TheRetroCritic

I know what you're thinking: " Ruby Sparks ? Wait, isn't it that Stranger Than Fiction rom-com knockoff?" Yes, yes it is. Complete with white people problems and lots of 'em! Right off the bat, Ruby Sparks is every Woody Allen/Nora Ephron rom-com you've ever seen: shrinks, stereotypical neurotic writers, cookie hippie relatives... It's good, don't get me wrong, but you've seen it all before. Same goes for the movie's surreal "hook" involving Zoe Kazan's Sparks, a fictional character written by Paul Dano's writer Calvin, who inexplicably comes to life one morning. What follows is a rollercoaster ride of emotions and forced quirkiness which finally develops into a kind of 500 Days Of Summer meets Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind -type bittersweet tale of the impact relationships have on us and how we screw them up, basically. It's cute, it's sweet, it's all-over-the-place, it's heartbreaking,

NOTE: This review was written using only my thumbs, therefore typos might oxccur. If you are unfamiliar with the great man that is Mr Steve Oedekerk then this is something which must be rectified promptly. The man behind the likes of High Strung , Kung Pow and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls , when Mr Oedekerk isn't making movies he's making Thumb movies. And they are beautiful. You can check some out on Youtube or simply go to THE wackiest site around  for plenty of Thumb-tastic goodness. Highlights include Frankenthumb , The GodThumb , ThumbTanic and, of course... Bat Thumb. Focusing primarily on spoofing the first Tim Burton movie as well as the 60's TV series, Bat Thumb is very, VERY silly but if you expected something else then I'm not sure what part of "Bat Thumb" you didn't understand. The Thumb movies always begin with an absurd intro from Oedekerk himself and this one is no exception: The film is then introduced by a can of beets

CREAM away San Diego, cream away... ...and now it's THIS teaser's time to play.

You ever wonder what would happen if the Guns N Roses , Duran Duran and The Sex Pistols all got together somehow and made an album? Well, why wonder when you can HEAR? Boys and girls, I give you: Neurotic Outsiders. A supergroup formed back in 1995 made up of Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Matt Sorum (Guns N Roses), Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses) and John Taylor (Duran Duran). I’ll let the awesomeness sink in. The band only really made the one album (with an EP the following year), a self-titled release which I recall owning back in the day. I loved it but being French the lyrics were lost on me, which was a bit awkward since songs like Nasty Ho were pretty graphic throughout. “Oh nasty ho…” You know, for kids! Regardless, it was great. But how does it stand up today? Well, lets just say it more than lives up to the term “supergroup”. Vocally, Steve Jones may not be Axl Rose but he fits in perfectly in this punk/grunge/metal hybrid and although the prospect of the band being led

  Steve Oedekerk stars in this glorious cinematic rant and complains about all the little things which make up his life's DNA. A young Jim Carrey cameos as a rubberfaced weirdo who pesters him about "8 o'clock". What does it mean? What does he want? Well it's well worth sitting through the rants to find out. Like a sort of more intense Seinfeld film, High Strung is as pure as a stand-up comedy movie could ever get so if you don't like stand-up or Oedekerk's wacky style, it's very simple, you'll hate this film. If, however, you were charmed by the likes of Kung Pow , Bat Thumb and Ace Ventura 2 , you'll be in heaven. Very funny, very random, clever and surprisingly entertaining (mostly due to Oedekerk and the cartoonish camera work), High Strung is an underrated little gem and a must-see for fans of the goofy duo.