I chose Ant-Man to spend my $6 on last time I was on a flight. I had heard Paul Rudd promoting it on some podcast or another and had gotten the idea that Ant-Man was a parody of a Marvel movie. I think this is a fair thing to expect for two reasons:
- Paul Rudd is known for being funny/ in comedies
- The idea of a Marvel movie called Ant-Man seems so dumb it could only be a parody
I pretty quickly figured out that Ant-Man was not a parody of a Marvel movie. It was a real one. (If it was a parody, it wasn’t funny enough to make me realize that’s what was happening.)
Aside from Paul Rudd’s gang of thieves, starring the also-funny Michael Peña, not that much was funny about Ant-Man. I found myself wishing the whole movie was about this gang of thieves, and it would be a funny movie, kind of how I wished that Breaking Bad had been more about Saul Goodman. (Then when this wish came true with Better Call Saul, I felt somewhat naive for expecting it to be a Bob Odenkirk humor hour when it was a legit spinoff of Breaking Bad.) (Side note: Scott Aukerman calls Better Call Saul “iCal Sal.”) (Side note II: I think I just want Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 to come back starring Bob Odenkirk, but bill itself as a Breaking Bad spinoff.)
The Good
–The guy who played Peter Russo in House of Cards was in this movie (Side note III: Why are bald guys always playing villains in these movies? Do we associate being bald with being an evil genius?)
-Watching really tiny guys run around the world was actually really fun. It reminded me of Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
-Paul Rudd. Who doesn’t like Paul Rudd?
-Roger Sterling is in it briefly.
The Bad
-I couldn’t figure out who the one female character was (other than his daughter). She looked kind of familiar but who was she? Upon IMDB-ing her I realized she is Evangeline Lily, who plays Kate in Lost. Kate was a bank robber who constantly wore layered tanks from Old Navy. I now do not regret placing her in the “bad” category.
-Ant-Man. But not a parody.
I would say, if you’re on a plane sometime soon, there’s a better movie waiting for your $6.