RIPD

My son and I saw RIPD day before yesterday. I don't know why it's getting so much flak; it's a summer movie, and yeah, there aren't any surprises in the plot, but it has the EFX and action and if you can channel your inner ten-year-old, you'll have a fine time.

It's kind of a mash-up of Ghostbusters and Men in Black. And it's worth seeing for the song by Jeff Bridges and T-Bone Burnett alone, sung over the final credits, "Be the Better Man." I'm gonna learn that one. 

Bridges, as you may recall, starred as the mostly-washed-up country singer in Crazy Heart. He did his own singing there, and it was T-Bone who scored that one, as he has more than a few others movies and TV shows. Bridges performance here is more akin to Rooster Cogburn and delightfully hammy, in a Wild Bill kind of way. Mary Louise Parker is droll as the go-go boot wearing Proctor; Ryan Reynolds is okay as the born-again-dead-cop; and Kevin Bacon is, well, Kevin Bacon, and he steals every scene he is in. 

Got to love James Hong and Marissa Miller as Reynolds and Bridges' avatars, and they steal every scene they are in, too. I was at HBO, I'd listen to a pitch for a dramady series starring these two as buddy cops. Seriously.

This the best movie you will see this year? Nah. And the 3D version, for which I accidentally bought tickets, won't make you forget Avatar. But there are worse ways to spend a Sunday evening ...