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Love crappy movies but are too ashamed to admit it? Are you a big Rob Schneider fan but you're tired of being burned? Not sure if you want to waste your money on the same old movie? That's why you have Joe.

Joe Loves Crappy Movies is by Joseph Dunn. Joe willingly goes to see the very worst that Hollywood has to offer. Whenever a crappy movie comes out Joe will be there to see it, make fun of it, and actually review it. Nothing is safe, and nothing is sacred. From the big budget action disasters to the low brow fart based comedies, to anything starring Martin Lawrence? Joe will tear it apart.

With each entry you'll get not only a comic poking fun at the movie, but also a detailed review. Joe's not educated in film or cinematography or acting, he's just a guy that draws comics and likes movies. So if you're looking for the everyman perspective and a little joke in comic form... you're in the right place.

Codename: The Cleaner

Released: 01/05/07

Viewed: 9:55 pm 01/05/06

Starring: Cedric The Entertainer, Lucy Liu, Nicollette Sheridan, Mark Dacascos, DeRay Davis

Directed by: Les Mayfeild

New Line Cinema - Official Site of the Movie

In terms of great spy movies, Codename: The Cleaner had a tough act to follow. 2006’s MI:III, Casino Royale and The Good Shepard were three very exciting, very different, and very well executed approaches to the world of espionage. The Cleaner promised to be an original fourth approach and instead of going with “funny” they just went with “bad”. Who saw that coming? A lot of people actually. Against the better advice of dozens of people warning me this would be a complete disaster, I held out hope that a funny comedian and everyone’s favorite sexy Asian ass-kicker, could provide a hilarious and thrilling night at the movies.

Lucy Liu is still sexy Asian and ass-kicking, but 2007’s premier super spy Cedric The Entertainer, as a man with amnesia that may or may not be a spy, spends so much time being puzzled and confused by his situation, that he forgets to be funny. Maybe instead of searching for the truth about his past, he should have spent a couple minutes looking for something funny to say.

Liu is in this movie. I have to say it out loud just to believe it. I watched her in it for an hour and a half and I still don’t believe that it actually happen. Still, I can understand why she would want to be in a movie like this. It’s different. Liu has had a great career, but for the most part she always plays the part of “the bad ass hot girl”. To different degrees of course, but when you see Lucy Liu show up on screen it’s a safe bet that this character is as deadly as she is sexy. That she’s killed as many people as she has adorable freckles on her nose.

Last year she popped up in the same kind of movie playing a different kind of character. In Lucky Number Slevin Liu played the spunky next door neighbor that was one part naïve and one part curious to the world of organized crime. I’m convinced she was cast as a red herring just to throw off the audience. We were meant to suspect her character of being menacing just because it fits what we’ve seen her as before. And I fell for it hook, line and sinker. That’s ok. It made the movie that much better, and she was really great in it. Bubbly and lively. Completely different and fresh. It was a whole new reason to love Lucy Liu, like we really needed another.

The early previews for The Cleaner showed Liu punching and kicking her way through a sexy funk song, but in the quieter moments there was still the glimmer of her Slevin character, and I was eager to see her again. The correct solution to this need – Buy and re-watch Slevin. The solution so obvious it must be a trap – Go see The Cleaner.

It’s not that Liu, or anyone for that matter is especially bad in The Cleaner, but no one is really great. She’s the gorgeous action explosion you’d expect her to be, but the twinkle from the trailer that drew me in, faded out somewhere around the point where the audience is expected to buy her and Cedric as an item. Cedric spends too much time moving the plot along to be funny. It’s why he’s always been so good in supporting roles as a character actor. In the Barbershop movies and The Steve Harvey Show (funny as hell – watch it) he’s there strictly to be funny. Having to pull double duty in The Cleaner robbed him of some of that magic. He’s made me laugh hard in the past and I found myself now desperately searching for something, anything to even snicker at.

The funnier moments seem to be those that were improvised on the spot. Throw away lines and after thoughts from Cedric that didn’t always make sense, but were irreverent enough to connect with me. Those were much stronger than the orchestrated situational humor that felt rushed and not thought out. I actually like the amnesia spy premise, but they spent so much time establishing that backdrop, that they forgot to tell any jokes.

One person impressed me consistently and that was DeRay Davis. He plays a janitor/wannabe rapper, and he was funny every time he was on screen. I can’t decide if it’s because he’s just a hysterical guy, or if it’s because he was on screen only enough where we got to see all his A-list material. Either way, he saves the day. Between his combined 5 minutes of screen time, Liu’s slow-motion hair shots, and the novelty that the Chairman Mark Dacascos from Iron Chef America is the lead bad guy, this movie is almost worth paying to see.

Almost

Rating: 3 out of 10 - A horrible introduction to the New Year. While this is the first official 2007 release I’ve seen, The first movie I saw in the calendar year was Children of Men, but only just. I saw Men about 6 hours before seeing The Cleaner and I’m glad I was able to sneak it in so that the year didn’t start at such a low point. But the year is young. There’s still time to clean up this mess. (Oh, I almost made it through with out some lame “Cleaner” joke!)

Nope. The Cleaner has its head in the right place but never manages to find the right jokes to make it more than just a good idea. There’s a nice catfight in there and I know people that have bought DVD’s based on less titillating subject matter, but as fine as these cats are, neither can spar. The outtakes reel that runs with the closing credits of the movie boasts some of the more amusing moments of the film. I suppose if there’s a larger outtakes reel on the DVD it might be worth a rental but I can picture myself now getting violent angry if I spend one more dime on this film and walk away unsatisfied.

