Big Shot Critic: In Theaters: November 14th, 2014

There are TWO wide releases this weekend.

Beyond the Lights

The main character is a singer who becomes a pop star and struggles through the expectations placed on her by her manager and her fans. Because, you know, having enormous amounts of money is obviously very difficult. It gets to the point where she attempts suicide but is saved by a police officer. They fall in love. Surprised? Neither are we. But then he has trouble understanding how to fit into her world and what he can do to help her through it all.

So, basically, it's a movie about serious emotional issues and serious communication issues. How dramatic!

I was poking around for something to make fun of about this movie and I found a couple things. I love that all the promotional material says "from the writer and director of Love & Basketball." It might just as well say "from the writer and director of another movie that nobody cares about." Also, the main character is played by a woman called Gugu Mbatha-Raw. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe she was named after a villain from a cartoon show in the 80's.

Beyond the Lights is rated PG-13 for sexual content including suggestive gestures, partial nudity, language and thematic elements.

Dumb and Dumber To

If I tell you people have been waiting a long time for Interstellar (as I did last week) then I'm not sure what I can tell you about this. It's been twenty years since the original.

I recommend we completely ignore 2003's Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd. Other than this paragraph we will do so.

For those of you who don't know (nobody) Dumb & Dumber came out in 1994 and it was simply about two idiots making their way through life. It was pretty funny. When I say "pretty funny" I mean one out of every two guys you ask to list their favorite comedies will mention Dumb & Dumber. Can they do it again? Maybe. The only twenty-years-later sequel with the original creative team that I can think of off-hand was . . .