Love the Coopers (2015)

At one point, a character in Love the Coopers says to another, "I think you're funny 'cuz you're sad." This sentiment seems to be the guiding force of this "December: Osage County" disaster. Unfortunately, like the movie itself, that quote never plays out as true, and the overbearing sadness never plays out as funny. In one of the most abrasive Christmas films ever made, the message ("Your family is irredeemable and Christmas is a fraud, but what can you do?") makes this movie a snide, depressing burden. This unnaturally overwhelming pessimism is so draining, 20 minutes in I was looking for a way out, something I never do (I sat all the way through Pixels, for crying out loud). Alas, I stayed, only to be slaughtered with dialogue and character interactions that were nowhere near being true to anything in reality. I spent the majority of the runtime asking myself questions like: What are the ages of these ill-cast actors? Why is Steve Martin (or anyone, really) narrating this thing, when everything seems pretty clear without it? Why are the cop and his arrestee, who just met, having a heart-to-heart? Why does everyone in the family seem to enjoy watching each other make out? JustÂ…why?! If there was something positive to say about The Coopers, I would say it. However, this is a special kind of awful; a comedy that elicits laughs, but less of the "with" kind and more of the "at" kind. In the end, I was shocked I didn't just reach into the screen, grab an icicle, and violently poke my eyes out. So do I Love the Coopers? NopeÂ…I don't even like 'em.

Fmovies: I have NEVER been so mad for spending money on a movie. 'Love the Coopers' was by far THE worst movie I've ever seen. I was so confused while watching this movie because the storyline was absolutely HORRIBLE! After watching the whole movie, I'm still confused as to what it was about. I think one of the reasons I'm so upset is because so many actors that I adore were hired for this movie, therefore I expected it to be awesome, when in reality, it sucked. Throughout the whole movie, I think I laughed about 7 times, and all 7 of those times were shown in the trailer. The rest of the movie was boring, childish, confusing, and stupid! This was truly one of the worst written movies, and I feel bad for the actors who were in it. I'm telling you, do NOT waste your money on this movie. You will regret it!

I want to start off by saying that I am fairly easy to please when it comes to movies. The last movie I saw was Burnt, which received generally negative reviews, but I loved it. There are several other movies recently that have received poor reviews that I enjoyed, so it is easy for me to enjoy movies. But wow, this movie was terrible. I truly do not believe how such an ensemble of wonderful actors and actresses could agree to star in this.

A few nit picky things- This movie was beyond cliché. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy cliché movies. I actually like some movies that have generic parts. But the formula for this movie made me sick. It was so cheesy and so cliché that I really, truly at one point began to think this was a parody or satire created film that makes fun of generic and cliché movies, but it wasn't! There was no parody aspect to it. It was just terrible.

Now let's talk about the characters. I want to start with Olivia Wilde's character Eleanor. Basically, when she enters the narrator says she has been hurt by love and closes herself off to love. Which means we all know where this is going. Which, again, I like cliché, but this was over the top. What happens is she meets an army man played very well by Jake Lacy. Their "love story" was so unbelievable because she, as the narrator says, was so hurt by love, yet when she meets Joe (played by Jake Lacy) she for some reason pursues him and instantly trust him. It was like as soon as the narrator said "She could never love again," she instantly falls in love. And what's more, she was a terrible character. She was completely disrespectful to Joe and for some reason he was into her. She would insult his political views and character and act high and mighty when she was the one sleeping with a married man and the one hating her family. Next was Amanda Seyfried and Alan Arkin's story. It was totally weird. It felt like she was into a man 60 years older than her and it was weird. He gets angry instantly at her as she says she is moving because of "great waitress opportunity." I just didn't get it. She was totally thrown in there for no reason. Oh, wait. There was a reason. Literally the only reason she was in this move was to be the eye candy for ed Helm's character Hank. That is it. And of course Hank is divorced because no family in stupid movie like this can stay together apparently. The only saving grace in this movie... the reason I gave it a 2 instead of a 1, was John Goodman and Diane Keaton's character Sam and Charlotte. They were on the verge of divorce after 40 years of marriage and i felt their relationship real. They were the only two people in the movie I hoped things would work out. And things do work out for the two, it was a completely stupid, cheesy, and cliché way it worked out, but I am glad it worked out nevertheless. I literally could not care for any character in this movie. It was hard to look past the terrible plot to even see such great actors dive into such terrible plots and scripts And my last, most annoying thing to say about this movie, is it is completely narrated through the dog. Yup, you heard me right. It was narrated by the dog of the family. Such a lazy and terrible way to make the plot continue. I wanted to like this movie. I really did. I love many of the actors and actresses in it. But They could not save this movie from such a terrible plot and passing and such terrible dialogue. Save your money.

