Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nicke Frost) are two middle-aged fanboys who travel to the United States to attend Comic Con in San Diego and then drive to famous UFO sites around the country.  On their journey they encounter an alien, named Paul (Seth Rogen) who has been on Earth for 60 years and who escapes from the custody of the US government.  The two friends overcome their initial reservations and agree to help Paul get to a rendezvous point where he will be picked up by the mothership.

Although the Comic Con scene is only a brief part of the beginning of the film, it is easily one of the most memorable. Graeme and Clive revel in the atmosphere where attendees are dressed up as various comic book, sci-fi and fantasy characters and they are able to meet the creators of their favorite works.  Both are particularly excited about meeting Adam Shadowchild, brilliantly played by Jeffrey Tambor.  Shadowchild has a general malaise for the entire Comic Con escapade yet he doesn’t dampen the spirits of the enthusiastic friends.

The two friends nerdiness allowed them to fit into the Comic Con environment, however, they are less successful at blending into rural America. Their general innocence compliments their “man-child” personas well, but puts them in dangerous situations with hillbillies and fundamentalist Christians.  They meet Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig), who is also a prisoner, but of her fundamentalist Christian dogma. A firm believer in Intelligent Design, she wears a shirt portraying Jesus shooting Charles Darwin, with the words “Evolve This!” underneath.  Ruth sees Paul and passes out, as another life form’s existence topples her beliefs. Graeme and Clive decide to take the unconscious woman along in order to protect Paul’s whereabouts from the government.

The movie is built upon Pegg and Frost’s sophomoric humor. There are plenty of sex and bodily function jokes, most of which are clever enough to produce laughter. However, one of the funniest aspects of the film is the amount of allusions to other sci-fi movies. Both Pegg and Frost are self-confessed nerds and they make great references to Star Wars (“Boring conversation anyways…”) and Alien (“Get away from her, you bitch!”) with some help from Sigourney Weaver.  These references are closely tied with the narrative and they feel natural.  Most of them develop Paul’s character as we discover that he has played a central role in shaping pop culture by acting as a consultant on movies like E.T.

Although Paul has a great number of laughs and is not a derivative comedy narrative, there was one element of the film that I found particularly distracting—Seth Rogen. I’m a big fan of Rogen’s work, but he seems out of place in this film. His voice and mannerisms come through the alien character and it is all seems way to familiar. That being said, there are plenty of funny moments involving Paul, but Rogen’s familiarity detracted from the overall effect that the alien has on the viewers.  Paul just seemed like one of the guys, something that didn’t make much sense in the story’s context.

The boys of B-Company are back yet again, though Bad Company 2 is a much more serious tale than its predecessor’s Three Kings style hunt for gold. A mysterious WMD has fallen into the enemy’s hands and Sarge, Sweetwater, Haggard and Marlowe have been drafted into a special-ops unit to help put a stop to this weapon and the threat it poses to the US. It’s a fairly simple military tale more in tune with any number of recent modern shooters than the more novel concept of the first game. You can expect plenty of Generation Kill lingo, large set pieces and obvious plot twists as you head for the anticlimactic ending. It’s not great but it serves its purpose, moving events from Alaska to Bolivia and beyond as B-Company traverse the globe with the simple objective of stopping this super weapon.

However, what Bad Company 2’s narrative may lack in originality and intrigue it more than makes up for with its returning characters. These are real, living, breathing people with more personality than the protagonists of any other shooter on the market. They may not be the most complex bunch, but in this war-torn scenario there’s no group I’d rather spend more time with than B-Company and all of their flaws, humour and daft political comments. Whether they’re discussing their favourite scene from Predator, pondering why Afro-American’s call 50 Cent “Fiddy” instead of “Fifty” or taking a friendly dig at Modern Warfare 2 (“Snowmobiles are for pussies”), the dialogue always feels completely natural and consistently hits the right comedic notes. It certainly keeps the downtime entertaining and ends up being a highlight of the six hour campaign as you get to know this rag-tag bunch of regular Joe’s (albeit one’s with exceptional military talents) as they’re thrust into an unimaginable situation.

