Review: 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day', Starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner

A lot of family-friendly movies struggle with being entertaining for both the kids and the adults. Disney has usually gotten it right in the past, and does so now with the youth book-to-film adaptation Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, a sweet family comedy anchored by Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, and is funny, cute, and entertaining in all the right ways. 

Alexander Cooper (Ed Oxenbould) has a bad day every day. He's always down on his luck, the girl he likes doesn't give him a lot of attention, and his 12th birthday party is coming up but is going to be overshadowed by another classmate's fog-machine, energy drink bar, and

trampoline party. And out of everything, Alexander gets the most annoyed with his family, who don't seem to understand the extent of his bad days since they're apparently, according to his brother, "#blessed". 

So the night before Alexander's 12th birthday, and on a day that's supposed to bring big things for his family, he makes a wish that just once, his family would know what it's like to have a bad day like him. The next day, everything imaginable goes wrong for his family (who include Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey). There is a lot of running around, fire, a driving test gone completely wrong, a book reading disaster, and a high on cold medicine rendition of Peter Pan. Somehow, the Coopers have to pull it all together in time for Alexander's birthday. 

While the title is a bit of a mouthful, the film is family-friendly fun at its best. It's even sure to please those without families, because the movie at its most basic is genuinely funny and cute. With a run time of only 81 minutes, the film gets straight to the point, but never feels rushed. The plot is simple and there's enough craziness going on, which is thankfully not at all forced or contrived just for laughs. 

Ed Oxenbould is cute as Alexander. The way he talks and acts makes you understand his frustration with his everlasting string of bad luck. Steve Carell is the silly funnyman whose streak of positivism holds up the family, and Jennifer Garner's got the "mom smile" but really shines when she's aggravated and gets frustratingly aggressive, which is hilarious. Dylan Minnette and Kerris Dorsey are great supports and flaunt a personality of their own without slinking quietly into the background. Dick van Dyke and Jennifer Coolidge make fantastic cameos and really make the movie more fun. 

It's very hard not to like this film. It's energetic, filled with silly, genuine fun, and has humorous beats that will make you smile and possibly laugh out loud. Its long title gets a shout out not once, but twice in the film, which is a major accomplishment given the fact that it's easy  to jumble up the words. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is sincerely funny and manages to have a moral to its story, while being entertaining fun for the whole family. 

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First 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day' Trailer with Steve Carell

Obnoxiously long title aside, Judith Viorst's children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is considered a classic, which is why 20th Century Fox and Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) were anxious to bring it to the screen. Cholodenko ultimately dropped out as director, staying on as co-writer, but Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl) picked up the reins and judging by the first trailer he's lived up to the novel's chaotic spirit.

Starring Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, and Ed Oxenbould in the title role, the film covers one truly awful day in the life of the Brand family. Young Alexander has always had it tough while everyone else seems to get what they want, until the tables are suddenly turned and they get a taste of what he goes through. Coming off his darker-than-expected turn in The Way Way Back it's good to see Carell doing something wholesome that families will likely flock to.

Also starring Dylan Minnette, Jennifer Coolidge, Bella Thorne, Kerris Dorsey, and Megan Mullally, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day opens October 10th.

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M. Night Shyamalan Directing 'Sundowning' with Kathyrn Hahn

It seems M. Night Shyamalan can't catch a break. The once-hot director has struggled to bounce back from a string of flops, and couldn't even score a hit directing Will and Jaden Smith in After Earth. The only thing that film earned was a handful of Razzies. Maybe a return to the thriller genre is what he needs, as Shyamalan is already nearly wrapped on his next film, Sundowning.

Starring Kathryn Hahn and Ed Oxenbould, the small-budget film centers on a single mother of two kids on a visit to their grandparents' home when things suddenly go very wrong. Likely they all begin to experience "sundowning" which is described as "a psychological phenomenon associated with increased confusion and restlessness in patients with some form of dementia. Symptoms also include agitation and mood swings."

Hahn can be seen right now co-starring in Jason Bateman's directorial debut, Bad Words, while Oxenbould is the lead in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day opposite Steve Carell.

With Shyamalan nearly completed on Sundowning we could see it in theaters by the end of the year or early next.

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First Image from 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'

2013 turned out to be something of a mixed bag for Steve Carell. It began with the miserable magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, but picked up considerably in The Way Way Back, which saw him go down a darker path than we're accustomed to. He scored big on two sequels, Despicable Me 2 and Anchorman: The Legend Continues, but also saw his Oscar hopes dashed when Foxcatcher got moved to 2014. That's also when he'll appear in Disney's adaptation of Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

The first image from the family comedy has been released, and it shows that it won't just be Alexander having a really awful day, but everybody is going to have something to scream about. Directed by Miguel Arteta and starring Carell, Jennifer Garner, and Ed Oxenbould, the official synopsis explains a little about why everyone is so upset...

Disney’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” follows the exploits of 11-year-old Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) as he experiences the most terrible and horrible day of his young life — a day that begins with gum stuck in his hair, followed by one calamity after another. But when Alexander tells his upbeat family about the misadventures of his disastrous day, he finds little sympathy and begins to wonder if bad things only happen to him. He soon learns that he’s not alone when his mom (Jennifer Garner), dad (Steve Carell), brother (Dylan Minnette) and sister (Kerris Dorsey) all find themselves living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Anyone who says there is no such thing as a bad day just hasn’t had one. “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” directed by Independent Spirit Award winner Miguel Arteta (“The Good Girl,” “Cedar Rapids,” “Youth in Revolt”) from a screenplay by Rob Lieber, is a 21 Laps Entertainment/Jim Henson Company production. The film hits theaters nationwide Oct. 10, 2014.

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Ed Oxenbould Joins Steve Carell In 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'

Disney ran into a few problems when Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) departed their adaptation of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, as she was heavily involved in the script as well as directing. Miguel Arteta seems to have filled in nicely as her replacement, but what the film really had going for it is that Judith Viorst's award-winning novel is an unquestioned classic in the realm of children's books. The little boy at the center of the story has also been a part of the sequel, a TV special, and a stage performance, and now Disney has found someone to play him in the feature film.

Relative newcomer Ed Oxenbould will play the title character in the film, joining Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner who will play his parents. Published in 1972, the story Alexander going through the worst day of his young life. It begins when he wakes up with gum in his hair and only goes downhill from there.

Disney hopes for a much better day when the film opens on October 10th 2014.[TheWrap]

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