Unfortunately, the magazine has just become the part of a larger company in a corporate takeover, and he’s been “demoted” (which has to be better than being “downsized”) in the shakeup. To make matters worse, his new boss Carter Duryea (Topher Grace) is half his age and thinks he knows everything. He is about to find out that he doesn’t.

Carter comes into the office and thinks that his business school theories will carry over to the magazine where Dan has been operating on handshakes for longer than he’s been alive. Unfortunately the cross-promotion ideals that Carter and the new organization hopes will make things work don’t seem to be taking off, and to make matters worse, Carter’s new wife dumps him just as he receives his promotion.

Dan isn’t immune either. As if losing his nice position to someone like Carter isn’t the worst news he could receive, his wife is pregnant with a new child (evoking echoes of Father of the Bride II) and Carter, fresh off his dumping, looks to Dan for insight, and when he comes home with him for dinner one night, meets Dan’s daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson), which doesn’t make Dan any happier at all – especially when Dan finds out they’ve been secretly dating.

When the pressure gets on to get sales going or get fired, however, Dan and Carter team up and land a big account just in time, only to find out that the magazine has been sold again, and both Carter and the management team are out and Dan is back in charge, almost as if nothing happened.

There’s really no explanation of why Carter and Alex don’t see each other, except perhaps in respect to Dan’s wishes, which is the only downfall to the movie – other than that, it’s an enjoyable ride all around.

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content and drug references.

They are simply two spouses who aren’t quite as happy in life as they could be, until one day when they are assigned the same target and while they do so, they actually interfere with the other’s plans.

Then they later find out that they were supposed to kill the same person, and then they are assigned new targets – each other! That is when the fun begins as they try to take one another out (but they don’t try too hard – they are married, after all). This leads to the discovery that the initial target was a decoy, because their bosses found out that they were married, and they wanted them to take each other out.

In the end, of course, they don’t kill each other, but a lot of fun ensues as they try – halfheartedly – to do so. The best lines come about as they shoot at one another and then call out to see if they are still there (hi honey – are you still alive?).

Vince Vaughn shows up as something of a partner to Brad Pitt, and his role is perfect. Too much of Vaughn usually drives me away, but his role here as a killer who lives with his mother is just about right, since you don’t see him much and he can’t get on your nerves as much as usual.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, intense action, sexual content and brief strong language. Enjoy it after the young ones aren’t around.

From the opening sounds of the lonely pirate singing, you are whisked off to a world of adventure with Captain Jack. Unfortunately it gets a bit bogged down after that. There’s an adventure on an island which, while fun, could probably be dropped in its entirety without affecting the rest of the movie one bit. The movie then drags for a while before another fun bit that goes on and on and on. And then it goes on some more.

While the fun of watching a three-way sword between Jack, Will (Orlando Bloom) and Norrington (Jack Davenport) fight atop a runway water wheel is interesting, it doesn’t need to be as long as it is.

Watching Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and the skeletons/zombies is much more fun, and the whole thing could have stopped long before it did.

To recap: If you drop the island bit, then cut the wheel scene in half (or more), you’ve got a slim and trim movie, even should you decide to beef up some other parts. Alas, that didn’t happen, and that’s okay.

The movie is still enjoyable, and the makeup work and special effects done on Davy Jones, his crew (including a nice bit by Stellan Skarsgård as Will’s father Bootstrap Bill) and Jones’ ship are quite impressive.

But it was Geoffrey Rush’s return at the end of the movie, setting the stage for part three, that really looks interesting. Special effects are nice and all, but I’ll take a good story every time.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of adventure violence, including frightening images, and this time around it is a much darker world that the pirates inhabit. Younger ones may be a bit intimidated by the sights of the place. Still, it’s an enjoyable romp, if a longish one in the telling.