The rest of the single player campaign is fairly uneven, starting off slowly before eventually opening up and picking up the pace during the last few hours. You’ll fight your way through many different locales, most notably freezing cold mountains, dense jungles and expansive desert towns. The art design in each is sublime, showcasing some awe inspiring vistas reaching as far as the eye can see, while the weather and surrounding environment can also cause distractions you’ll need to adapt to. From snow obscuring your vision and sand being swept up and covering enemies in its murky browns and golds, the climate and visuals actually have an important effect on the gameplay. However, Bad Company 2 doesn’t have the same sort of scale as the first game, instead funnelling players down a fairly linear path in order to extort even more grandiose set pieces. It works well for the most part and there’s definitely some leeway to tackle situations from multiple angles, but if you enjoyed the large scale environments from the first game you may be a little disappointed that they rarely show up here. It can also be pretty tough in places, so you’ll normally end up relying on rote enemy placement memorisation to get through particular areas. The rest of B-Company are always with you along the way, and while the AI does a good job of keeping up with the action and looking busy, they’ll rarely ever kill anybody, leaving you to deal with the waves upon waves of rushing enemies. It’s not a large issue but it’d be nice to get some help every now and then.

But despite the single player’s flaws the shooting mechanics are tight, intuitive and enjoyable enough to keep the campaign engaging as you begin collecting more and more weaponry for your arsenal. Bad Company 2 loves its guns so much that finding them all will unlock rewards and Achievements, skipping past something like hidden Intel in favour of encouraging you to seek out and find the good stuff. There are tons of distinct assault rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, light machine guns and so on, with different variations of certain guns and multiple attachments for each. The majority of the weapons are fantastic fun to use and you can start each mission with a different loadout to customise the game to the way you want to play. Each gun and weapon type has a significant feel, and when fighting across long distances you even have to consider gravity in the equation. There’s nothing more rewarding than sniping someone from one hundred metres away with a perfect headshot, the bullet dipping downwards as it reaches the target. The single player may be fairly lacklustre at times but the shooting mechanics are second to none so you won’t mind too much.

Plus, most of those added weapon attachments, like grenade launchers, offer a multitude of additional explosive action. Like its predecessor, Bad Company 2’s main pull will always be its destruction, and this time around it’s been improved upon. Destruction 2.0 is the name, and while it doesn’t really change too much you can certainly marvel at its technical wizardry. Before, a grenade launcher would blow a hole in any sort of scenery, usually to expose a group of enemies holed up in a house, create a new path through a level or make you highly cautious of your surroundings and cover. In Bad Company 2 that same effect still takes place, but blow up enough walls and the foundations will begin to crumble as the whole structure comes crashing down. It’s never really utilised since it takes time and ends up being easier to just shoot the enemy, but once you’re in the driving seat of a tank or flying one of the explosive UAVs, it can become a useful and enjoyable tactic, both in your hands and the enemy’s as your cover is literally blown away.

And this carries over to the extensive multiplayer package. Conquest is on the agenda, as usual, with two teams vying for control of three bases spread across the map. Rush makes a return from the first Bad Company (then called gold rush) that has two teams taking it in turns to attack and defend targets, while squad rush sees a smaller version of it and squad deathmatch rounds things out. Maps vary in location not too dissimilar from those seen in the single player campaign, meaning you’ll need to deal with the same kind of weather and particle effects. Add to this dynamic geometry and terrain, dense foliage, multiple destructible structures and expertly positioned objectives and you have some of the most finely balanced and varied maps available. Not to mention their spectacular scale, often stretching far and wide to provide some of the most open and tactical battles rarely seen in multiplayer shooters.

Some are suited to the plethora of vehicles on offer with tanks, jeeps, armoured trucks, the powerful but extremely-hard-to-control helicopters and even zippy quad bikes, but most of the time you’ll be on foot utilizing various classes and squad tactics. Each class, be it assault, engineer, medic or recon, comes with its own set of weapons, gadgets and specialisations. Performing well and earning points in Bad Company 2’s progressive ranking system will unlock certain gadgets, ranging from gun attachments like smoke grenades, more powerful RPGs and C4, to the more squad friendly medi-packs, defibrillators and ammo boxes. Meanwhile, specialisations focus on scopes for your weapons, extra body armour, grenade vests or extra ammunition and vehicular improvements among others. The ranking system is as terrific as ever, constantly rewarding the player with new weapons and items, and the customisation available for each class is significant, allowing you to build up each class with particular strengths far reaching the most apparent.

