Posts Tagged ‘jessica rothe’

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Happy Death Day 2U (2019)

February 19, 2019

Happy Death Day 2U (2018)
Director: Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones)
Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Phi Vu, Ruby Modine

Anticipation Level: Modest

How Was It? Even though I really enjoyed the first Happy Death Day, I had somewhat modest expectations for this sequel. First off, sequels to horror movies tend to decrease in quality with each new entry and second, the trailer for Happy Death Day 2U showed way too damn much in it.

I think fans of the first film will mostly find themselves enjoying this movie – Jessica Rothe is still great as Tree in the lead role and the mystery of “who did it?” is still fun to unravel. However, unlike the first movie, where I was basically pleased with every aspect of it except for the ending, Happy Death Day 2U presents more problems. Naturally, this movie delves into the how of the time loop and we get stuff like parallel dimensions and time-warping machines named Sissy. Credit to the writers for trying to branch out, but all the algorithm and trial and error stuff makes for a less fun movie. While the montage of Tree killing herself each day as her friends try to win the science fair is great (if you didn’t already see it all in the damn trailer), they need every minute of every repeat day to, uh, solve things, and she’s seen jumping out of planes and into wood chippers in broad daylight. Do they not get how time sensitive this thing is?

Oh, and the ending blew. It makes the ending in the first movie seem like The Sixth Sense.

For the most part, I somewhat enjoyed Happy Death Day 2U. I really think Jessica Rothe is stellar in these movies and I felt myself rooting hard for her character. Somewhere amidst all the science-fiction stuff, the movie finds a way to pull at the heart strings and find moments of genuine emotional impact. All in all though, I was disappointed and the more I think about the movie, the less I liked it. Go see it if you liked the first one and brace yourself.

Replay Value: I enjoyed watching the original again this past weekend, but this one would be less fun to watch again but…

Sequel Potential: …when they make the inevitable Happy Death Day 3, I will watch it again.

Oscar Potential: None.

Dina Meter: Dina never saw the first one, but I think she’d like it. This one, she would like less.

5/10 (Decent)

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Happy Death Day (2017)

November 14, 2017

Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard
Director: Christopher Landon (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones)

Bottom Line: Hip-hop legend Nas once made a song titled “No Idea’s Original” and Happy Death Day is born from that notion, essentially stealing its entire concept from the 1993 classic comedy Groundhog Day in which Bill Murray’s character keeps reliving the same day over and over. Happy Death Day is Groundhog Day with a horror twist – the protagonist keeps waking up on the same day that she is murdered by a masked killer and has to solve the mystery in order to escape the time loop.

I was so close to loving this movie. Oh so close. And then a questionable ending brought it down a notch.

Jessica Rothe does a great job as Tree, an ungrateful and selfish sorority sister that undergoes an impressive transformation as the repeated experience makes her realize what a bad person she is. It’s quite the star-making turn as Rothe is a very convincing jerk before becoming unbelievably charming. I really enjoyed watching this character’s growth and Rothe embodies the role perfectly. She reminds me of a cross between Blake Lively and Emma Roberts, but I’ve never seen either of those actresses do as fine a job as Rothe does here.

The writing in this movie was very good. Tree reacts very believably to her situation and watching her try to solve her murder and go through the different emotional phases of her plight – from confusion to scared to gung ho to exasperation – is really a delight. The script is also very funny and the humor really helps the flow of the film.

Happy Death Day isn’t very scary, but it’s definitely enjoyable, funny, and was overall satisfying, even if the ending sort of let me down a little. It was very close to being a must watch for horror fans, but I’ll just give it a strong recommendation instead.

Replay Value: I would happily watch this again. Knowing the answer to “who is the killer?” question would make a second viewing pretty fun.
Sequel Potential: It really doesn’t seem like there could or should be a sequel, but apparently the director has been quoted as saying he has plans for a second movie. That seems like a bad idea to me.
Oscar Potential: None.

Grade: 7 (Highly Enjoyable)

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