Cook Off!

source: Cook Off!

Bought because Melissa McCarthy was in it. Her part was bad and the whole move was not good.

Found it funny at first, but by the time Melissa M. came on board and basically ad-libbed her stuff, it had gotten old and no longer funny. Definitely would have been better under the guidance of Christopher Guest. Ended up not finishing it, as I was watching it with commercials, and it just wasn't worth sitting through commercials for.

I really wanted to like this movie, but it was just terrible. I wonder if this movie was improv and didn't have an actual script, because it seemed that way. The movie was very awkward, unfunny, and boring.

Okay....It is probably my fault....I watched this movie just to see M Mecarthy.....not realizing that the movie had been collecting dust, unreleased for a decade.....My fault, I guess......but that being said there is really nothing good about this film....It is not really funny.....the acting is juvenile, and the writing is atrocious...... Really I have nothing good to say about this travesty.....sorry I wasted my money.....hope this helps you save yours!!!

4/10 - disappointing mockumentary that wasted its stars' (two of my faves: Melissa and Niecy) potential

All the great comic actors in this movie made me think it would be hilarious. It was so awful and awkward to watch; yet I watched to the end hoping it would get better. Was I ever disappointed! Writing and direction were awful. Is it possible the good parts were edited out? Don't waste time or electricity on this movie. So horrible.

There might be a few hundred reality shows based on cooking competitions. Some involve chefs, while others involve children trying to cook five star meals. It's all terrible. More than 10 years ago, a woman named Cathryn Michon made a film in the style of a Christopher Guest Mockumentary (Best in Show), called 'Cook Off!', which showed us some whacky characters in a cooking competition. Again, this film was made more than 10 years ago and has been sitting on a shelf for the right time. Turns out, it was never the right time and for some reason, we have this horrible movie in front of us. The poster and cover art of 'Cook Off!' would have you believe that Melissa McCarthy stars in the film as she is front and center on every piece of promotional material. That's not the case though as she might have around 10 minutes of actual screen time in the whole film. This annoys me to great end when companies do this. One of the problems I think we have here with 'Cook Off!' is that Cathryn Michon took on the roles of directing, producing, editing, writing, and starring in the film. She hasn't done much at all and I don't think she handled any of these aspects well at all. It's a shell of a film that takes all of its cues from Christopher Guest, but never pulls off any of the dry humor, wit, or charm that any of his films have. Michon took on too much and it became a lazy script. She even had Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno-911) help write the script here and there and star in the movie too, but nothing helped. Like 'Best in Show', this 'Cook Off!' film follows a group of off-beat individuals who enter a cooking contest to win a cash prize. We meet each of these individuals and their families first and see just how strange they are. The cooking competition gets underway and instead of having these entrants cook something delicious, they all cook their "best or favorite" meals, which are all flat out disgusting. One dish is even called "That Time of the Month Crab Puffs". This is what we're dealing with here. The humor isn't subtle or witty. It's just annoying and unfunny. I could go into each contestant here, but I won't, because they are all the worst stereotypical characters you could write with no real direction. Even though the film is 98 minutes long, you still feel like 45 minutes needs to be cut out. It's that bad, which is unfortunate, because there are so many great comedic actors here, but given the script, nobody could do anything to make it better. Stay clear of this one for sure, as you won't have an appetite for anything after watching this.

Oh my god. OH MY GOD! Please don't summit yourself to this movie if you don't have to. There are American's overseas that are having bamboo shoved under their fingernails thinking "At least I'm not watching the movie Cookoff." My wife is a big Melissa McCarthy fan and wanted to rent a comedy compared to her usual horror/possession film. I, for one, welcomed the change, but on the way home, I Youtubed the movie we rented and found nothing...NOTHING but horrible reviews about it. One person quoted In a review that" He watched the trailer and now he has cancer." Damn funny, buy I agree with him whole-heartedly. I drank a mixture of rum/peach-a-rita drinks to ease my pain and let me tell you...I couldn't get drunk enough to enjoy this waste of film. For gods sake, don't waste your time with this. You'll never get back the time or money.

I am a huge Christopher Guest fan and I love Mockumentaries, so I absolutely love this movie for what it is, masterpiece nope but entertainment oh yes.