Jeff Daniels – Action Hero Movies

Probably inspired by Van Damme’s Timecop, although this one stands out as its own thing, this time-travelling movie features a bit of an aged Bruce Willis but the majority of screentime is from his on-screen younger self, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who has Bruce’s gaze down to a T.

It’s a bit gritty but there’s some good action and a somewhat intriguing storyline. I rate this movie just about Above Average.

The lead female is played quite well by Emily Blunt who looks a bit like Sharon Stone.

The boss of the baddies is played by Jeff Daniels — that’s Jim Carey’s sidekick in Dumb And Dumber. He does alright in this role, which is more than I can say for his role in Dumb And Dumber where he’s so unfunny he may as well be Jim Carey’s spare wheel — just like Chandler Bing, he was provided with all the jokes to crack but still had nothing on the entertainment value of Ross & Joey. Anyway, this isn’t about Friends and it isn’t about Dumb And Dumber, it’s about Jeff Daniels being alright in his role as a baddie boss here, although it only works considering how lightweight and “funny guy” Joseph Gordon-Levitt is. Joseph looks like he could actually be Bruce’s son here, or John Travolta’s, or a close relative of both.

Jim Carey is a naturally funny guy, and due to this fact, he singlehandedly carries this movie from a state of being Unwatchable, to a state of being Watchable, but no further, unless you’re pre-disposed to things like toilet humour.

This is an adventure-comedy movie than you genuinely can enjoy, if you can tolerate (or skip) the worst of it, but it’s not going to knock the socks off any mature action hero movie connoisseur.

Jim’s co-star Jeff Daniels isn’t at all funny for my taste, even though he also co-starred with Jackie Chan in the Shanghai Noon movie saga. He’s wearing extra clothes and trying extra hard to look a silly, but actually hasn’t got an ounce of entertainment value in him — at least not anything that comes out in this movie. He’s probably got good jokes in real life, but doesn’t have anything of an infectious personality like Jim Carey and his class of entertainer.

The lead female, Lauren Holly, kind of shines. The female baddie isn’t bad either. The chief baddie is quite convincing too. Several other supporting cast members did alright too. But their roles are all too small to make a big impact on the quality of this movie overall.

If you more than tolerated this movie – maybe even enjoyed it a lot – you’ll be pleased to know there is a sequel: Dumb And Dumber To (2014) – yes that’s how it’s spelt.