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movie review Formula 51
Rated: R
Runtime: 1hr 32min
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Rhys Ifans, Meat Loaf

MFG Rating: 4/5

Formula 51 is loud, mindless, illogical, but full of style, action and one liners. So suffice to say we liked it. This is another of those movies that is the very reason for this site's existence. We predict most "critics" will hate it. However, we checked our brains at the door and had a great time.

Samuel L. Jackson in Formula 51Samuel L. Jackson plays Elmo McElroy. That's right. A large black man named "Elmo" who also wears a kilt. And yes, Jackson does use the "MF" word multiple times in the movie, but we're not sure if it has anything to do with the kilt.

Elmo received a pharmaceutical degree, graduating with honors over 30 years ago. However, he gets busted on graduation day for marijuana possession and loses his license. When we catch up with Elmo in the current day, he's a master chemist for a drug lord producing state of the art recreational drugs. His latest creation is P.O.S. 51, which is supposed to be 51 times as powerful as cocaine, heroine and any other drug you can name. And more importantly it can be made using substances that are readily available over the counter worldwide.

McElroy wants to sell his formula and every drug lord in the world wants it. If they cant have it, they want to be sure the competition cant have it either. This puts Elmo in the middle of a tug of war. Jackson plays it cool as a cucumber the entire time as you'd expect while the cast of characters around him are mostly incompetent buffoons. This makes for an interesting cross between action and comedy. Being set mostly in England, the movie also has a very British style to it.

Formula 51 is far from a masterpiece. This is not Pulp Fiction. Some of the situations are just stupid, some of the jokes do not work. And the few scenes where the movie attempts to get serious are just plain awkward. Despite all of these flaws, we really enjoyed the movie. The action and comedy that did work were enough for us to have a good time at the theater for 90 minutes, and that's all we ask of a movie.

- BillyBob

 

Vital Stats
                   
Less
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Gun Play
                   
Everyone is strapped except Jackon, he prefers golf.


Blood & Gore
                   
Do NOT take the red pill!


Car Chases
                   
They could've driven faster if the darned Brits would drive on the correct side of the road.


T&A
                   
Mortimer is a great tease, but only true nudity we get, we could've done without!

Chuckles
                   
Not exactly high brow, but we laughed outloud several times.