However, Bad Company 2’s most defining feature is its tactical awareness and focus on teamwork. If you want to win you’ll need to be a team player, working together to earn kills and attack and defend objectives. Even if you’re just a recon, sitting back and sniping, you can help the team – besides the obvious killing – by “spotting” enemies so that they appear on the radar and screen for your whole squad to see. This can be done with any class at any time, so if you don’t think you can get the kill you can hit a button and you’ve successfully pinpointed an enemy, making him a far easier target for the rest of your team. Then, of course, you have the medics who can drop health for people; the assault class can drop ammo and the engineer who fixes vehicles on the move. There’s nothing more exciting than defending a structure with your whole team working in tandem, “spotting” enemies for each other, resupplying and healing, and even bringing them back to life. These moments may depend on who you’re playing with, but so far the community seems especially adept at dealing with all of the nuances of Bad Company 2’s multiplayer.

Although if you’re new to the series it may be a tough introduction. The single player campaign has a fairly generous aim assist that is absent from the multiplayer, and the game doesn’t do a particularly good job of teaching you the ropes. Attempting to pilot the helicopters without training is suicide and basic skills that you might not know even existed are never revealed. It’s only a slight flaw, but if this is your first Battlefield and you’re looking to go online you may want to scour the internet for any tips before entering the battle.

If you do decide to jump in prepare to be amazed by the spectacular sound. Each and every weapon sounds sublime with the noise changing depending on your position. Fire across a large distance in an open space and it will reflect that; fire in a tight corridor at close range and the acoustics will adapt perfectly. Explosions sound different depending how far or close your proximity is, muffling from close range and deafening as your ears start ringing. Battle chatter is exceptional in single player and multiplayer as your squad communicate, signalling out enemies and adding their own unique chatter to give everything a natural feel. War is Hell and Bad Company 2 does as good a job as any reflecting that in its sound design. You know when it’s time to cover as bullets whizz past your ear and a tank blows apart a house, the broken brinks crumbling all around as injured teammates go down in agony.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 thrives on these moments of war-torn chaos. Its brand of epic, large scale, squad based multiplayer is rarely seen on consoles, taking what was great about the original Bad Company and Battlefield 1943 and refining it with a substantial amount of engaging game types and phenomenal map design to create one of the best multiplayer experience available. The single player is a bit of a letdown as it’s obvious DICE spent the majority of their time working on the online, but the core gameplay is enjoyable enough and the characters memorable enough that it’s worth one playthrough, at least. The overall package might not topple Modern Warfare 2’s throne, but the multiplayer might have just surpassed it. Competition is always healthy.

It hails from the run-really-fast-backwards-whilst-shooting school of game design. A throwback to classic first-person shooters like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D; only the craziness has been turned to 11 and the tight corridors have progressed to vast, open spaces crammed full of respawing enemies. The foes Sam will come up against have no other attack pattern other than to shoot you, charge at you, or both. Their character designs are completely nonsensical, from screaming suicide bombers with no heads to six-armed monsters and giant scorpion-men equipped with mini-guns – there’s no rhyme or reason to any of it. As a result, gameplay is consistently hectic and nerve-wracking as enemies jump at you from all angles as you make a desperate dash for that last health vile. The amount of wacky foes Serious Sam HD can throw at you at any one time is staggering, although this does lead to some slowdown in the latter stages when the character count must be near the hundreds.

Of course, if you want to survive against such mind-numbing odds you’re going to need a hefty arsenal of weaponry. Sam’s come prepared with myriad shotguns, rocket launchers and machine guns as well as some more explosive firepower, like a handy laser gun and a cannon that fires giant cannonballs. Shooting is satisfying with enemies exploding into red paste upon death, and the controls feel tight and intuitive despite the jump from mouse and keyboard to controller. The level design is nothing to write home about, often locking you in an area and spawning enemies until you’ve defeated them all. Their basic attack patterns and your constant need to run backwards and fire eventually get tedious, despite the games short playtime. It’s still fun, but the frenetic pace and monotonous shooting is rather tiring, especially when you’re killing the same character types over and over again. You can draft in three friends for co-op but this strains the frame rate even further, and the competitive multiplayer options from the PC version have been removed here.

