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Reviews for movies filmed in Lowell

“The Fighter” was nominate for 7 Academy Awards. (Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)
Owen Johnson
Connector Staff

‘The Fighter’

“The Fighter” chronicles the true events of Lowell-native professional boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his former-professional boxer brother, Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale).

Similar to my praise of “The Revenant,” “The Fighter” is a technically good movie that is competently directed and well acted, with the exception of Mark Wahlberg as the lead. Other than that, there really isn’t much to say about the movie. It’s decent, but, with the exception of Bale’s performance, it is fairly forgettable.

‘Here Comes the Boom’

“Here Comes the Boom” is about high school biology teacher Scott Voss (Kevin James) who begins mixed-martial arts fighting to raise money to save the school’s extra curricular programs.

The movie is extremely formulaic for the kind of movie it is. Once it starts, you know exactly where it’s going to go. This wouldn’t be that big of a problem, unfortunately the movie has no idea what it wants to be. It seems like it’s trying to be an inspiring story of resilience and triumph, but at the same time it stars Kevin James and half the scenes contain Adam Sandler-esque humor.

Some of the character actions and motivations also seem off at points. For example, Voss is at first shown as a once great teacher who over time has become lazy and self-centered. However, when it is announced that the extra curricular activities are going to be cut due to budget problems, he is one of only three school employees who step up to do anything.

‘The Invention of Lying’

Apparently, along with lying, self-control and non-superficial judgement haven’t been discovered in this movie’s universe. “The Invention of Lying” is about a hapless individual (Ricky Gervais) that discovers he has the ability to lie in a world where people can only tell the truth.

The movie is very muddled when it comes to the rules of the universe. There is a big difference between telling the truth and being a jerk without a filter, which this movie’s universe treats as synonymous. When Gervais speaks to people, their initial response is usually along the lines of, “You’re fat and ugly,” even when they weren’t asked anything about his appearance.

The movie is also fairly unfunny, with the same forced jokes happening over and over again. The main joke, as mentioned above, is a bluntly put insult towards someone, which makes no sense because no one asked the people saying the insult a question which would lead to them responding that way. Other than a few subtle background gags and one particular scene where Gervais is explaining the afterlife to a large group of people, there’s nothing that stands out when it comes to the humor.

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