Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014)

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is your typical feel-good family comedy that hopes to teach you a few life lessons along the way.The plot is simple but sufficient enough to entertain. It wasn't a great movie but it has it's funny moments as well as the touching ones. It doesn't go too deep but if you watch it with the family you may just walk away with something.It slightly verges on too unrealistic in parts; how can you have five important events all in one day, but you can tell it's not mean't to be taken too seriously. Keep your expectations reasonable and you might just enjoy the movie.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014): Dir: Miguel Arteta / Cast: Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Ed Oxenbould, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey: Idiotic family film about the trials of daily family living, and the reality that as bad as one's day is going, others are likely struggling as well. Steve Carell plays out of work stay at home dad who applies for a video game programming job. Jennifer Garner as his wife is about to release a book that has a typo that affects reactions when Dick Van Dyke is set to read it for the public. Dylan Minnette is oldest kid who fails his driving test, and is dating the biggest stuck up snot of the year. Kerris Dorsey plays middle child who is up for playing Peter Pan in the school play but comes down with allergies. Finally we have the Australia loving Ed Oxenbould as Alexander whose life is constantly in shambles until he makes a late night birthday wish that results in everyone else having a shitty day. Director Miguel Arteta previously made a much better comedy called Youth in Revolt. This film is pure garbage with your standard over the top family idiocy. For something aimed at families, it sure features a lot of naked baby ass. We also get Garner verbalizing the word "penis" just to educate kids early. Finally, we have a poorly effected runaway kangaroo that is about as fake as a stuffed toy. The cast struggle to make these annoying characters likable and fail miserably with each reeking scene. The message regards a functioning family unit. The result is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad film. Score: 3 / 10

This film tells the story of a boy who is having a very bad day at the last day of being eleven. He makes a dark wish but unfortunately it comes true, making his family's day very terrible.Despite the clumsy title and the obvious teenage target audience, I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" is. Despite the family members having a terrible day, the film still breathes of positive energy, and not appear pessimistic or negative. In fact, the mishaps are quite funny and harmlessly innocent. I did wonder how the film could end on a high, given it's a Disney film, but the terribly horrible day ends at the right note. I enjoyed it, even though I'm not the target audience.

The only other film I have seen with such a weirdly long name is the Kubrik's Dr. Strangelove. While Dr. Strangelove was a memorable classic, this one is totally forgettable. Its not a very bad film, it has its funny entertaining moments. But it totally suffers with weak characters, bland predictable story and so-so acting which is common with the Comedy genre in Hollywood nowadays. Alexander, a 12 year old boy always seems to have his luck bad and bad days never leave him. While, everyone around him seems to be having a perfect life. On his birthday, he wishes that his family also gets to experience how horrible a day can be. We all know, how the movie is going to end , the only thing we want to see what kind of laugh it offers. Frankly, the humor was more of silly than funny. Lot of juvenile humor, yet there is also quite a bit of crude humor which I suggest is not for kids. The characters are quite shallow plus annoyingly clichéd and stupid. Even Steve Carell could not uplift the terrible script. I saw this film on an extremely boring afternoon, so maybe that's why I had a few laughs. Apart from that, this just an average, mediocre,not special, very bland film.RATING: [2/5]