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American Ultra

kdk August 21, 2015
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Read Time:2 Minute, 32 Second

The scorching days of late summer seem to be the perfect time to head to the theater to see a stoner comedy—because they’re generally brainless and silly and totally laid-back. But while the stoner spy thriller American Ultra is definitely brainless and silly, there’s nothing laid-back about it.



American Ultra follows the story of a mild-mannered stoner who finds himself in the middle of a deadly government mission. Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) lives in a small West Virginia town with his girlfriend, Phoebe (Kristen Stewart). One night, during his shift at a local convenience store, he gets a visit from a strange woman (Connie Britton), after which two men attack him in the parking lot. When he somehow manages to kill both men using just the items in his hand, he realizes that something strange is happening to him. And it becomes even stranger when he learns the truth: that he was a part of a secret CIA program that’s been marked for termination.



Ultra-violent and sometimes surprisingly graphic, American Ultra definitely isn’t what you’d expect from a late-summer stoner comedy. As Mike and Phoebe find themselves targeted by an ever-growing band of trained assassins, they’re forced to fight back in increasingly outrageous ways.



Unfortunately, though, while this secret CIA program clearly turned Mike into a skilled assassin, it didn’t give him any common sense. Even after he’s been reactivated, allowing him to take down whole teams of crazed warriors single-handedly, he’s just as bumbling and clueless as ever. And though Phoebe is supposed to be the smart, responsible one, she seems just as oblivious. The two make a good pair—and the idea of a couple of flannel-shirt-wearing slackers battling CIA assassins is pretty clever—but the characters’ sometimes idiotic choices can be maddening.



The plot, meanwhile, is about as hazy and half-baked as its main character. The backstory comes out in sporadic hints and asides, as if the filmmakers were making it up as they went along. Mike volunteered for the CIA’s experiment, though it’s never really clear what it was or what it was supposed to accomplish. For some reason, however, the project didn’t go as planned—and, for some reason, a power-hungry CIA agent (Topher Grace) is now determined to kill off some guy who had absolutely no knowledge of his involvement in the project, even if it means destroying an entire town in the process. Somewhere in here, there could be an interesting story—but no one took the time to think it through and make it work.



Late August is the perfect time to release an ultra-violent but dim-witted movie like American Ultra—because it seems specifically designed for frat-brother bonding. If you’re perfectly sober and looking for an adventure that’s both entertaining and just slightly logical, though, you might want to try something else.





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About Post Author

kdk

Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it. Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course. As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com). Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
kdk@nightsandweekends.com
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kdk

Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.

Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.

As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).

Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.

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