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Director: Nima Nourizadeh

Writer: Max Landis

Runtime: 95 min

Main Cast:

• Jesse Eisenberg as Mike Howell
• Kristen Stewart as Phoebe Larson
• Topher Grace as Adrian Yates
• Connie Britton as Victoria Lasseter

Review: by Mia

I anticipated American Ultra with mixed feelings. The movie premise promised a cheesy unrealistic, but comedic stoner movie. No complaints there. The trailer promised something a bit fresher with the cast to back that up. Although cast members such as Kristen Stewart are often a hit or miss in films for me, this was still a potential win. Unfortunately it turned out to be underwhelming. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen two thirds of what's fresh and compelling in American Ultra.

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A couple in their mid-twenties struggling with the panic attacks of convenient store clerk/blindly devoted boyfriend Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg). Howell seems unable to stomach leaving their small town without severe panic. This makes his attempts to propose to sickeningly understanding and unquestioning girlfriend Phoebe Larson (Kristen Stewart) by taking her out of town on a trip pretty difficult.

Howell copes with his anxiety disorder by smoking weed, often. Meanwhile, at the CIA, something big and violent is being put in motion by the higher ups, threatening Victoria Lasseter’s former major project “Wise Man.” Lasseter gets news that all surviving components of the project are to be eliminated. Bad news for Mike Howell, it’s clueless only surviving operative. Lasseter intercepts Howell in his home town to warn him and gets nowhere, so she activates him instead. Chaos ensues in the form of bullets, hand to hand combat, and all sorts of nifty on screen fireworks.

What I Liked:

Characters seemed authentic, minus grenade throwing and military combat training by a small town agoraphobe. As usual from cast members, comedy was subtle yet effective. No matter what tickles your sense of humor, American Ultra will get at least a few chuckles out of you.The movie definitely supplied the fireworks.

What I Didn’t Like:

1. Predictability. The movie followed popular spy movie formula. It underwhelmed comedy wise and didn’t really pull anyone in the theater to full laughter, so the cliches weren’t worth what they took away.

2. The villain, although probably intentionally pathetic, was also somewhat underwhelming as a character. He was no real threat and we got no real satisfaction from watching him or his minions be thwarted by the rooted for characters.

Images Courtesy of IMDB