The new and improved HD visuals don’t add all that much to the original 2001 game. Weapon details are improved and everything has a nice new sheen to it, but a lot of the textures are still fairly poor with shadows often flickering in and out. On the sound side Sam’s plethora of cheesy one-liners are hilariously good, and the heavy metal soundtrack is as enjoyable as ever if that’s your thing. Its the sound effects that come out on top, though. A lot of the enemy noises are essential to knowing where they are and what kind of foe you’re up against. It’s surprising for a game like this to place such a big emphasis on sound when it comes to gameplay, but it works fantastically well.

In the end, Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter doesn’t warrant its 1200MP price point. There aren’t enough new features to cater fans of the series and the gameplay just doesn’t hold up for newcomers. It can still be a lot of fun, with large scale battles against multiple foes being a highlight, but the old school game design is showing its age, if it was even relevant to begin with. There just isn’t enough variety in the locations, enemies and basic gameplay to really recommend it.

Plot Summary (Spoilers Follow)

The film opens in Mexico, where Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith (Liam Neeson) is being held captive. Left for dead by a pair of corrupt cops, he escapes into the desert to rescue a fellow Army Ranger, Templeton “Faceman” Peck (Bradley Cooper). En route, Hannibal encounters a disgraced Ranger, Basco B.A. Baracus (Quinton Jackson), and convinces him to aid in the rescue. On the run from the renegade Mexican forces, they stop at an army hospital to recruit H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock (Sharlo Copley), a mental patient and pilot. Fleeing in a medical chopper, they trick their pursuers into entering American airspace, where the renegades are shot down by the Air Force. This represents the culmination of Hannibal’s elaborate plan.

Eight years later, the team is now a decorated, elite combat unit stationed in Iraq. Hannibal is contacted by CIA Agent Lynch (Patrick Wilson). A group of Iraqi insurgents are transporting a set of US treasury plates being used to make counterfeit currency out of Baghdad. Against the advice of his commanding officer, General Morrison (Gerald McRaney) and Face’s former lover, Captain Sosa (Jessica Biel), Hannibal and the team recover the plates in an unofficial “black” operation. When the team returns to base, the container with the plates and Morrison’s Humvee are destroyed by contractors from the private security firm Black Forest, led by a mercenary named Pike (Brian Bloom). With Morrison dead, there is no record of the mission, and the four are arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Six months later, Lynch visits Hannibal in prison and reveals that Pike is trying to sell the plates with the help of a mysterious Arab. Hannibal strikes a deal with Lynch: in exchange for recovering the plates, the team will be reinstated with clean records. Lynch agrees and helps Hannibal escape. Hannibal frees Face, BA (who has found religion in prison and refuses to kill anymore) and Murdock. Sosa, convinced the team is in league with Pike, pursues them. While escaping from a German hospital, the team’s aircraft is destroyed by military drones. However, they escape inside a tank with parachutes, using the turret to maneuver.

The team tracks Pike, recovering the plates and capturing the Arab, who is revealed to be General Morrison. Morrison was working with Lynch and Pike to steal the plates, but faked his own death to double-cross Lynch. When Lynch discovers that Morrison is alive, he orders an air strike to eliminate the team. They escape, but Morrison, the only one who knows the team is innocent, is killed.

Desperate, Face comes up with a plan. Hannibal contacts Sosa (knowing she is being tapped by Lynch) and agrees to hand over Morrison and the plates at the LA docks in exchange for his freedom. Face then contacts Sosa on an untapped phone he had given her earlier. Lynch and Pike prepare to trap the team at the docks. Face has anticipated this, and executes an elaborate plan to draw Lynch into the open. However, when Pike uses a bazooka to sink the ship the team is using, the plan nearly falls apart until Pike is killed by BA. Lynch confronts Hannibal and a hooded figure he believes to be Morrison, shooting the figure in the head. Just as it seems as though Lynch has won, the container they are fighting in is lifted, revealing Sosa and a squad of Federal agents. The figure in the hood is revealed to be Murdock in a Kevlar helmet. Lynch is taken into custody, but the team is arrested again for escaping prison. Before he is taken away, Sosa kisses Face. As the frustrated team is taken away, Face produces a key from his mouth, repeating Hannibal’s catch-phrase: “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Anyone familiar with a flip book knows that when you put a series of still pictures together in succession, it can create the appearance of movement and activity. Sadly, this film does not seem to have mastered this basic principle of film making. The overall narrative of the film is incredibly disjointed and the plot is so poorly executed it is impossible to follow. Much of this is due to one critical error: there are three different factions chasing the team. As each of these factions schemes against and chases the others, it is easy to get them confused. Much of the time, the viewer will be trying to figure out who is chasing the team. Why the chase scene is occurring is too frequently a question that is also left unanswered. The villain’s motivations are never explained and their performances suffer as a result. In particular, Agent Lynch is portrayed as an inept bumbler, who will annoy viewers rather than intimidate or scare them. The character is such a pathetic caricature of a corrupt CIA agent that he is not even worthy of the title of comic relief. Biel’s character fairs little better, as it feels like her only role in the film is to look pretty for 90 minutes and kiss the hero at the end.

