OK, people, I wasn’t expecting brilliance from Vin Diesel in “The Pacifier” — really, I wasn’t.
The pleasant surprises first:
* Lauren Graham, who I’ve always loved in Gilmore Girls, was really good.
* The kids, particularly Max Thierot, were quite good. Max doesn’t have anything else of note in his IMDB profile, but I swear, I know I’ve seen this kid in something else before.
* I didn’t know that Brad Garrett was in it.
* I’m not sure I’d ever seen Vin Diesel in a movie before, and he was pretty cute. (Which is something of a stretch for me since I usually don’t like the uber-buff sort.)
* Given my relatively recent fascination with all things related to the Navy SEALs, it was cool to see some SEAL-related cinema. Even if it was (and I’m reasonably sure it was) totally falsified for my movie-going entertainment.
The unfortunate things next:
* It was COMPLETELY unoriginal/predictable.
* The ending was SO contrived.
* It was funny, but not THAT funny.
* Even for crappy/cheesy/predictable chick flick, this was definitely not among my favorites.
Still, it was what I’d consider a successful girls’ night out and nice to think about something other than my stomach for 90 minutes. Plus, Daniel got to escape my company for a night of smoky / beer-slinging bar fun sans the girlfriend, so he was happy.