Team Kingdom

Last night was another fence-hopping romp on the Universal backlot with Scartoe, who snuck me into The Kingdom.

I was happy to see Jamie Foxx got dialed down to a watchable level, because his usual scenery-chewing was one of the things that kept me from wanting to check this film out. Of course, I won't say no to a free movie, although I did see The Family Stone, and that was like using sandpaper instead of Charmin.

From the opening credits, the movie lets you know Americans and the FBI are not wanted in the desert. The pace is slow at first when the story plays like a crime drama, but shifts midway and starts to pile on the action. The film climaxes with a good twenty minutes of car chases and gunplay that are pretty rewarding. Even though Jennifer Garner does more of the same pouty-faced lip quivering she did in Alias, she was still good in the film, as were her oft featured breasts (you know they're getting shown off when your bag strap bisects them just so). Chris Cooper put in another solid, albeit small performance, and Jason Bateman steals the film with his comedic relief. The movie, while heavy in the subject matter and implication, was fun overall, and you suckers without the hookup may want to spend a few bucks if you have a weekend night open.

Afterwards, some of the other Universal crew went to the Fox And Hound pub, where Team Kingdom mostly dominated trivia night. Idle Eyes even made a guest appearance, which was a bonus to the evening. We left before finding out if TK placed in the overalls to get free grub or booze, but you can bet I shall return to suck down more pints of Newcastle if we did - hell, I may even do so anyway. Ah, such fun, and on a school night to boot...

UPDATE: We lost our shot at glory by one point. And I know that one point was my terrible insistance that the photo trivia answer was Warren Zevon, when it was Elvis Costello. I went too deep -- Zevon would never be a bar triva answer. Team, I have brough shame upon us.

can you even tell?