Friday, October 22, 2010

Trailer of the Week: Restless

“Grief is nature’s most powerful aphrodisiac.”

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I say that Will Ferrell’s portrayal of Chaz in Wedding Crashers is the best cameo in movie history. Chaz may be a sleazy pervert who lives with his mother, but he pretty much saves the movie, which has just gone through the boring part where Owen Wilson’s character acts really desperate and depressed (yeesh, I guess life imitates art. Sorry, too soon?). Every one of Chaz’s lines is ridiculously funny, and Will Ferrell’s delivery is impeccable, but the real beauty of the character is the fact that he crashes funerals. Seriously, he goes to funerals in order to sleep with random women, and isn’t even ashamed to admit it.

Now, I’m not condoning this behavior in any way, but whoever came up with that is awesome. Crashing funerals is probably the most morally reprehensible/hilarious idea I have ever heard of, which brings me to the movie for this week, Restless. Watch the trailer here:



My God, someone actually made a movie about a funeral crasher. An entire movie! Granted, he doesn’t intentionally do it for sexual purposes, but Enoch (played by Henry Hopper, son of the late Dennis Hopper) still goes to random people’s funerals he doesn’t know for selfish reasons. That this is the premises for what seems like a pretty serious movie is way too much for me. I couldn’t take any part of the trailer seriously because Chaz quotes kept popping into my head that related to things said in it. Here’s an idea of what I mean (these are all lines taking directly from Restless and Wedding Crashers):

“This is the fourth funeral I have seen you at this month, and if I see you around here again I’m calling the cops…”

“I almost numchucked you, you don’t even realize.”

“Did you know that kid from the other funeral?”

“Dude died in a hang gliding accident, what an idiot. ‘Ahhh I’m hang gliding, honey
take good picture – I’m dead.’ What a freak.”

“I was lying about working at the hospital. I’m a patient, is that okay?”

“Hey babe, yea, you do whatever you have to do.”

“Annabel tells me you’re a funeral crashing drop-out with a ghost friend.”

“I’m just livin’ the dream.”

You might think that I shouldn’t be so juvenile in analyzing a movie about disturbed and terminally ill people. Then again, I can’t lie to myself and pretend that I didn’t immediately make the connection between Restless and Chaz. I really am capable of taking things seriously, but it’s hard to when they have anything remotely to do with funeral crashing. To be honest, I find it funny under pretty much any circumstance, and although Restless may turn out to be a great movie, I probably won’t see it. Instead, I’ll use the time to come of with a premise for a Chaz-centered Wedding Crashers spin-off. Funeral Crashers anyone?

(If you haven’t seen Wedding Crashers and therefore have no idea what I am talking about, I have nothing but pity for you. If you have time, watch it immediately. If not, this should help you understand my point.)

-Ben Neumann ‘14

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