However, another reason for the film’s scattershot of a plot is that it tries to incorporate too many elements into the story. Viewers will find themselves confronted with an exhibition of clichéd twists: the jilted lovers confronting each other, the senior mentor who is revealed to be a traitor, the second in command taking his mentor’s place. The worst offender is the unnecessary subplot involving BA’s pacifism, which is unconvincing and immediately abandoned after a single lecture from Hannibal. None of these scenes are bound together convincingly into one grand narrative. The latter half of the film feels like watching several mediocre short films.

This is not to say that the film is a complete failure. A few of the individual scenes are good in and of themselves. The opening scene is decently exciting and does an admirable job establishing the personality of each of the four team members. That is where the film shines. The interactions between the four are genuine and often hilarious. While the action half of the action-comedy label is disappointing in the second half, the comedy in the first half of the film is genuinely funny. Face’s cool, quick wit is perfectly complemented by BA’s over the top personality and Murdock’s cartoonish ramblings.  All of this is brought together by a solid performance from Neeson’s Hannibal, whose calculating command provides their scenes with a focus that gave the initial action sequences purpose and direction. While some may criticize the individual characters as one dimensional, together the performances exceed the sum of their parts. These moments of comedic comity make the first half of the film enjoyable.

However, the uninspired series of action movie vignettes loosely attached to the first half lack any of these interactions. The fight sequences at the end of the film are dark and the camera is jerky, leading to a confusing and disappointing final confrontation. The ending is nonsensical and thoroughly disappointing. Pity the fools who sit through this entire movie. But if the viewer is in need of a decent laugh for 40 minutes and nothing else can help, maybe they should hire the A-Team.

The movie scored a major coup by having John Cusack, a star of many films of the 1980s, as the lead. By doing so, it allows the audience to ask what happened to the characters like Lloyd Dobler, who were supposed to live happily ever after their eighties exploits. The answer is that they are emotional nightmares, either too clingy or too cowardly or too antipathetic to have an actual successful relationship.

Cusack plays Adam, a forty-year old who can’t keep a girlfriend because he’s too compartmentalized. His friend Lou’s (Rob Corddry) attempted suicide prompts him and his friend Nick (Craig Robinson) to rent a cabin in the ski lodge where they had many fond memories. Along for the trip is Adam’s nephew Jacob (Clark Duke), who plays the straight man to the outrageous Coddry.

"It must be some kind of Hot Tub Time Machine"

When the protagonists arrive at the cabin, the place is in shambles, but that is no worry because a sagely repairman (Chevy Chase) is able to get the titular hot tub running and that’s really all you need for a party. Through a series of accidents, the hot tub transports them back to the 1980s, and that’s when the fun begins. References to many facets of eighties culture (and even contemporary culture) appear left and right- everything from “The Drive” to Michael Jackson is lampooned. The characters provide many humorous situations as they attempt to relive the past in an attempt to keep the future intact. But if Back to the Future has taught us anything, you can’t relive the past in the exact same manner (and to reinforce this fact, Crispin Glover has a supporting role as the hotel’s bellhop).

The only problem with Hot Tub Time Machine was the lack of development of certain subplots. Though the gang references a bad time in Cincinnati that led to a falling out of the main characters, the audience is never shown what exactly happened in the Queen City. Though it can be inferred that Adam did something that cemented his reputation as a self-absorbed jerk, a reveal of the exact incident (like the Albuquerque incident in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard) does not occur. Thus, Hot Tub Time Machine misses a key opportunity to provide more jokes and more humor.

However, this slight missed opportunity does not detract from the overall quality of the movie. This movie is destined to become a college humor classic with its many quotable lines and funny references. Plus, it’s a movie with a hot tub time machine- what can be wrong with that?

