The Lonely Guy (1984)

After discovering his girlfriend in bed with another man, Larry Hubbard is downgraded to lonely guy. He befriends fellow lonely guy Warren, who gives him tips like buying a fern for company, getting a dog to meet women and not to nap more than once a day to avoid the shock of remembering who you are.

The initial premise of this film is ingenious, and it's worth it for all the setups that feel all-too-familiar. After that, it settles into a bit of a conventional plot which drags the rest of the movie down, but it's full of so many moments of sheer brilliance and depressing truths, I can't award it anything less than:

3½ cries in the night out of 5

The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

While not quite as memorable as the original, Jim Henson's directorial debut is full of so many fun bits, one-liners and irreverent humor that you don't really mind. Taking the shape of an old fashioned movie musical with giant setpieces and film stars of old to complete the effect, the chemistry between this cast is like capturing lightning in a bottle. While the rest of the Muppet movies would vary in quality, these first two films remain the funniest and most quotable, and the songs are some of the best. Fun for kids and kid-shaped adults alike.

4 "we're making a movie!" out of 5

WHILE WE'RE YOUNG [2014]

Director Noah Baumbach channels his midlife crisis into the light-hearted drama While We're Young.
Ben Stiller & Naomi Watts play a middle-aged technology savvy couple who strike up a friendship with a younger hipster couple (Adam Driver & Amanda Seyfried) who use typewriters, love VHS and have no idea how to navigate Facebook.  Baumbach loves his observant witty dialogue and he's really at some of his best here, with it's dry humour, scathing remarks at the different ages and all around charming realism.  While it nestles itself comfortably in mild comedy, occasionally the events get a tad silly and out of place but never enough to really break character.  When it all comes down to it, this is Noah Baumbach's Neighbors and basically his cinematic way of telling off all you damned kids.

3½ Beastie Boys out of 5

CLIFFORD [1994]

Clifford is a delightfully twisted, yet harmless, little comedy starring Martin Short as a demented 10 year old boy bent on visiting a dinosaur amusement park and he puts his uncle (Charles Grodin) through hell to get him there.
It may not be a classic comedy that anybody will remember but it packs enough laugh out loud moments, courtesy of Short's amusingly deranged performance, to guarantee a fun weeknight in.
All in all, it's really kinda mostly odd and not for everybody, unless you too are a little bit off your rocker.

3 The Richard Kinds out of 5