Featuring: The Man - I couldn’t figure out why but this movie reminded me very much of the 2005 comedy The Man starring Sam Jackson and Eugene Levy. The themes are different but both movies share a very forced but timid style of comedy and feature talented people being uncharacteristically untalented.

During my research rounds the answer quickly became clear when I found that director Les Mayfield is responsible for both cinematic low points. I would have been happy to accept him as a bad director and call it a day, but he also helmed Blue Streak and Encino Man which are not exactly genius but are movies that I would place at the low end of “great”.

The Cleaner was a mess, but last year really was a fantastic year for spy movies. Later this week I’ll finally have the review for Casino Royale (about time, I know), as well as a review for Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery on the Wednesday, the10th. The first Austin Powers movie was the winner of the readers vote for the 10 on the 10t. Get my thoughts on the comedy classic as well as the rest of my top 10 spy movies of all time.

Tonight at 10pm I’ll be participating in a podcast with Tom Brazelton and Gordon McAlpin. It’ll be our first official podcast all together, and hopefully will become a weekly event. It’s all up to you guys though, so if you’re around swing by and have a listen.

In addition to that I’ll also be doing the Digital Pimp Pimpcast this Wednesday evening at 10. That’s another weekly show I’ve been doing that’s been a lot of fun. If you’ve got any questions about any of the Digital Pimp comics, from the characters to the creators to the process, to anything, stop by and we’ll be more than happy to answer them. Even if you can’t listen live, post your questions here and we’ll still answer them! Then at your leisure you can play the podcast back and learn all of our deepest darkest secrets. Creepy, right? See you later.

Live Journal/Myspace/Rotten Tomatoes/Buzz Comix/Top Web Comics/Comics on the Ipod/The Webcomics List/Online Comics/Wikipedia/Comixpedia/JLCM Map!

Joe – The creator of the strip who has embraced giving crappy movies the chance they deserve. Like the majority of the cast he’s obsessed with boobs.

First Appearance - The Introduction

Yeo – Yeo is Joe’s wife and often the voice of reason in the strip. Having her act rational allows the rest of the cast to embrace being in a comic strip which primarily involves randomly punching people, interacting with fictional characters and talking about boobs. Yeo is smart, beautiful and way too good for Joe. Don’t tip her off.

First Appearance - Fever Pitch

Irv – Joe’s movie-going sidekick who’s always down for watching Jason Statham crescent moon kick some thug through a plate glass window and getting some drinks before after and during a Vin Diesel movie. Like the majority of the cast he’s obsessed with boobs.

First Appearance - Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior

Agent 337 George Jones – A government Agent that took over for Joe after he was bad-mouthing President Bush in the V for Vendetta strip. George ran the show for over a month bring a much needed sense of patriotism and justice to both the strips and reviews. He eventually got too attached to his work, empathizing with Joe’s plight to give crappy movies a fair shake. In a way he came to love crappy movies as well and was pushed out of the position. He spiraled out of control and ended up in prison. His adventures will be told in the limited series JLCM Presents: 337 Locked Up which is set to début Christmas of 09.

First Appearance - V for Vendetta

Other Notable Appearances: Stay Alive, Ice age 2, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Slither, Here Comes Guest week, Let’s Go To Prison

Leonidas – The former king of Sparta who has traveled into the future and is having trouble coping with the modern times. Yelling loudly and kicking people into giant holes doesn’t really work the same way it did in the olden days. As time as gone by he’s adjusted but it’s a safe bet that he’s always one bad message away from throwing a spear through someone.

First Appearance - 300

Other Notable Appearances: Four Brothers, Strip# 300, The Golden Compass, Rambo, Untraceable, The Ladies of Max Paybe

Palpatine – Former Senator, Emperor of the Galactic Empire, Sith Lord... He shows up in the Joe Loves Crappy movies galaxy on occasion to let people know that they’re being stupid. No one’s really sure how he shows up in this universe but chances are it breaks all kinds of copywrite laws.

First Appearance - Episode III: The Dark Side

Other Notable Appearances: Four Brothers, Night Watch, Saw 3, Are We Done Yet

Slow Billy – Billy is a sweet kid but he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. If you’re watching him for the day be prepared to explain to him the plot of the movie or how popcorn works or, not so much where babies come from, but what babies are. He’s a complete moron.

First Appearance - Four Brothers

Other Notable Appearances: The Chronicles of Narnia, The Da Vinci Code, Vantage Point, Journey to the Center of the Earth

Kyle the Movie Snob – Be careful what fun facts about movies you tell your friends at a friendly gathering or in line for the latest blockbuster, because if you’re even slightly wrong, Kyle will be more than happy to let you know. He usually gets what’s coming to him though. Poor guy has cracked three ribs since joining the JLCM cast.

First Appearance - Ultraviolet

Other Notable Appearances: 16 Blocks, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Transformers, Journey to the Center of the Earth

Jean-Luc Picard – Another lawsuit waiting to happen is Jean Luc Picard who, towards the end of the strip’s first year, became the go-to background character. If there was ever a seat to fill or a random person to place wandering around in the background, nine times out of ten it was Picard. While Picard has crossed paths with Irv he and Joe have never met. Perhaps they will some day but for now just can an eye on the background.

First Appearance - The Producers

Other Notable Appearances: I’m not telling you, that’s no fun. It’ like Where’s Waldo – go find him!

Ice Cream Sandwich – Delicious and… deadly? Usually when you see someone eating an Ice Cream sandwich, someone else is experiencing a substantial amount of pain. Still, how nice is an ice cream sandwich on a hot summer day?

First Appearance - Saw IV

Other Notable Appearances: Bee Movie, Run Fatboy Run, Saw V