Chris Luckett

This week’s releases on home video: Draft Day, For No Good Reason, Moms’ Night Out, They Came Together, and Trust Me.

---

DRAFT DAY

Running Time: 110 mins.
OFRB Rating: PG (language)
Starring: Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Wade Williams, Frank Langella, Ellen Burstyn, Josh Pence, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Welling, Sean Combs, Terry Crews, Sam Elliot, Wallace Langham, and Chi McBride
Verdict: Ivan Reitman has directed some great comedies, from Stripes and Ghostbusters to Kindergarten Cop and Evolution. His latest, Draft Day, falters because it wants so badly to be not an Ivan Reitman movie but rather a James L. Brooks-ian dramedy akin to Broadcast News. Costner gamely refrains from phoning it in as Sonny Weaver, the NFL general manager embattled on all sides from family members, co-workers, bosses, and sports fans on the busiest day of the year for the NFL. (3 stars out of 5)

---

FOR NO GOOD REASON

Running Time: 89 mins.
OFRB Rating: 14A (coarse language, substance abuse, disturbing content)
Starring: Ralph Steadman, Johnny Depp, Hunter S. Thompson, Terry Gilliam, Richard E. Grant, and Jann Wenner
Verdict: A fascinating individual like painter Ralph Steadman, whose nightmarish artwork became intrinsically tied to the writing of Hunter S. Thompson, deserves a much more interesting documentary than this. Host Johnny Depp clearly enjoys witnessing Steadman at work, reverting to the state of a boy meeting ones of his idols, but the worship grows tiring  and the film spends much of its second half just reiterating itself. (2½ stars out of 5)

---

MOMS’ NIGHT OUT

Running Time: 98 mins.
OFRB Rating: PG
Starring: Sarah Drew, Patricia Heaton, Andrea Logan White, Sean Astin, and Trace Adkins
Verdict: Derivative, condescending, and, worst of all, unfunny. The characters are two-dimensional at the best of times, the jokes were clichéd fifty years ago, and the 98-minute running time is 92 minutes too long. Remarkable if only because of how banal and forgettable a final product Moms’ Night Out is. (1 star out of 5)

---

THEY CAME TOGETHER

Running Time: 83 mins.
OFRB Rating: 14A (coarse language, sexual content)
Starring: Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, Cobie Smulders, Ed Helms, Jason Mantzoukas, Christopher Meloni, Michael Ian Black, Max Greenfield, Michael Murphy, Melanie Lynskey, Jack McBrayer, Ken Marino, Kenan Thompson, Michaela Watson, and David Wain
Verdict: An all-star cast of talented comedic actors assemble for this quirky parody of romantic comedies. Filled with sharply clever moments and sublimely goofy gags, They Came Together rises above almost every other parody of the last decade. Rudd, Poehler, and Meloni are particularly in tune with the comedy of the film, having all worked with director David Wain in 2001’s Wet Hot American Summer. (4½ stars out of 5)

---

TRUST ME

Running Time: 90 mins.
OFRB Rating: Not Rated
Starring: Clark Gregg, Amanda Peet, Saxon Sharbino, Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney, Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy, Niecy Nash, and Molly Shannon
Verdict: Clark Gregg writes, directs, and stars in this dull comedy that thinks it’s a razor-sharp satire of backstage Hollywood, but has been done numerous times before and to better effect. Also, the script quite unfortunately cares more about shocking the audience than giving them a satisfying resolution. A third-act development randomly takes the movie into solidly unfunny territory and leaves a bad taste in your mouth for hours afterward. (2 stars out of 5)