Review: The D Train (2015)

* *
Director: Jarrad Paul
Starring: Jack Black, James Marsden

Mentally, some people never leave high school, living forever in that period of youthful glory when everything still lies ahead. Usually those people, at least as depicted in the high school reunion subgenre of film, were those who were popular and are for that reason reluctant to move on. In The D Train the character living in the past is the exact opposite, a guy remembered by no one except for the other people on the alumni committee, all of whom dislike him despite the fact that his enthusiasm for the reunion probably leads to him doing the lion's share of the work, and avoid him outside the confines of the committee room. To him, the reunion is everything, and since he couldn't be the big man on campus back in high school, he wants to be the hero of the reunion party, and this melancholy comedy charts his efforts.

Review: Bernie (2012)

* * *
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey

One of the functions of the criminal justice system is to protect the public interest, so what to do when the public decides that a crime is in its best interest? Such is the question raised by Richard Linklater’s Bernie, about a much loved member of a small community who murders the meanest lady in town. Sure he killed her, the townspeople declare, but... It’s the perfect premise for dark comedy, though despite the horrible act at the film’s centre, it doesn’t actually play as all that dark. Like the title character himself (brilliantly played by Jack Black), it’s a film with a sunny disposition – and likeable despite its misdeeds.

Review: Year One (2009)

*
Director: Harold Ramis
Starring: Jack Black, Michael Cera

Early in Year One one character lamely tries to get one over on another and the other responds, "This is just insulting." There's no better way to describe the film as a whole. It's insulting. It's the cinematic equivalent of a school project that you forget is due until about 20 minutes before class so you slap a bunch of stuff together quickly and declare, "Good enough."