News Taffy

Hello everyone! I must say that after an incredibly busy week full of homework and meetings, I had probably one of the best weekends ever. Friday night, I attended a benefit show for a pretty amazing organization called Project Lovemore (you should look it up) and some old friends came into town to visit, which made the night really fun. We played Fishbowl, ate pancakes and stayed up way too late, but it was worth it. The rest of the weekend consisted of lunch at Blue Coast Burrito, an impromptu dance session in Local Culture, one of the funniest episodes of SNL that I’ve seen in a long time, bagging potatoes at my church’s care center, (which may not sound like a lot of fun, but when you have friends like I do it’s pretty great), two loads of laundry, The Bodyguard and The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Now, you all might not care about any of that, but I said it all to say that my friends are the reason why my almost four years of college have been amazing and they help make going to the movies, and everything else, every week a lot more fun. Besides who wants to go to the movies every week alone? NO ONE! This week my dear friends Hannah, Rachel and Stephanie accompanied me to the romantic comedy action flick This Means War.

This Means War is the epitome of a “bromance,” with hunky CIA agents/best friends Tuck (Tom Hardy) and FDR (Chris Pine) fighting for the heart of product testing executive Lauren (Reese Witherspoon). The movie starts out with Tuck and FDR on assignment in Hong Kong at a club where they are supposed to stop international criminal Heinrich from obtaining a weapon of mass destruction, but the mission goes wrong and ends with the death of Heinrich's brother Jonas. After finding a piece of fabric in his dead brothers hand, Heinrich tracks down the source of the fabric and upon discovering that it belongs to FDR, he sets out to seek revenge against both he and Tuck. To protect them, their boss, Collins (Angela Bassett), assigns them to desk duty when they return to America.

From the beginning, we see that FDR is a womanizer who is totally self-centered and egotistical, while Tuck, divorced and a dad, is more of a one woman kind of man looking for real love. Tuck soon decides that it is time for him to get back out there and takes a shot at online dating. Lauren, who is stuck in that post break-up nightmare where you keep running into your ex and his hot new girlfriend, is also on the lookout for love, and with a little help from her friend Trish (Chelsea Handler), she gets her own online profile. Tuck and Lauren go on a date, with FDR not too far away in case she turns out to be a troll, and they actually have a good time. After the date, Lauren runs into FDR at a video store and he tries to put the moves on her, but she doesn’t fall for his smooth talk. FDR then crashes one of her focus groups and with some persuasion; she agrees to go on a date with him.

Soon, the guys figure out that they are dating the same girl, but instead of one of them bowing out, they both decide to keep dating Lauren without telling her they know each other. They also agree not to interfere with each other’s dates or have sex with her and are letting her come to a decision between them. Obviously neither sticks to the rule about not interfering and resort to their spy technology to find out what Lauren likes and to sabotage each other’s dates.

The rest of the movie is a bunch of back and forth between the two guys and with Lauren who just can’t figure out what she wants. In addition to the drama in their love lives, Tuck ad FDR are also trying to keep tabs on Heinrich who appears to be getting closer to them. Soon the truth comes out about Tuck and FDR, bullets fly, a car chase ensues, and when the smoke settles Lauren will finally make a choice.

I must say that I had very high hopes for this movie and I expected to laugh the whole time and guess what…I did. This Means War has all that witty banter that you have with your best friend and just enough action and romance to balance out all the funny. Critics have responded to the movie with not so great reviews, but I really liked it. I even had trouble figuring out how high of a rating I should give it. Honestly, the plot isn’t that original and it won’t change your life, but I laughed the whole time and if a movie can make me laugh and keep me laughing then it has won me over. With that, I’m going to give This Means War a nine.

If you’re looking for a critically acclaimed thought-provoking movie with revolutionary cinematography, then this is not the one for you, but if you want to laugh the whole time and enjoy just hanging out with your friends, go see it. Chelsea Handler is hilarious and Tom Hardy is hot; these are the makings of greatness. Their performance won’t win any awards, but that’s OK with me.

This weekend, I’ll be seeing Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds. I’m sure it will be like most of his other films, but I can’t resist. If any of you ever have a movie recommendation or want to comment, please feel free to tweet me, write on my Facebook wall, or leave a comment on jonesboro.com.

Hope you all have a great week!

Until next time,
-Raven