Walk of Shame Review

Walk of Shame Review

“Walk of Shame” was a movie I was ready to write-off immediately, and then I thought it might end up being better than I thought. By the end of the film, I learned I should have just stuck with my gut instinct.

“Walk of Shame” tells the story of Meghan Miles (Elizabeth Banks), a successful and popular news anchor in Los Angeles. She seems to have a near-perfect life, and she could be on her way to a huge promotion with another news company. Well, then she gets home and finds out that her husband has left her, so her two friends Rose (Gillian Jacobs) and Denise (Sarah Wright) take her out to get her mind off her break-up. Rose, Denise and Meghan go to the bar, Meghan drinks more than usual and ends up going home with the bartender Gordon (James Marsden). The next morning, Meghan wakes up and realizes she has eight hours to get ready to deliver the news, where her promoters will be watching. She realized that she left her car across the bar at the town so that she wouldn’t drive drunk. But she also left her purse, money, and ID in her car, and on top of everything, her car is towed. She must get to her work as soon as possible to make the promotion.

“Walk of Shame” is the typical “ticking clock” comedy; it is very much in the vein of “Jingle All The Way” with Arnold Schwarzenegger or even “The Hangover” films. There is some kind of incident or event that happens that sets up the film and our hero has to beat the clock in order for the film to end happily. I approached “Walk of Shame” like that, and for the most part, I had a good time. The premise is extremely preposterous, believe me I know, but part of what makes the film work is the performance by Elizabeth Banks. She helps the audience by into the absurdities of the film and she has just enough charisma to make this film flow well. It helps that she has James Marsden, Ethan Suplee, Bill Burr, Oliver Hudson, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Alphonso McAuley, and Kevin Nealon to help her. The casts performance range from mediocre to good. I really enjoyed James Marsden in this movie, but I felt that he just was not around enough in the film. I also thought that Gillian Jacobs and Sarah Wright just played the typical annoying friends in this movie, and they didn’t do much for me.

The film’s biggest flaw comes how the film ends. I understand that with films like these, they tend to quickly wrap things up with a good ending. I can understand the need to finish a film that makes the audience feel good, and nobody likes an unhappy ending, but I feel “Walk of Shame” tries way too hard to put a nice bow of happily ever after. The film is a little too unbelievable in the way it wraps things up and I found that to be a silly way to handle the film. Plus, “Walk of Shame” tries to sell the idea that if women hook up at bars, that they will meet Prince Charming. I am sorry, but I don’t think that is advice people should buy into. Bars can be sleazy, and often times can be dangerous, and I can’t imagine that is prime environment for women to find long-lasting partners. I find it very hard to believe that Mr. Right is waiting in a sleazy saloon.

The film was more charming than I thought it would be, and the film takes good advantage of the R-rated comedy, but “Walk of Shame” just doesn’t add up. It has more cons than pros when I line up everything about the movie, but I was ready to write this off as horrible, so I hope that says something.

FINAL GRADE: C-