Anything Goes : The Green Hornet (2011) by Ryan Dennison

The Green Hornet (2011) - ★ Rated PG-13 for sequences of violent action, language, sensuality and drug content Runtime: 119 minutes Starring: Seth Rogen - Britt Reid/The Green Hornet Jay Chou - Kato Cameron Diaz - Lenore Case Tom Wilkinson - James Reid Christoph Waltz - Chudnofsky Directed by: Michel Gondry Written by: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg "The Green Hornet" is a remake of the radio show and television series of the same name, but it includes something that these mediums don’t offer: 3D. However, I saw this in 2D, and I didn’t feel too deprived of good entertainment in the 3D art form because I felt that I was already deprived. This film was not very entertaining at all to begin with. Britt Reid (Rogen) is a man who wants to rid the city of Los Angeles of crime, but likes to party first. His motivation is stated in the opening scene when a young Britt is scolded by his father James Reid (Wilkinson) about getting in trouble in school for beating on some kids. Reid says that the kids were picking on a young girl and he just wanted to help. Years later, Britt’s father is killed and Britt is now left to run his father’s newspaper, The Daily Sentinel. Britt has no ambition and no knowledge of running such a place, so he hires Lenore Case (Diaz) as his secretary. Britt also gets to know Kato (Chou), who was his father’s assistant and mechanic. They strike a friendship which seems too unusual to me, since Kato wasn’t too fond of Britt’s father, but was too indulgent towards Britt when he didn’t even know him in the first place. An example comes when while in disguise, the pair vandalize James’ graveside statue, but in the process, see a couple getting mugged by a group of thugs. After Britt initiates the couples’ aide and Kato doing most of the fighting, Britt decides to fight crime for real. Kato apparently doesn’t have much else to do, so he agrees to join. The rest of the film goes from there... I thought that a screenplay by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg would keep me aching with laughter, like they did with "Superbad" (2007) and "The Pineapple Express" (2008), but the jokes were not very funny at all in this film. Well I’ll admit that the second opening scene was the only one. Chudnofsky (Waltz) tells a young, smart-ass gangster (James Franco) that he will be taking over all the crime in Los Angeles. However, when the young gangster gives a long, monologue of why he doesn’t think Chudnofsky isn’t scary at all, say, because he reminds the young one of his uncle. His examples had me laughing, and feeling that the rest of the film will offer scenes like that at least a few more times...boy, I was wrong. I’ve been fascinated by Michel Gondry’s films, like "Human Nature" (2001) and especially "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004). They offer a funny, alternate view on people’s perspectives, such as the surrealism in "Human Nature" and visions of fuzzy memories in "Eternal..." But "The Green Hornet" was just a mix of unfunny jokes and dull action sequences. The fight scene midway through between Rogen and Chou was unnecessary and too long. I wonder if trimming some scenes would’ve worked for the film, but they would still just have what I didn’t enjoy about it, in smaller numbers.