Movie Reviews: Accepted, Akeelah and the Bee, Friends with Money

Busy weekend movie-wise! I thought I'd review all three of these at once. I also saw Talladega Nights, but instead of reviewing, I'm just going to basically nod and agree with PW's Review.

Accepted
Justin Long (Dodgeball, Galaxy Quest) plays Bartleby Gaines, a semi-slacker teen who learns he's been rejected from all the colleges he applied to. In an effort to fool his disappointed parents, he enlists the help of a few friends and creates a website and an acceptance letter from a fake university. Word gets out about a college accepting anyone, and suddenly Bartleby (or "B" to his friends) finds himself running a school for people others would consider losers.

I expected Accepted to be so-so, it was the second half of the double-feature we saw at the Drive-in, but I was pleasantly surprised at the bright and fun story. The comedy is broad, and takes potshots at "normal" people/colleges in the "Loser Finally Wins" style seen in movies like Animal House.

Rated PG-13 for good reason, especially language (the initials of the college spell a cuss word which is used pretty much constantly). There's some suggestive situations, but no actual nudity. I'd take older teens to it, if you don't worry about them dropping out of college to pursue non-traditional dreams.

4 out of 5 stars

Akeelah and the Bee
Riding on the coattails of Spellbound, this movie attempts to make spelling bees cool. It held my interest and was very well acted by relative newcomer Keke Palmer, as well as Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett and Curtis Armstrong. However, it was fairly predictable and unrealistic. I would say that if you cross Sister Act 2 with Spellbound and a pinch of pretty much any of the teacher-in-a-poor-school-trying-to-make-a-difference movie, you've got the basic idea. I felt as though additional "heart-wrenching" storylines were added for tearjerk value without adding to the plot, but overall it was a nice family-friendly movie. It may encourage younger kids to participate in spelling bees, or to read or play Scrabble -all good things.

2 and 1/2 out of 5 stars

Friends With Money
A chick-flick with the message that everyone has their own troubles, this movie features four female friends who are in different economic classes and marriage states. The main character is Olivia, played by Jennifer Aniston; the only one of the group who isn't married and is in financial hardships. After quitting her teaching job, she's been working as a housekeeper, while the other women all have housekeepers. A sort of wandering, aimless picture, we see glimpses of the women's life as they go about everyday activities, struggling with their problems and helping each other.

The movie felt like it wanted to go in several different directions, but never managed to get moving in any of them. Not a tear-jerker, not funny enough to be a comedy, not deep enough to be a drama, I had a hard time paying attention to the whole movie. I didn't hate it, didn't turn it off, but never really got into it.

2 out of 5 stars