The A-Team (2010)

Not that you need a backstory, but going to see this movie was the tail-end of a wonderful anniversary daycation. I had planned a surprised for Tina, and then she reciprocated later in the movie. The problem being: Toy Story 3 was sold out at the Mendon Drive-In. Not too surprising, but threw a bit of a monkey wrench into things. But thanks to the Iphone we were able to quickly come up with another plan. Splice didn't seem to be showing anywhere that was en route to our home (is it still playing?) so we went for big, dumb spectacle: The A Team.

In a lot of ways, I can see why they decided to gamble on a big-screen adaptation of the tv series we all loved in the eighties. If you have happened to catch The A Team recently you realize that its pretty dumb fun, and you probably can't believe you loved it so much when you were younger. And what makes a better disposable Summer action movie than big, dumb, and loud. The A Team movie is all of those things. You pretty much get what you paid for, its not like one walks into the A Team and hopes that they transformed the TV show into There Will Be Blood. Pretty much just like the show, the movie is just that: loud, dumb, ridiculous, and somewhat fun on that trashy, Summer, "we need to get out of the heat and into some AC" type of way. It never takes itself too seriously, and tries to cram as many callbacks to the TV show in there as possible. Because: of course they have to. Although you get the idea that the writers thought they were being way more clever than they actually were. So I mean, it was somewhat fun at the time, but nothing that would ever stick with you in any way. More like something you'd eventually settle on when its on TV someday.

We're not talking Shakespeare here, but I actually thought the cast was okay for what they wanted them to do. I think Bradley Cooper as Face was a good idea. I just have to mention, even in a loud, dumb, movie like this, with people hamming it up left and right: Jessica Biel still stands out there as being terrible enough to stand out as terrible. She plays an military intelligence officer/covert leader on the trail of the A Team and also Face's love interest. This is some Denise Richards in The World Is Not Enough level territory/casting. There is a scene in a photo booth with Bradley Cooper (don't ask) where she has to be tough, playful, and sexy at various times, and the requirement to try to play anything else besides "pouty" completely overwhelms her.