Ruddtrospective #1: An Assortment of Bad Movies

Spoilers for the movies The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Admission, and This Is The End.

As some of you may know, I’m a big fan of Paul Rudd, and one of the things I want to do here is take time each week to appreciate the work of the most beautiful man in Hollywood. Who knows how long this’ll last. There are some of his films I haven’t even been able to watch yet that I’ll be covering as I go. So if some of you want to suffer through the weaker side of his filmography alongside me, I won’t stop you.

I thought I could begin my journey by talking about a few of his movies I don’t have enough to do a whole post on. Just really start it off with a whimper, that’s what I say.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower(2012)
I’m only reviewing this because he’s in it. I watched it once when COVID began, and it was a bad decision. It’s really depressing and I don’t like it. If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, don’t. The basic plot is Percy Jackson is a really depressed freshman and he hates high school until he meets Hermione and the Flash. Hermione and the Flash are either step-siblings or regular siblings, I don’t know. He kind of stumbles through high school under their tutelage while being really depressed. Everyone in this movie is depressed. The title is misleading, because there are no perks of being a wallflower. Just depression. Eventually Percy Jackson falls in love with Hermione. But Hermione has a boyfriend and Percy Jackson is in a relationship with The DUFF from the movie The DUFF(A very niche reference, I know. If you really care about the actor or character names, look it up. You have internet access.) So anyway, some drama occurs throughout the movie, as movies tend to have. Eventually, after Hermione and Percy Jackson break up with their respective partners, it is revealed that before Percy Jackson’s aunt died, she did some stuff to him. I refuse to elaborate, you should be able to get the gist. It’s sad. Don’t watch it. I believe the Flash is also gay in this and the guy that he’s with won’t admit that he likes him, and the Flash gets really depressed and almost commits suicide? Lots of happy times. You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned Paul Rudd. He’s barely in it. He plays an English teacher, and the only memorable part of his character is this line: “We accept the love we think we deserve.”

Overall Rating: 7/10(I would rate it higher if Ezra Miller wasn’t in it and they gave Paul Rudd more to do. It’s not a bad movie, just depressing.)
Rudd Rating: 9.5/10(He’s always gonna get a good rating. Especially because of that line. It’d be higher if he was in it more.)

If you’re around my age, you’ve probably already seen it. If you haven’t seen it, only watch it if you’re in a good place mentally and emotionally.

Admission(2013)
Admission stars Paul Rudd and Tina Fey. Tina Fey is an admissions officer at Princeton University. Paul Rudd is a teacher who travels around with his(adopted?) son. Paul Rudd meets a kid at his school that he’s pretty sure is Tina Fey’s son. And it turns out he isn’t at the end. That’s about it. Wallace Shawn is also in this. He’s a very funny man, but he doesn’t do much in this. Tina Fey is always good, as is Lily Tomlin, who plays her mom. Paul Rudd is very handsome in this film. Not much else to say.

Overall Rating: 6.5/10
Rudd Rating: 10/10(He is VERY good-looking in this.)

Watch it if you really like the idea of a Tina Fey/Paul Rudd romantic comedy where very little of the runtime is dedicated to proving why they should be together.

This Is The End(2013)
Paul Rudd is probably in this movie for maybe five seconds. He mostly just acts scared and then either runs away or dies. I can’t remember. Every celebrity in this plays themself. Jay Baruchel visits Seth Rogen and they go to a party at James Franco’s house. Then the rapture happens and the three of them are forced to work with Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, and Jonah Hill in order to survive. All celebrities are horrible people so they don’t get to go to heaven or whatever. It’s a fun concept. I don’t like it. The whole thing makes me feel gross. There are some fun bits at the beginning with Michael Cera, Mindy Kahling, and Jason Segel. Rihanna is in it. But the jokes are all mean-spirited and creepy. There’s one particular joke made at Emma Watson’s expense that I do not enjoy at all. I really only wanted to review this so I could talk about the ending, so spoilers if you haven’t seen it. At the end of this movie, Seth and Jay find a way to make it to heaven, where Craig is waiting for them. This all happens really abruptly, by the way. And then the BackStreet Boys show up and everyone in heaven sings Backstreet’s Back. It confused me then. It confuses me now. It’s the strangest ending.

Overall Rating: 4/10
Rudd Rating: 9/10(I’m sure he was good, I just don’t remember him in it.)

If you haven’t seen it and you don’t mind the spoiler, check it out. You might like it more than I do.

Let me know if this is something you think I should keep doing. I plan to review all of his movies, most of which I have a lot more things to say about than these ones. I just wanted to get these out of the way first. But I’m susceptible to peer pressure, so let me know.

Next time I plan to cover another batch of some of his lesser-known performances in the movies The Object Of My Affection and Our Idiot Brother, as well as the cult classic, Clueless. So track those down if you don’t want spoilers. Until then, have a Ruddtastic week!