Review of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014) by Patrick L — 01 Apr 2015

"It is not terrible, horrible, very bad or awful, it's just not good".

Movie Review: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Date Viewed: October 11 2014.

Directed By Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl, Youth in Revolt and Cedar Rapids).

Screenplay By Rob Lieber, Based on the book by Judith Viorst.

Starring: Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Ed Oxenbould, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey, Bella Thorne, Sidney Fullmer, Jennifer Coolidge, Donald Glover, Megan Mullally, Toni Trucks, Samantha Logan and Dick Van Dyke (as himself).

I didn't have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day when I saw "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". When I saw the trailer for it, I thought, "Disney, I already saw "Old Dogs", can you guys at least do something original". Even though it is not good, "Alexander" is surprisingly not bad. It will be a perfect distraction for kids but parents everywhere will easily say, "This is worse than Alvin and the Chipmunks". Trust me, "Alexander" is not bad. The three "Alvin" movies (to me) were the worst Christmas gifts I ever received.

"Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" follows an 11-year-old boy named Alexander Cooper (Ed Oxenbould) who has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. The day begins with Alex getting some gum stuck in his hair, he almost sets his science class on fire and so on. Alex is about to celebrate his 12th birthday but he gets angry at a student for inviting everyone of his friends to his birthday party. He also feels left out by his family so he makes a birthday wish, he wishes that his family will suffer a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

The next morning, the Cooper family household is in chaos. Alex's father (Steve Carell) has just landed a job interview as a game designer for a video game company but he gets stuck taking care of baby Trevor, Alex's mother (Jennifer Garner) is working for a publication company that is trying to publish a new children's book but she finds out that there is misprint in the book and she must stop Dick Van Dyke (playing himself) from reading it at a public reading, Alex's older sister, Emily (Kerris Dorsey) is rehearsing for the role of Peter Pan in her upcoming school play but she gets really sick with a cold and Alex's teenage brother, Anthony (Dylan Minnette) is trying to earn his driver's license and he also plans to take his girlfriend, Celia (Bella Thorne) to the prom but unfortunately, Celia dumps him and he fails his driving test.

The movie is based on a 1972 children's book written by Judith Viorst and it was directed by oddly enough, Miguel Arteta who did "Cedar Rapids", "Youth in Revolt" and the dark Jennifer Aniston comedy "The Good Girl". The movie's target audience is obviously little kids but there is a lot of rude humor in the film including one scene where Jennifer Garner says the word penis four times. Why? Because she saw her teenage son naked in the shower. Stay with me parents, trust me on this, it's not terrible, horrible or very bad, it's just forgettable.

Here's a movie that had disaster written all over it but at least it's pleasant for the under 10-set.