Title: Grilled (2006)Starring: Ray Romano, Kevin James, Sofia Vergara
Directed By: Jason Ensler
Considering that both of these comedians have fairly large fanbases, I was a little confused as to why this movie was dumped straight-to-DVD. After watching it, I now understand.
Here we have both actors trying a little too hard to shed their own family-friendly images. I know technically this was before Kevin James really even had an image, but I digress. In the introduction to the characters we see them smoking, we hear them cursing and arguing, and we get a sense of who these two men are in spite of the actors portraying them. Seconds later they're seen as caring and fallible individuals; and therein lies one of the biggest problems with this film.
The story is that of two meat salesmen being pressured into making a big sale. Following some leads on potential clients, they inadvertently witness a mob hit. The whole time, they've got the upper hand in the situation and their reactions to such despicable deeds are wholly unreal and unconvincing. The film tries too hard to make us care for these guys, but in all honesty, they don't really make much sense as characters. No one in these situations would be obsessing over making that sale over escaping with their own lives. The first 9 and 1 of 9-1-1 would have been dialed before the second shot was fired.
How are we as an audience supposed to be relating to these men? Just because they're fowl-mouthed, lovable schlubs doesn't mean that the viewer will instantly connect with them and go along for the ride emotionally. You have to earn it. Putting these two through the paces in such contrived circumstances, and letting them react in equally ridiculous fashion makes it near impossible to care what happens to them. Going for every easy joke and gangster genre stereotype doesn't help either.
I'd encourage you to give this a chance only if you're a true fan of James or Romano, only if to see something a little different from them. Otherwise, you aren't missing anything.
Score: 5.5/10
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