Python Hyena
Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer (2011): Dir: John Schultz / Cast: Jordana Beatty, Heather Graham, Parris Mosteller, Jaleel White, Janet Varney: About as amateur as a family kiddie film can get. It regards appreciating the little things in life, that hopefully doesn't involve attending this film. Jordana Beatty plays Judy Moody whose summer was scheduled to be full of dares until her friends all travel elsewhere for the summer leaving her with her Bigfoot obsessed younger brother, Stink. Once her parents answer a call to go aid another family member, the kids are left with their Aunt Opal. Directed by John Schultz whose films seem to be made out of a weekly allowance. He previously made such junk as Drive Me Crazy and the idiotic Aliens in the Attic. Schultz may have the best intentions but the special effects here are about third grade level. Beatty holds her own as Moody whose enthusiasm for adventure is only temporarily sidetracked by disappointments. She upholds the theme of the film. Heather Graham as Aunt Opal is fetching and sunny but her dealings with the children are questionable especially when one handles what is claimed to be sh*t (and apparently was) at the table. Parris Mosteller plays Stink who is involved with a lot of morons out seeking Bigfoot. And who names their kid Stink anyway? Janet Varney plays his mother, so perhaps some of the blame can be direct towards her. Jaleel White plays teacher Mr. Todd whom the kids hunt for all summer. Had he been smart he would have skipped the film set and avoided another bummer film choice. Score: 3 ½ / 10
MaxwellDanz
Don't waste your time or money! This has to be the worst movie ever produced. It was certainly the worst movie I ever watched. I almost shut it off after the first 20 minutes, but I felt it had to improve. I can't imagine any child or adult would find this movie funny or entertaining. I don't think my son or I laughed one time. We tortured ourselves by watching the entire movie thinking it had to improve. It didn't improve, it just got worse! The acting was terrible too. However, even if the movie had good actors it wouldn't have helped. The writer, producers and actors have to be embarrassed! Don't waste your time or money watching this terrible movie.
Tobias Smith
Sometimes things like the economy, gas prices, apocalypse theories, and local news reports can get you down. If you need a pick-me-up, sometimes it helps to see a kid's or family movie. The vision of reckless adventures and colorfully spirited humor can give a person a nostalgic view of the past. Yeah, that works with some kid's movies. This one, on the other hand, made the gas prices look like nothing. Not only were there serious problems with the title, poster, character names and personalities, and overall conflicts of the storyline; but the movie itself sucked too. Anyone who says that the audience wasn't massive enough, or that this movie didn't get enough credit, is horribly wrong. I saw this film with my nephew, who is 8, and he gave up and left the theater after about 30 minutes. And kids love going to the movies. He spent the remaining hour of the film walking around the movie theater lobby eating popcorn. Bottom line, This is definitely the worst theatrically released film of the summer. No questions asked. The writers of this film deserve every poor review and every lost cent. I don't personally believe in 2012, but after seeing this movie, I'm starting to seriously reconsider.
MosHr
The main reason I was interested in this movie is because of Heather Graham; I know this is a children's movie but you know children don't go to the theaters by themselves and don't buy tickets by themselves so I assumed filmmakers would keep in mind that adults are going to be in the theater as well; unless I suppose it's aimed at the DVD market.The manic energy that comes from kids is there but really nothing more. The movie centers around Judy Moody who decides to quantify the quality of her summer break with points for doing daring things only to find that her friends are racking up more points by virtue of exotic locales and exotic camps. Aunt Opal (Graham) is there for the summer to look after the kids and she's a guerrilla artist (and let's leave it at that).The setup does promise an interesting look at various things like friendship - the cool friends who aren't there against the not so cool friend who is there; the relationship between the free-spirited Aunt Opal and Judy; or Judy's relationship with her brother who she seems to detest or the fact that their parents can't afford to get her to expensive camps and trips. But, unfortunately, it really doesn't do any of that - it just consists of kids of running around clumsily enacting one part after another of the story. This is where the adults would be annoyed - the story, characters going absolutely nowhere for an hour in the middle of the movie.If you're going to see this with your kids, there is some redemption at the ending and have to brave through the middle parts. As for Heather Graham, I wish she was more in the movie; she barely even registers among all the chaos.
AD
