spoiler mention here then talk about it freely from now on.

Yeah, the all getting lured to the Bahamas doesn't really need to happen, since the guy whose revealed to be the son of Ben (the guy who they ran over in the first movie) as already integrated himself well enough into Julie's (Hewitt) life, but I guess it makes a nice change of scenery and an excuse to include a tropical storm in a slasher movie.

We have an whole bunch of hotel staff, to mostly acts as victims though Jeffrey Combs is fun as his usual creepy self and Jennfier Esposito to me is always easy on the eyes, we also have an uncredited Jack Black complete with dreadlocks and fake accent, which I know the first movie had extra kills (2 I can remember) this kills off at least 7 or 8 who had no idea what they really did last summer, speaking of one of the victims, a work colleague of Prinze Jr who initially doesn't go to the Bahamas is John Hawkes, who is enjoyable and gets killed off way too quick - Prinze Jr must have had a different schedule because really his scenes are only with the others at the beginning and end.

I probably have to say that Freddie Prinze Jr. might be one of the least interesting actors in modern cinema, I felt like I've yet to see him light up the screen, maybe somebody reading this as seen something I haven't seen is just bland here, however it's maybe because at the time I most associated her with Moesha (which I didn't like) but Brandy Norwood really grew on my on performance here and cuteness (was never really into her)

the makes knew Hewitt had some assets so she wears tight clothing couple of times,she even strips to her bikini for a sunbed (which the handle gets tied up and she is trapped - marking the second film I've watched for this blog with that happening - the other was Killer Workout)

Overall, better then I remember or I just prefer it more now, though it's often predictable it does it's job well enough as a post-Scream slasher.

25 - The Cable Guy

 Connection To 3 NINJAS KNUCKLE UP - Charles Napier

America, The World whatever... was just not ready for THIS Jim Carrey in 1996. The audience still wanted him bending over talking out of his butt and much was made of Carrey's $20 million fee for the movie, his run of movies before starting from the first Ace Ventura certainly showed he was bankable but a black comedy like this wouldn't have attracted the same audience even if Carrey took scale. In a different (later) time a movie directed by Ben Stiller and starring Carrey with roles for Jack Black and Owen Wilson and produced by Judd Apatow would sound like such a winner but it just wasn't to be.

I saw this initially in 1997, when I would have been 14/15 and I was one of the small number of British people who knew Jim Carrey was even before Ace Ventura, I knew him from In Living Color, Earth Girls Are Easy and because of them knew who he was when I saw him in his small role in The Dead Pool, so yeah when super-stardom came it was cool seeing it happen.

Anyway I digress and back to 1997, I'd seen all the stuff Carrey was doing post-Ace Ventura and this was a film I was going to see, but by the time I'd seen it, it had already flopped and being slated and in spite of that I enjoyed it, I recall watching it again around 2000 and still liking it, but haven't seen it since then so I'm curious to see if I still will enjoy a film I will defend some 14 years (maybe a touch more or less) as misunderstood and actually a really good black comedy. (all this first bit was actually written before the re-watch)...

Watching it now, I'm still on the side it's a good film - a good film with flaws, the overriding fact is to everyone watching is that Carrey's character is lonely but unhinged, Broderick really shouldn't have let it get that far even after the initial scenes with each other but it's still fun seeing Broderick let the all situation get out of control.

However one of my little problems is I don't think Broderick's character stands out enough, though you could argue he's another actor overshadowed by a force of nature in Carrey performance (I genuienly think the first actors to steal the show from Carrey where Cary Elwes in Liar Liar and Steve Carell in Bruce Almighty), but to be fair Owen Wilson in a smaller scene leaves an impression, Ben Stiller himself and Eric Roberts also pop in enjoyable bits.

There's it fair share of memorable scenes such as the karaoke scene or the jousting or even the aforementioned Owen Wilson scene and it's pace is not too bad. I'm not picking on Broderick here (because I've enjoyed him in plenty) but his scenes without Carrey tend to be some of the less interesting ones though if he shares the scene with Leslie Mann you have at least her to look at.

Overall a film that still as anchor of Carrey's price tag on it but still a film with enough redeeming qualities about it, no question about it though it's Carrey's film.