In the first episode of HBO’s new show, Pilkington begins to talk about how humans should reproduce. He believes that when a woman turns 78 she should die, but that a small baby should be born from her body when she dies, so that it would be a “good-bad situation”. Immediately, Gervais cracks up at the idiotic premise. The worst part about it is that Pilkington believes that this system will be the next stage of evolution. Gervais and Merchant try to convince him of the ridiculousness of the idea, but it does little to persuade him.

The other funny segment was “Monkey News” in which the men discuss a story having to do with monkeys. Pilkington begins to speak about how angry he would be if he was a monkey because humans get all the credit–particularly for space travel. He eloquently points out that a monkey went into space before man. Although it is a somewhat legitimate point, it devolves into babble after he says that the monkeys were taught to fly the spaceships using buttons and a banana dispenser.

With such ridiculous segments, Gervais and Merchant, among comedies brightest talents, are in a great setting. The show itself is done in an animated style reminiscent of the Flintstones (which, oddly enough, they reference in the show) and show their animated persons sitting at a table discussing with occasional cutaways describing certain elements of the story.

The problem is that I can’t really figure out why this needs to be a television show. Yes, the segments become more ludicrous when you actually see what Pilkington is describing, but it isn’t a constant which warrants watching the screen the entire time. The animated style is not impressive and much of the time is just showing the animated men sitting in a studio. Thus, I kept getting the feeling that this show, although funny, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is better than the podcast. It has the feeling of a simple video podcast, but one that you don’t need to be watching constantly in order to enjoy.

Nevertheless, both Gervais and Merchant are funny enough to make the show deserving of a large audience. Although it is very likely that you will find yourself doing other activities while watching it.

Ted hasn’t had a lot of success, but he immediately becomes smitten with reporter Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders). On their first date, Ted impresses her but then makes the faux-pas of using the L- word. Reversing traditional gender roles, Robin is the one who doesn’t want to commit to a relationship but chooses to focus on her career. Begrudgingly, Ted accepts that they can just be friends and introduces her to his circle of friends and immediately click.

Opposite Ted is his best friend Marshall who has been in a nine year relationship with Lily and they are completely in love. Ted wants what they have while Barney attempts to do everything in his power to keep him single. Barney doesn’t believe in relationships or in marriage and wants his “best friend” (Ted always says Marshall is his best friend) to understand the “awesomeness” of being single in New York.

Despite Barney’s efforts, the first season of How I Met Your Mother tells a number of stories about Ted and Robin searching for love but consistently coming back to each other. Ted begins to look for love in other places and stops actively pursuing Robin but his belief that Robin is the one never subside. All indications lead the group of friends to believe that Robin is simply not interested in dating Ted, but it begins to change when Ted stops pursuing her.

Marshall would love to help his best friend find a girl but his life is quickly evolving into adulthood. After he proposes to Lily, the two attempt to become more sophisticated with disastrous results. Both realize that wine and cheese parties are nothing compared to the good company of their friends at the local bar, MacFaddens. Barney becomes Ted’s wing-man, introducing him to attractive women by simply saying “Have you met, Ted?” and walking away. While Barney is happy with the constant stream of women, Ted is still intent on meeting the girl of his dreams.

Ted begins to date Victoria (Ashley Williams) and feels like she is the one. Robin becomes jealous and realizes that she has romantic inclinations towards Ted, sentiments she carefully shares with Lily. Victoria’s relationship with Ted weakens when she moves to Germany after being accepted into a culinary school. Robin is secretly happy and decides to invite Ted over late one night. “Nothing good every happens after 2am” future Ted warns his children, but young Ted decides to go to her apartment.

After some more drama, the season ends with Robin and Ted finally becoming a couple. However, their fortune is contrasted with Lily’s decision to move to San Francisco to attend art school–effectively breaking up with Marshall.

The strength of How I Met Your Mother is the writing and the characters. Even the most successful have particular characters that are weakly played or tangentially attached to the story arch, but this is simply not the case in HIMYM. All characters are played with energy and realism, absurd as they may sometimes be. Particularly noteworthy is Neal Patrick Harris as Barney. Most people know Harris as Dougie Howser M.D., but he successfully breaks the fetters of his childhood role and creates an enormously funny character. The oversexed, cool guy Barney is always asking his friends to “suit up” (get dressed up in suits and go out) and frequently describes things as “legen- I hope your not allergic to – dary”. While the character prototype is nothing new, Harris, a gay man, portrays a misogynistic straight man enormously well.

