I saw the trailer of this movie last week and thought: I might give this a try. Later on I forgot about the movie, until I stumbled upon it on Netflix. So I decided to watch this Netflix Original film.
The movie starts off with a guy entering a crime scene. He shows a (fake) badge and talks his way in. He manages to get some information from witnesses, but soon he gets caught. He turns out to be a radio journalist. He broadcasts this news, but his boss is pissed. The journalist worked together on this story with the sound technician Ian (Played by Ricky Gervais). Ian is in an unhappy marriage, though he doesn't really see it himself. His wife is unhappy because he hasn't 'made it' yet (Working at a radio station is not enough) and she looks down on his hobbies (playing video games & collecting Marvel figurines).
Then: an opportunity comes by. The guys get the chance to cover a war story in Ecuador! Now the journalist, Frank (played by Eric Bana) can prove himself to his boss. Ian wants to show his wife that he's more than just a technician. This could be their break through! They're ready to start their adventure: But then something goes wrong. Because of that they didn't make it to Ecuador. They decide to pretend that they're there and even fake their kidnapping.
The movie starts off well. Eric Bana and Ricky Gervais set off some ok characters, though it is all very standard. I thought the way they set up their fake studio was funny. I liked to see how thy made up stories and how Ian and Frank develop as a duo. That was fun to watch.
But I do think the movie has too many things which could have been worked out better. When faking to be in Ecuador, they stay with a South American couple. I was disappointed on how they were portrayed. They very kind, but not too intelligent. Which was, in my opinion, not necessary. There could have been some more clever jokes and surprising moments if these character were developed better.
As from the moment Ian and Frank decided they were done, the movie lost me. Ofcourse the problem at the end is: how do you return if you never even went to Ecuador? But the way it was worked out, didn't really interest me. It was quite rushed and too many things didn't add up. I noticed that my attention was going away and I lost my focus.
All in all it's an entertaining movie with some funny moments. But don't expect a surprising, palpitating story. There were moments when I lost my interest and some things were just to obvious. But still, fun to watch when you don't a movie where you have to think a lot or pay attention the whole time.
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