Love the Coopers fmovies. Love the Coopers? I didn't. Neither will you.

The first holiday film of the year arrives with a monumental thud, despite an impressively decorated, and star-studded cast. The dramedy revolves around the matriarch of the Cooper clan (Diane Keaton), who tires to bring her misshapen family together for a final Christmas dinner, before her and her husband of forty years (John Goodman) divorce. Like Love Actually, we jump from storyline to storyline, as we chart the progress of each family member's trek homeward.

Unfortunately, comparing Love the Coopers to any film with the words "love," or "actually" in the title would be an insult to those movies (Love the Coopers being the exception that establishes the rule). Actual jokes with a real set-up and punchline are few and far between, and rarely land anyway. Coopers largely relies on out of place vulgarity in place of comedy, or utilizes site gags that it recycles until there is a permanent dent in the ground where the dead horse used to be.

As far as the movie's attempt at subversive drama, most of the characters are too poorly developed, or unrealistically written to be genuinely compelling. The script occasionally comes close to insight into some of these characters, but sheepishly walks away from the doorbell, instead of knocking down that door. The direction ranges from uninspired to downright disruptive of the film's flow, and the insistence on narrating every plot point and character trait before we actually get to see it, makes watching the film a formality.

There are, maybe, one or two laughs to be had, and perhaps two subplots are somewhat compelling. Bucky (Alan Arkin) and Ruby (Amanda Seyfried) share a couple of scenes in a diner that are at least watchable, and Arkin turns in fairly solid performance. The most fleshed out story belongs to the romance between Eleanor (Olivia Wilde) and Joe (Jake Lacy). There's a real chemistry between the two of them, and there seems to be genuine depth to their characters.There might be a good movie based on their few scenes, if Eleanor weren't such an insufferable jerk.

The real problem with Coopers is that it doesn't seem to have any fun, or good intention. I wouldn't mind the movie if it were just formulaic, and I can tolerate a bad movie. The reason that the film gave me a headache is because it seems to exist solely to grab the money out of your wallet. The film industry is undoubtedly a business, but at least disguise yourself; have some respect for your audience. By the film's end, you know it was sponsored by Southwest Airlines and McDonalds, and you know it went out of it's way to shamelessly appeal to every demographic (Anthony Mackie plays the generic black/gay guy). It's borderline offensive.

Please, for the sake of your health, and for the future of the cinema, stay away from Love the Coopers.

I think this is one of those movies that you either love or hate. I loved it, my husband hated it. It definitely is a bit of a downer which is why I gave it a 7/10. It's not gonna be a movie that puts you in a holly jolly mood (at least not until the last 15 minutes). So I understand why many people disliked it. But with that said, I found the brutal honesty very charming. It felt real and still managed to have quite a few laughs in the midst of the drama. Very reminiscent of The Family Stone. I think if they hadn't marketed it as a comedy, so that people knew what to expect going in, it would have a better score right now. Something else that I noticed and loved was the way it was filmed. It was very beautifully shot, and there were lots of gorgeous close ups that, to me, made the scenes even better. And I really enjoyed how a few shots were filmed from the perspective of the children as they were running through crowds or stores etc. Very unique and added a little extra something (though maybe I only noticed because I'm a photographer). Probably not something kids will enjoy (there were more than a few in our theater and they didn't seem very interested).

Me and my friend decided to watch this movie early last night in the theater. I would say that I was pleasantly surprised by the great ensemble cast in this movie. Each main character had his/her own little story; stories that will either touch your heart, make you smile or laugh. Even though I feel like Diane Keaton plays the same character in most of her films :P I think she did really good in this one. The other two that really stood out for me in the movie were Marisa Tomei and Olivia Wilde but each character had their moments in the movie so I doesn't seem like someone got left out in the overall story. It's not a perfect Christmas movie but this is definitely worth watching in the theater this Holiday season. I've seen a lot of Christmas movies and this is not the cheesy type that sometimes you see on channels like Lifetime. It's something that I could watch again so also I'd get a copy of the DVD when it comes out and add it on my list of great Christmas movies. I highly recommend the movie.