A Thousand Words features a mouthful of issues, however there’s one issue specifically that it can’t ever shake. The film has half a heart, that is regarding the worst proportion potential for a comedy. If it cared regarding the emotions of its characters less, it would really be funny. If it cared regarding them to a small degree additional, we would really get invested in their lives. sadly, its partially shaped organ prevents any of that from happening, because it gushes between generic, acceptable one-liners and shoehorned-in moralizations regarding family values. 

Successful comedies will either be absurd or realistic. they will populate their worlds with uproarious characters or humorous mortals. that it chooses doesn’t extremely matter, it simply must decide one. A Thousand Words never bothers to form that call. each time it appears poised to gift its main character as a contemptible monster, it pulls back and lets him visit his mom or play together with his son. each time it presents its second lead as a sympathetic underdog, it forces him to try and do one thing outlandish, like admit to having role play animal sex in his boss’ workplace. The result’s some strange hybrid of individuals you’d never really meet nor wish to observe. 

It would be simple to purpose the finger here and say this film ought to never are created, however there are plenty of nice comedies with unbelievable, borderline stupid premises. A Thousand Words follows a fast-talking agent named Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy) who lands up with a brand new tree in his backyard when a manipulative encounter with a self-help guru (Cliff Curtis). the previous soon realizes the perennial could be a quite strange adumbration of his inner self that sheds leaves each time he speaks. To prolong his life, he employs the assistance of his assistant (Clark Duke) and tries to hold on by communicating through hand gestures. the fundamental plan features a goofy, Groundhog Day feel to it, which might be fine if the execution was even a fraction pretty much as good. 

It’s not. you recognize how the primary time you watched Groundhog Day, you thought, i’d totally do i try to then Bill Murray did _______? That game doesn’t extremely work with A Thousand Words as a result of McCall doesn’t behave sensibly. He wastes words on unimportant nonsense and then shuts his mouth throughout the moments everybody else within the world would speak. It’s extremely frustrating to observe and shreds our ability to sympathize. By the time he risks his life running into the road to save lots of a blind guy rather than using one among the 600 or therefore words he has left, it’s not even value obtaining upset over. 

A Thousand Words is rife with contrived moments like that, which might be fine if it did not then overcompensate to suddenly try to build it all appear human. within the midst of his fiasco, our protagonist watches his wedding crumble, his job go up in smoke and his mother still descend into dementia. It’s ping pong at its finest and filmmaking at its most confounding. 

Still, I’m not reaching to provides a Thousand Words very cheap rating potential as a result of its stars strive their damndest to ease the carnage. As usual, Murphy offers a number of worthwhile moments, and Duke is especially solid in an exceedingly disastrous lunch where he impersonates his boss. Kerry Washington too is nice within the thankless role of McCall’s wife, and that i totally obtain Curtis as a brand new Age prophet. If this film were fully rewritten using constant premise and same actors, I’d in all probability see it– however this version will certainly not get a review.

Perhaps the most well known of all of the kiwi actors, Martin Henderson has starred in Hollywood blockbusters, The Ring, The Ring Two, Flyboys and war film Windtalkers. He also made a saucy cameo appearance in the Britney Spears music video Toxic. Henderson kick started his career with humble beginnings on New Zealand longest running soap Shortland Street.

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Temuera Morrison

The Shortland Street then heart throb Temuera Morrison made his big screen debut in 1994 in Alan Duff’s Once Were Warriors, where he played Jake Heke in the tale of life growing up in a Maori family in South Auckland. He is perhaps most well known for his blockbuster role as Jango Fett, the head of the Clone Troopers in the Star Wars prequels. As well as Star Wars he has had roles in vampire flick, From Dusk Till Dawn 3, Speed 2 and Vertical Limit.

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Cliff Curtis

Rotorua born Cliff Curtis has gained a great reputation in Hollywood circles for being able to play all sorts of ethnicities thanks to his Maori ancestry coupled with some excellent acting skills. He acted alongside Temuera Morrison in Once Were Warriors played Jakes brother Uncle Bully in a controversial role. His big break came in Hollywood film The Piano directed by Jane Campion and then in Witi Ihimaera’s The Whale Rider. He has also featured in cinema money makers such as drug tale Blow, Training Day and 10,000 BC.

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Anna Paquin

Paquin was sprung from obscurity to win an Oscar for best supporting actress as an 11 year old for her role in The Piano. Although Canadian born, Paquin has lived in New Zealand since 1991 and claims to be a New Zealander. Paquins mother is Wellington born and bred. Most recently Anna Paquin can be seen in the X-Men movies playing the character known as Rogue.

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Rhys Darby

Relatively new to the Hollywood scene is comedian Rhys Darby who is most well known as the hapless Flight of the Conchords manager Murray. He has recently branched out into movies landing a role alongside Jim Carrey in the blockbuster Yes Man.

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Melanie Lynskey

Lynskey started her career acting alongside Kate Winslet in Peter Jackson’s low budget film Heavenly Creatures in 1994. She then moved on to play roles in big budget films including Coyote Ugly and opposite Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama. She is perhaps most well known for playing the part of Rose in television sitcom Two and a Half Men with Charlie Sheen.

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Karl Urban

Urban, born and raised in Wellington, can be seen playing Eomer in The Lord of the Rings and in horror flick Ghost Ship. Perhaps his best roles were as Kirill in blockbuster The Bourne Supremacy starring Matt Damon and in the comic book adaptation The Chronicles of Riddick. Look out for him in the movie version of Star Trek in 2009.

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Lucy Lawless

Xena: Warrior Princess star Lawless, first burst on to the scene in the Hercules television sitcom as Xena before getting her own show. She then had a cameo in the X-Files television sitcom before Hollywood flops including Boogymen in 2005 and Vampire Bats the same year. She also played a role in the movie Curb Your Enthusiasm. She was recently a participant in singing competition Celebrity Duets where she was runner up.

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