Jumper??? That's the least I'd do to her!

So this past Sunday I went to see Jumper and Definitely, Maybe. It was a big movie day, essentially seeing one right after the other (and yes, I did pay for tickets to see both), and for two similar reasons. I saw Jumper because of the beautiful, 5'1" brunette to the left, and I saw Definitely, Maybe because one of the actresses is a close family friend. Click below for my thoughts on both films (spoilers).

I enjoyed Jumper. I really did. It had some good action, some fun scenes, and never really seemed to have any slow parts. When it comes to movies, I'm pretty easy to please. If I was entertained, it pretty much gets my thumbs up. With a movie you're really only committing a couple hours of your time, unlike a television show, where you're expected to tune in every week. So my standards for films are not quite as strict.

However, I do have one criticism, and it's a pretty major one. Overall, Jumper just seemed very lazily written, and this was apparent throughout the entire hour and a half. The most glaring example of this is how the movie never bothered to offer any explanation or theory whatsoever regarding how these jumpers are able to teleport from one place to the next. It is genetic? Is it a mutation? Is it something other-worldly? They didn't even speculate at what causes it. In fact, I don't even recall any character (jumper, Paladin, or otherwise) bothering to ask. For that matter, it wasn't made especially clear what enables them to jump to a particular place. In some instances it appeared that the person needed to look at a photo. Other times they had to actively visualize a destination. And yet in other cases, it seemed to happen naturally.

And why was everybody in David's hometown so shocked that he was still alive? On top of the fact that no body was discovered, he continued going by his real name. I'm sure that in eight years, somebody would have figured out he's still alive. It reminds me of the Family Guy episode where Peter fakes his death as Lando Griffin, and Tom Tucker remarks that the police found it peculiar that they couldn't find his body, but figured it'd be easier if everybody just moved on with their lives.

And while I'm all for complex characters that aren't purely "good" or "bad," David's father wasn't effectively written as either. In the end, I was left disliking David more than his dad.

My final issue was with the unresolved ending. Sometimes the whole "the fight's not over yet" ending can be poignant and meaningful, but in this case it just seemed inconclusive. It didn't seem like any of the characters grew. I mean, David put the lives of everybody he loves in danger because he's jumping. You'd think he'd maybe quit and go under the radar? Nope, instead he's back to his jumping ways.

Oh, and was anybody else really disturbed by the fact that some innocent guy in his truck was "jumped" to a warzone, only to be run over by a tank?

Like I said, though, it was a fun enough movie with some good action, great scenery, and an incredibly gorgeous and endearing female lead. There are worse ways to spend an hour and a half (and $11, for that matter).

I will admit, though, that Definitely, Maybe was a far superior film (which I'm sure doesn't shock anybody). I'm usually not that big on the romantic comedies, but like I said, I know one of the actresses (Alexie Gilmore, who plays Olivia, Isla Fisher's roommate near the end of the movie), below is a photo of me and her:

If I learned anything during my day at the theater, it's that while Rachel Bilson may be the love of my life, Isla Fisher is absolutely adorable. She was hilarious in Wedding Crashers, but she was a genuinely likable and enjoyable character in Definitely, Maybe. I really hadn't seen her in anything other than Wedding Crashers, so I was really impressed with her range (the two characters are much different).

I also really liked the storytelling method, with Ryan Reynolds' character telling his daughter about his past loves (particularly how he met her mother), without her (and the audience) knowing which woman will be revealed as his future ex-wife. In the end, it was somewhat obvious which person it would be, as you could tell that Summer wasn't the love of his life, and you wanted to see him end up with April (Isla Fisher), which wouldn't happen with the person he marries.

One thing that did seem a bit strange to me was the way Ryan Reynolds' daughter was trying to hook him up with another woman before her parents' divorce was even finalized. But I'll excuse it because there were instances in the film where she has difficulty coping with their break up. And while the movie was a love story at its core, it also told the tale of a man who once had everything -- a relationship with a girl he loved and a successful career that he genuinely enjoyed -- only to lose it all. With that in mind, it made sense that she'd want to see him happy, even if it meant being with a woman that wasn't her mother.

Now, regarding the ticket price. After Definitely, Maybe, my mother lectured me on how it's rude of me to leave my soda in the cup holder, telling me that I should throw it out myself. My initial argument was that people are going to clean the theater anyway, so it's not as if me keeping my soda there is forcing them to clean the entire theater.

While I still stand by that comment, I think the stronger argument is that people pay $11 for a ticket (pretty outrageous in its own right), and then $3 or $4 for a box of Milk Duds which would have cost, at most, $1 at CVS. Do these insane mark ups justify people leaving their garbage around? Quite frankly, yes. Otherwise, what the hell are you paying for?