Movie Review: "It's A Disaster" (2012)

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Movie: "It's A Disaster"
Director: Todd Berger
Year: 2012
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Tracy (Julia Styles) brings her a new date Glen (David Cross) to her regular Sunday brunch with all of her friends. While having brunch, a dirty bomb is dropped on the city, trapping them inside the house while the world may be coming to an end outside. Since it may be their last day on earth, everyone takes it as an opportunity to let the others know how they really feel.

We knew absolutely nothing about "It's A Disaster" going into it. In fact, we hadn't seen any marketing for it and really only found it because we were browsing Netflix looking for something different to watch. With an decent cast (okay, mainly because of David Cross), we decided to give it a go. This movie is a dark comedy from writer/director Todd Berger, who also plays a small role in the film. He brings an ensemble cast together, including the most well known of the bunch, Julia Styles, who plays Tracy, a woman with a history of picking really bad boyfriends as they all end up being a little crazy. In addition, David Cross plays Glen, Tracy's new date. Glen is a teacher and someone Tracy hopes isn't nuts. America Ferrera plays Hedy, a chemistry teacher who starts to fall apart when the end of the begins because she understands what damage the chemical in the bomb can do. Finally, there's Rachel Boston, who plays Lexi, the free-spirited vegan swinger. This group of friends have monthly brunches that are often full of awkward moments, but this brunch in particular becomes an outright disaster, as the title explicitly states.

Once the group discovers this is probably it for them, their last day on Earth because the end of the world is coming, they all start to tell each other how they really feel and with hilarious, dramatic consequences for a group of people trapped together in one house. They start to air their grievances and show their full, true selves, some maybe even for the first time, and what better way to do it than with a sense of impending doom? This situation allows some great humorous moments to happen, but not in a normal ha-ha funny way. "It's A Disaster" is a cleverly written dark comedy, and the situations these people find themselves in are probably not ones we should be laughing at, but we simply can't help it. All of the actors perform their parts well and fit nicely into their given roles. They also play off of one another greatly, especially David Cross, who we love. It's also nice to see Julia Styles in a movie since she hasn't been around much since the 2000's. I've personally always liked her. Despite knowing nothing about this film, "It's A Disaster" is a prime example of how picking a random movie can pay off handsomely. It wound up being an enjoyable, pleasant surprise with a lot of riotous moments and some unexpected ones, too, just hope you don't wind up at a brunch like this when the dirty bombs hit.

My Rating: 7/10
BigJ's Rating: 7/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 77%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?
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One year ago, we were watching: "Iron Man"