Easter Sunday

There is a quote on “The Simpsons” from Grandpa. When told he is no longer “with it” he replies, “I used to be with it, but then they change what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary to me. It’ll happen to you!” Well, it’s happened to me. “Easter Sunday” opens today and stars Jo Koy who is one of the hottest comedians performing. He is selling out arenas



The story is set around an Easter Sunday family gathering based on Jo’s own experience and standup comedy. He plays a comic here named Joe, who is trying to balance his career and home life at the same time. The family members are their own funny characters and Joe must navigate all of their little quirks too, which includes the fight going on between his mom (Lydia Gaston) and aunt (Tia Carrere) and the unscrupulous dealings of his cousin (Eugene Cordero).

 

 

This is a comedy where I barely laughed. Almost all the jokes fell flat, and the running jokes are runned right into the ground. Other audience members I saw this with laughed more, but there was never a moment where the entire theater erupts with laughter as other great comedies can do. There is some good heart to the story, which can be an important element to this genre, but you need those laughs!

There are also technical flaws. There were two noticeable jump cuts. This is not some high-powered action flick, just scenes between characters so there is no reason why the editing should be so shoddy. The acting is also mediocre at best.

Maybe it’s all just me. Jo Koy is huge right now and perhaps he can help bring in a good box office return. This could be a turning point in his career as he makes the transition from stand-up star to big time Hollywood actor. Time shall tell.

1.5 swords