Comedy

Despite its colorful characterizations and quirky, fresh sense of humor, there’s really only one idea bouncing around in Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s movie The Exrta Man: what if you took two literary dandies styled after the novels of the early 20^th century and dropped them in the contemporary world? That’s the premise of the new comedy, opening at the Angelika Film Center, which plays out like an elaborate English major’s joke.

The scenario seems pulled from a sitcom, but Lottery Ticket seeks to string together 90 minutes of comedy with its story about a kid from the projects who happens to win the lottery. Writer/director Erik White’s feature film debut doesn’t quite manage to fill up the whole script with laughs, and the film’s more sincere moments feel forced, but there’s enough good humor in here to allow actor/rappers Bow Wow and Ice Cube room to shine.

For Jack Rebney, the moments in his life that eventually made him famous were inconsequential and forgettable. The former newsman had a job as a presenter in a Winnebago advertisement video, working long hours during a hot, Iowa summer in 1989. Rebney is articulate, intelligent, and, having left the news business on principle, generally disillusioned with the state of things. As the shoot dragged on, Rebney’s frustration erupted into a slew of swear-filled angry outbursts, in which he swatted at the air, cursed his job, his crew, and himself, and generally broke down. The crew, amused by Rebney’s temper and talent for swearing, compiled the outtakes into a single video. Unbeknownst to Rebney, for a long time after the shoot, that tape circulated widely, becoming a “viral video” long before the advent of the internet. After the Winnebago gig, Rebney retreated from the world, but his cult status grew.

It doesn’t seem right to say that Russell Brand is the perfect casting for the role of the loony rock star in Get Him to the Greek. The movie is rather the perfect extension of Brand’s perpetual routine. And in this comfortable territory, he excels boundlessly.

What holds family together? Fidelity? Trust? Friendship? Responsibility? Love? In writer/director Raymond De Felitta’s City Island the answer is lies.