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Special Correspondents

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Special Correspondents (2016)

April. 22,2016
|
5.9
|
PG-13
| Comedy
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A radio journalist and his technician get in over their heads when they hatch a scheme to fake their own kidnapping during a rebel uprising in South America and hide out in New York instead.

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Reviews

Steinesongo
2016/04/22

Too many fans seem to be blown away

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Unlimitedia
2016/04/23

Sick Product of a Sick System

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Skunkyrate
2016/04/24

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

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ShangLuda
2016/04/25

Admirable film.

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OG
2016/04/26

I did not laugh or even chuckle, as I more and more grimly watched this production.I won't bore you with the details, other than to say the plot was predictable once the premise was established, and was never believable. A big surprise, based on the genius of The Office and Extras. Still, when you see what a dud Derek also was, it doesn't take a genius to realize that the missing ingredient is Stephen Merchant. Once he left the collaboration, Gervais's comedic success has nosedived.

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blanche-2
2016/04/27

Ricky Gervais and Eric Bana star in "Special Correspondents" a comedy from 2016.Bana plays Frank, a narcissistic radio journalist considered excellent, though he's often in trouble with his boss for getting into murder sites by stating he's the police, etc. His technician is Ian Finch (Gervais), whose wife, Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) has just left him after sleeping with Frank, though he didn't know she was Ian's wife, and Ian doesn't know about it. Ian is totally devastated over her leaving him and is writing letters to his wife the size of novels.When Frank is told to go to Ecuador and cover an uprising, he talks Ian into going with him. Unfortunately, Ian threw out some stuff before leaving, which included the passports and some other important papers. This means they are stuck in New York.They head to the home of Ian's friends, Brigida and Domingo (America Ferrara and Raul Castillo) where Ian is staying. The pair is well- meaning but not the sharpest knives in the drawer.Ian decides to pretend they are in Ecuador with sound effects and people yelling in Spanish as Frank broadcasts. It becomes somewhat complicated when they are told to go to the American Embassy. That's impossible, so they decide on something else.Meanwhile Eleanor is hard at work in the United States.It is very hard for me to like today's comedies because to me, they're dumbed down with stupid characters, plots, and vulgar jokes. I loved this comedy, and I think Gervais did a fantastic job writing the script. I had never seen Eric Bana do comedy and he was excellent. Vera Farmiga had the most fun role and she milked it for all it was worth. America Ferrara and Raul Castillo are deliberately exaggerated characters, and they both handled their roles well.And as the sad sack Ian, Gervais is great and has wonderful chemistry with Bana.Enjoyable and as the rest of the people who liked it said, don't pay attention to the reviews, just watch it and have a good time.

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Prismark10
2016/04/28

It looks like some filmmakers are making deals with Netflix to dust down those rejected scripts or ideas from yesteryear and reheat them. The result as in Special Correspondents is that it turns out half baked.Eric Bana (Frank Bonneville) plays a cool dude radio news journalist who does whatever it takes to get a story. His boss assigns Bonneville to cover a rebel uprising in Ecuador. We might have to gloss over the fact how a local radio station has the resources to send journalists abroad.Ricky Gervais (Ian Finch) is the sound technician that Bonneville will take with him. Finch has just found out that his wife (Vera Farmiga) wants a divorce as he is leaving town and mistakenly throws their passports and airline tickets away. We also see previously that Bonneville has a one night stand with Farmiga as he does not know who she is married to.The two decide that they will hideout in New York and file news reports using sound effects to make out they are abroad. The trouble is not only do they then make up stories they end up faking their own kidnapping and Finch's wife makes public appearances to raise funds to have them both released even though the kidnappers have made no ransom demands.Gervais wrote and directed this banal film. The trouble is his lo-fi, fly in the wall documentary style of comedy which works on television is not suited for the medium of film. On film you rely on the quality of the story and the script has to be funny. Well the story has more plot holes than Swiss cheese. There is no record of these two leaving the country; they phone the radio station to file the stories which means their mobile phone records would have them located in New York. No journalists in Ecuador have seen them which would raise questions when they are kidnapped.Some of the plot is excruciatingly bad such as when the duo decide to go to Ecuador and end up being abducted in a rough bar somewhere in the jungle as they decide to take drugs and talk to a pretty woman rather than quickly get the hell out of there.The film wants to make cheap points on the shallowness of the American media and how Farmiga raises money and increases her celebrity which is self serving as she plans to keep the money for herself. However given how underwhelming the film is those points get lost.

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phd_travel
2016/04/29

This comedy is written and directed by Ricky Gervais. Overall the story is quite cute and there are funny moments. Vera Farmiga as Ricky's wife is terrific - after all Bates Motel is partly dark comedy too. Because it's written by Ricky there are some painfully slow moments and dialog that falls flat. Maybe he needs someone to improve his less funny parts if he ever writes again. Eric Bana is decent at comedy. Kelly MacDonald is okay too. America Ferrera could have been funnier.The dull parts and flat jokes may cause you to turn change to another movie but that would be a shame since there are some funny parts and the whole story works out quite well.

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