Movie Review: Easter Sunday

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C

An okay comedy. 

This movie very much feels like a feature length version of a sitcom episode. All the basic story points here, are very much typical sitcom stories. A father is too busy with work to see his son, two sisters (and the mothers of some of the main characters) are fighting, a boy falls for a girl and is helped out in this department by some wacky relatives and a man doesn't want to admit that he did not get the job everybody excepted him to. This movie adds nothing to these plot points that has not been seen in a million sitcoms before. Because of this the film mainly on how likable the characters are and how funny the humor is. The movie is pretty good on both these accounts but hardly outstanding. Our main character is quite likable. Sure, he almost always does the wrong thing, but he always means well and truly does care about his family. The main problem with the treatment of the characters is that there are too many of them for a movie that is only a little over an hour and a half. These characters come off as likable and pleasant but little more as we are not allowed to spend enough time with them for them to be anything more than one note. The humor can be a mixed bag. However I will admit there were a few jokes that made me laugh out loud (especially those with the main character's ex-girlfriend who is now a cop). Still most of the humor is typical sitcom-esque humor that raises more of a smile than a laugh. Some of the humor completely misses though. This movie stars stand-up comedian Jo Koy and some of the humor comes off as extended stand-up routines. I have never listened to Jo Koy's standup, so it could often be better than it comes off here. These stand-up comedy type scenes to me completely fell flat and reminded me of why I have never been a big fan of stand-up comedy. 

This film provides a pleasant trip to the movies and a few good laughs but is hardly a holiday classic.