Harris is surrounded by a cast of vibrant, quick and very believable actors. Josh Radnor, Jason Segal, Alison Hannigan and Cobie Smulders all play drastically different people but those with convincing and entertaining interactions. The nicest thing about watching the ensemble is seeing all the smiles. I constantly saw characters smiling ear-to-ear at the edges of the screen showing that the actors have a great time and make the show all the more believable.

Without a doubt, How I Met Your Mother is a winner.

Unfortunately, there are times when you leave drunk messages which really come back to haunt you.  Such was the case in this week’s episode of Community in which Britta makes a drunken call to Jeff.  Playing this message for her completely changes the dynamics of the relationship. Britta initially blocked all of Jeff attempts at romance but recently she has begun to have her own romantic inclinations towards him. The message put all of this in the open.

Jeff has the upper hand in the relationship, but he doesn’t want to destroy the playful banter of their interactions. How to fix it? Abed and Jeff decide to get completely plastered and make a call to Britta so it will re-balance things.  In a montage involving alcohol, dancing and a pizza deliveryman, the two achieve their goals, but they can’t remember what Jeff said in his two conversations with Britta and his girlfriend, Michelle.

The hilarity ensues at the Valentines Day dance where Jeff discovers that he called Michelle but hung up when it wasn’t Britta. Suspicious, Michelle gives him the cold shoulder while Britta arrives at the dance saying that she was so flattered that he had invited her to the dance.

In regular Community fashion, the cast of characters at dance is absurd. Professor Chang dresses up like “Beat It” Michael Jackson and dances with Pierce and Troy who have been forced to wear light fitting ladies pant suits after lying in Spanish class about having girlfriends.  The awkwardness of the love triangle is assuaged by the ridiculousness of the dance.

This episode proves to me once again that Community has hit its stride. The new comedy has established the relationship dynamics that provide for an intoxicating comedy.

This criticism was rebuked with last night’s episode. The meeting between David Wallace (Andy Buckley) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) signaled a return to workplace-based stories. This is unfortunate for Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) who was driven crazy by not being included in the meeting. He didn’t understand what was happening and being the hypersensitive and paranoid man that he is, tried to figure it out. Michael walked into the meeting, questioned Pam (Jenna Fischer) and even hid under a makeshift cheese cart in order to hear the conversation.

Alas, none of his antics worked. Afraid for his own job, Michael negated all of Jim’s strengths when speaking to David. Disappointed, David tells him that the plan was to promote both of them to higher positions. Michael has screwed himself out of a promotion once again. Jim and Michael speak about the messy situation and convince David to “promote both of them” to co-managers of the Scranton branch.

The episode included a lot of funny moments, most of them coming from the Michael’s attempts to listen-in on the meeting. Andy’s (Ed Helms) speech about the finer points about the processed cheeses taken from the break room was the real highlight:

“Oui oui monsieur. From the Wisconsin region, a nice, firm cheddar. Also from the great state of Wisconsin, an aged Parmesan. Here you will find a cheddar-style spread, which has reacted nicely with the air to form a light rind, which I believe you will find both challenging and delicious. At that point, I would recommend you take a quick trip south of the border to the great state of Illinois where you will find this fine blue cheese dressing. If I may be so bold, it’s a lot of fun to let the goldfish take a little swim in the blue cheese. Bon appetite.” –Andy Bernard

In addition to the main story line there were two other story arcs although they were far less captivating.  Pam began handing out invitations to the wedding that will happen later this season and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Toby (Paul Lieberstein) attempt to prove that Darryl (Craig Robinson) filed a false work-accident report about a broken ankle. The latter included a comical scene of mistaken identity between Darryl and his sister, but on the whole wasn’t particularly interesting.

Neither came close to the importance or the hilarity surrounding the promotion of Jim to co-manager of the branch. Obviously this means some major changes for the dynamics of the office and some workers are not thrilled, especially Dwight, who finished end the show with a hysterical scream of anguish.  TV viewers will be happy to know that The Office is moving forward with intriguing plot developments while keeping its award-winning comedic elements.