Anne Hathaway received her first Oscar Nomination for best actress thanks to a strong acting performance as a recovering drug addict home for her sister’s wedding.

Hathaway leads a talented cast of mostly unknown actors and actresses that make this movie seem more like a long home movie that follows Hathaway’s character “Kym” through a week at home with her disfunctional, but loving family.  Bill Irwin is solid as the father trying to keep the family together despite the stress of a wedding and the emotional strain that Kym puts on the family.  Rosemarie DeWitt is great as Kym’s sister Rachel who tries to balance being the center of attention while planning for her wedding with an addict sister who needs to be the center of attention.  Debra Winger has a small, but solid, emotional part as the distant, remarried mother of th sisters.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The documentary/hand held camera style may be difficult for some, and except for a couple scenes (wedding rehearsal dinner and dancing at the wedding) that seem to go on forever, this is a pretty good movie with really good acting… I give it 7.0 out of 10.

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“Get Smart” is a respectable remake from a TV classic, with plenty of action and plenty of laughs.

Going into seeing this movie, I had concerns in comparison to the classic TV series that there’s an age difference between Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway… and that was explained, the difference in time between the CONTROL Agency set in the 1960’s in the TV version and the modern day CONTROL are also explained early on.
(Other than the original Maxwell Smart – Don Adams) Steve Carell seems born to play this role… serious or comedic at all the right times, bumbling in most scenes with real action hero moves in others.  

Anne Hathaway is a great compliment, Alan Arkin is great as the Chief, Terenace Stamp is great as the leader of CHAOS, Dawyne (”The Rock”) Johnson, Masi Oka (”Heroes”) and the entire supporting cast are solid.

The overall storyline is fairly predictable, but how they get from plotpoint to plotpoint with Carell’s goofiness is funny and less predictable.

This was a pleasant surprise, but die hard fans of the classic TV show may feel different.

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“Bride Wars” is a good date movie or for a group of girlfriends, but its a must for brides and grooms-to-be !!

If you thought your wedding planning was overhwelming or hectic or frustrating or anxious or drove you a little batty… you probably never went through what friends Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) go through on the way to the biggest day of their lives.

This movie has all the elements of a box office hit, “Bride Wars” should knock “Marley & Me” out of its two-week run at #1 at the box office.

In what is the best wedding comedy since “Father of the Bride” (1991), (more…)