Review of Gulliver's Travels (2010) by Jiana W — 02 Sep 2011

I usually like Jack Black in movies. For him to be the lead in a professing comedy and NOT be funny, that's a sure sign of the quality of the film and the material he's working with. Even the GAG reel is lackluster, with one clip of Black and a co-star trying to start up a car and having major issues. It's funny but it's a tell-tale sign because of the fact that it's the only clip in the "reel" and it's one of the two instances I actually laughed out loud at anything having to do with this movie.

Black can't even make his character likeable or sympathetic, and I get the impression that the writers may have *wanted* him to be so. They failed, because he's little more than an annoying buffoon. His Black-esque antics and hyperactivity are filed down and the only time he shows any of his characteristic high-energy is towards the end, during a passionate yet cringe-inducing and fast-forward-button-pushing rendition of "War". But by this time, I had grown weary of this flick.

Emily Blunt and Amanda Peet are also sadly and atrociously wasted in this farce. Though I will say Blunt contained the second funny line of this film (the part where she punches Chris O'Dowd, takes a cocky gangsta stance and exclaims, "Boosh!") Where this comes from, I don't know since it seems out-of-character for the somewhat proper princess-- but it was unexpected and hilarious to see Blunt behaving that way so I did laugh out loud at it.

Amanda Peet plays Black's love interest, a travel editor who is the one who sends him to the Bermuda Triangle in the first place after he impresses her with a plagiarized piece about Mexico. Hollywood is just a crazy animal, to be sure. If the pudgy Jack Black were a woman, there's no way she'd be allowed to be a romantic lead unless it were in some sort of feel-good, love-yourself-as-you-are dramedy. The fact that this is one of 3 roles where I've seen Jack Black as a romantic lead opposite gorgeous women just makes me shake my head at the double-standard, the implausibility of it all.

Overall, a silly, brainless, unfunny flick that wastes the talents of Jack Black, Emily Blunt, and Amanda Peet. Definitely see something else.