Review of Rapture-Palooza (2013) by Josh M — 13 Aug 2014

I've never heard of Rapture-Palooza until now...and I know why. What a strange, disappointing film. I'd imagine neither Kendrick nor Robinson would want people to know they had any part in this. You would think a movie with them at the helm, surround by a strong cast of comedians would have worked. Rapture Palooza plays out like a movie that should only watched on comedy central at 3am, after a night of drinking.

Review Points:

- The name, first. "Rapture-Palooza" Really?

- Anna Kendrick looked like she was ready to fall asleep the entire movie. I get that they were trying to make her (and Daley's character, Ben) look relaxed, and nonchalant about everything going on, but it came across annoying. Every once in awhile Ben freaks out and drops a couple 'holy sh*ts' and holy 'f*cks' but that's about the extent of the emotional range for them. Anna doesn't really show anything but being bored the whole time.

- Craig Robinson pretty much improvises all of his lines. Most of his dialogue is just sexually explicit cracks at Kendricks character, fired off continuously (ba-duh-tshh) While the improv isn't terrible (he talks and acts like a genuine d-bag) the jokes extremely hit or miss.

- I didn't get the zombie neighbor character. Thomas Lennon is a hilarious actor and he was wasted on him.

- Rob Corddry plays his typical 'd*ck' character (like Hot Tub Time Machine, Harold and Kumar) but instead of him having funny moments, he's just mean-spirited and unlikable. Generally, a lot of the comedy of RP is mean-spirited.

- Funny cameo by Ken Jeong as god.

- Paul Scheer was hilarious as the security wraith.

- Really weak climax.

- They tried to circle the movie around, Hangover style (show end of movie first, then work up to it) but they never acknowledged that fact in the narration the second time around which bugged me.

- On that point, the narration was annoying and felt lazy. You can really tell that the problem with the movie is the script. There are great leads, a great supporting cast, a great premise...but they don't really have anywhere to go. They just kind of float along. Rapture-Palooza was just executed poorly.