Jason Mantzoukas

News, Reviews & Features
  • Sleeping With Other People

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 4th December 2015

    A brilliant thing happened while I was watching Sleeping With Other People. It's not something that occurred onscreen, of course - this film is a lazy, offensively written sex comedy produced by people who think that two characters candidly talking about "fingering" is funny enough to build a movie around it. No, the brilliant thing that happened is this: about halfway through the film, the guy sat directly in front of me stood up, loudly declared to everyone that "This is the worst film I have ever seen in my entire life" and just walked out.

  • The Dictator

    Movie Review | Ali | 11th May 2012

    Jokes are funny, aren't they? I don't mean in the 'Ha ha, Jimmy Carr is totes a legend LOL' kind of way; more I find them a strange way to get a laugh – painstakingly constructing sentences and cadences to maximise hilarity. It's a far more traditional, way more precise craft than surrealist, situational or observational comedy, and not one that's overly-familiar to Sacha Baron Cohen, who has thus far mostly traded on the comedy of embarrassment – the exquisite awkwardness that hidden cameras and unsuspecting participants provide. The Dictator represents his return to scripted comedy after the Borat/Bruno double-header, but any fears that Cohen's appeal would effectively be neutered while working with a safety net are swiftly allayed – this showcases his talents on the page as well as on the screen.