I had a pretty productive weekend of movie-going. Between seeing District 9 and The Time Traveler’s Wife on Friday, I thought I was rounding things out nicely by seeing The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard on Sunday afternoon.

How wrong I was.

I think I must have been suckered in by the idea that Jeremy Piven was going to deliver something similar to the lovable cad he placed in PCU, but that didn’t really happen. It’s not really Piven’s fault. He slathers on the oily charm and is relatively winning in his performance.

And it’s not as if The Goods isn’t a funny movie. There are some genuinely inspired bits in the movie.

I think the problem is that The Goods is basically 20 good jokes looking for a plot. The conflict is contrived, the potential girlfriend is cliched… There just isn’t any connective tissue to this thing. It basically barrels through it’s running time trying to shock and offend you into laughter enough times that you won’t notice how lazy all of it is.

And it’s a shame, because there is some amazing comedic talent in this movie – Piven, Tony Hale, Will Ferrell, David Koechner, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Kathryn Hahn, Rob Riggle, Craig Robinson… the list goes on. I feel like everyone pretty much did their best with what they were given. But much like the lead character, the movie itself is kind of a con.

As for the other films I saw this weekend, I really liked The Time Traveler’s Wife, but I am convinced the Rachel McAdams is on a mission to make everyone in America cry by 2013. Between this movie and The Notebook, if you don’t tear up even a little… you’re soul dead.

In regard to the time travel elements of the story, Owen Gleiberman at Entertainment Weekly compares the movie to a game that the audience learns to play and it takes a little while to get the hang of it. But the story asks some interesting questions about free will and the forces of attraction.

Cami read the book and complained that the left a lot of details out, but admitted it was a long book and not all of it would have worked in the context of a film.

I was unfamiliar with the source material, but found the movie to be highly resonant and enjoyable. Both of us admitted to thinking about the movie days after we had seen it, despite some of the problems it may have had.

Lastly, District 9. What else can I say about this movie but “wow?”

If you’ve been interested in this film at all, you’ve probably read some of the reviews. A lot of people have been reacting very positively. But I would say that it’s in danger of being oversold just a little bit.

That’s not to say that the movie isn’t effective. Quite the contrary. It’s a very solid sci-fi / action movie. But so many critics have been calling it a masterpiece, I think they’ve lost a little perspective.

The first act is phenomenal. Shot in a documentary style, director Neill Blomkamp goes to great lengths to establish a believable alternate reality where extraterrestrial refugees parked their mother ship over Johannesburg, South Africa 20 years ago.

The aliens, rounded up inside a shanty town called District 9, makes obvious allusions to apartheid. When crime runs rampant in the slums, the general populace has had enough and a large corporation begins to round them up so they can move them to a tent city 200 miles out of town.

That’s where the political stuff ends. I won’t spoil what happens next, but a lot of it is action movie boilerplate. Chases, explosions, violence, gore, heroic platitudes. The whole ball of wax.

There’s some very interesting (and disturbing) Cronenberg-level “betrayal of the body” stuff going on in between the first and second act that I had a hard time stomaching. But the effects work is amazing and the CGI is nearly seamless.

I’m trying not to downplay my review. I strongly encourage all of you to see the movie. I just want you to know what you’re getting into so you don’t get your hopes too high.

District 9 is an expert film. Tightly wound and brilliantly told. Once the action kicks up, hold on to your seat – because you’re going for a ride.

But the trailers and the first act sells lofty concepts about man’s inhumanity to man (and aliens) and what ethic boundaries we will overlook in the pursuit of power and money. Just don’t expect these kind of quandaries throughout, and you’ll be fine. In fact, you’ll be better than fine. You’ll really enjoy yourself.

SIDEBAR: Tonight’s episode of The Triple Feature I think will be really good. I know between the three of us, we were all kind of surprised by the quality and diversity of films showing up in August this year. Normally August means back-to-school and that means you’re not treated as well at the multiplex as the studios try to shuffle off inferior product. But so far, I’d say things are shaping up nicely. So we should have a lot to talk about tonight at 9:00 PM CST.

Be there to listen to it live! We’ll see you then!