It looks promising on paper: two radio station journalists get locked out of a big story in Ecuador so they decide to make it up instead. Eric Bana plays 
Frank, the dashing and charismatic reporter while Ricky Gervais plays his lackey, Finch. Finch is a clumsy and oblivious guy with a beautiful but disloyal wife (Vera Farmiga) whose ineptitude causes he and Frank to miss their career-making flight to Ecuador just as a war is breaking out.
Unable or unwilling to admit their mistake, the two men decide to hole up in New York City and broadcast fake reports convincingly doctored via satellite phone. Somehow neither anticipates that this will get out of hand, even when a sweet colleague (Kelly MacDonald) worries over the increasing threat to their safety. Do things snowball? Yes, yes they do.
Ricky Gervais adapted the script from an existing French movie (Envoyes tres speciaux). Nobody skewers celebrities quite like Gervais, his stand-up is tightly written and expertly delivered, and he’s got so many successful TV shows that IMDB stopped counting . Movies, however, seem not to be his forte. There were moments during Special Correspondents when I thought: “Niiiiiiice.” but those turned out to be little desert islands in a huge sea of disappointment.
The premise is teeming with satire potential but the movie is devoid of 
anything intelligent or funny or worthwhile or clever. It’s flimsy. Like, paper-thin. And the characters are so one-dimensional that while we can’t really believe that there is not one but two Hottie McHottersons willing to bed Finch, we also don’t really care. This feels lazy and phoned-in and at times it also looks downright cheap, and I don’t just mean that it was filmed in pretend-NY Toronto (although it was. Sidebar: Gervais’s father is Ontario-born and French-Canadian).
The cast is fairly impressive but the poor script and direction make sure there are no stand-outs (and to be honest, I’m still wondering if the stuff with America Ferrera was just really weird and unnecessary or if it was as downright racist as it felt). In the end, Special Correspondents isn’t even a satisfying way to pass the time. If you’re looking for something decent to watch on Netflix, look elsewhere – perhaps to Grace & Frankie, a series that actually does have something to say, and lands laughs while doing it.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
I just finished the second season of Grace and Frankie and thought it was well acted, smart and very funny. I hope I can only hope to look that good when I reach their age… 🙂
LikeLike
Yes, my sister and I were just saying the same! Holy heck. Jane Fonda looks better now than I do at half her age.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The final second season show was priceless. She was especially good. I should have done more Jane Fonda workout tapes back in the day. 🙂
LikeLike
A lot of hoping there….sorry.
LikeLike
Kelly MacDonald is a Hottie McHotterson indeed. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
And she’s married to my all-time favourite bass player!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s disappointing. It does sound like a great premise.
On the plus side, “shits and/or giggles” is the best category on wordpress. Hopefully all those who google that will be brought to you.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Well thanks. I just wish this one was more giggles than shits, but what can you do?
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s disappointing. I love me some Ricky.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too. This might be my first big disappointment from him.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s so disappointing when something that could work doesn’t. I often used to feel that way grading papers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not a huge Ricky Gervais fan but this sounded so good on paper that I was gonna watch it anyway, and well now I haven’t read a single positive review about it!
– Allie
LikeLike
Yes, and he’s the biggest glaring problem, so you’d hate this.
LikeLike
I thought it was alright. Never going to win any awards or leave blunt critics speechless or break Netflix v
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment cut short – it was alright. Does a good job with the fairly limited budget and distribution. It’s too soon to start expecting great things from the Netflix movie studio but maybe one day we’ll get the next Back to the Future. With Adam Sandler contracted for a few more movies that time is some way off still
LikeLike
Yes, I still haven’t seen Sandler’s first effort, mostly because Matt did and steered me clear.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the warning! I was going to try this but I’m taking it out of my queue.
LikeLike
Urgh. I thought this looked pretty good. Disappointing. I shall opt to watch Turbokid again instead! Hurrah!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like that that’s your back-up alternative.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What on earth is Eric Bana thinking? He’s better than this.
LikeLike
Yes he is. And he’s visibly trying to keep up his end of the bargain here, there’s just not enough for him to work with.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was going to avoid this anyway due to Ricky Gervais. (He used to be funny. Lately, I just find him mean.)
LikeLike
I might have preferred it if he was mean. He does seem to go one of two ways: mean or sniveling. this time it was sniveling. You just couldn’t believe that such a pathetic guy would be worth anyone’s time, and he wasn’t worth mine.
LikeLike
Great post 🙂 DId you see that comedy A Hologram for the King with Tom Hanks recently where he plays someone who visits the Middle East? I saw it and it was great 🙂 Here is an interesting bit of trivia for you: it was directed by the same guy who did Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer). Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
LikeLike
I did see it! I saw it at the Tribeca Film Festival the night before we saw Tom Hanks in person!
I love the book (and its author) so of course we had to check it out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
If I had seen a good trailer for this, I probably would have been duped. I am a big Ricky Gervais fan! Sounds like this has a number of problems to say the least.
LikeLike
Yeah, I was pumped for it, I also usually think his name is enough – possibly why I was so let down by it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the review. That is a bummer, I was pretty excited for this one. I’ll still probably watch it but I’ll go into it with more reasonable expectations.
LikeLike
Yeah, I felt the same going in. Kinda caught me by surprise.
LikeLiked by 1 person
At the Tribeca premiere
LikeLike