Wet Hot American Summer

Wet Hot American Summer
January 23, 2001
Eureka Pictures
Comedy, Historical, Romance
DVD
B

This is a parody/homage to the "summer camp" movies of the late '70s and early '80s, from Meatballs on out.  Some of the time it does feel like one of those movies, but one that just somehow didn't get released for two decades.  (It's set in 1981.)  And other times it feels like a dark comedy, as seen particularly in the "going to town" montage.  Then there are the very not '80s touches, like the gay wedding.  Not everything works in the movie, but enough does.  This go-round I was most impressed with the soundtrack, with no less than three title songs, although the best song is "Higher and Higher," which is used for the training montage.

The cast has many good performers, with the best of lot probably Paul Rudd, cast against "nice guy" type as Andy the good-looking "asshole."  Not only does he insult and cheat on his girlfriend, but he lets kids drown and throws witnesses out of a moving vehicle!  I was also of course quite fond of one couple, by then thirty-six-year-old Janeane Garfolo as Beth the camp director and forty-one-year-old David Hyde Pierce as Henry Newman the astrophysics professor.

Bradley Cooper, then 25, has an early role as Ben, the gay Drama counselor, while Amy Poehler (then 29) plays the overly critical Drama counselor Susie.  This time, Molly Shannon is Gail von Kleinenstein, the Arts & Crafts counselor going through a divorce.

Director/co-writer David Wain would also write and direct a couple other Paul Rudd movies I own, Wanderlust and They Came Together (the latter pairing Rudd with Poehler).  Co-writer Michael Showalter would also co-write TCT, but he doesn't seem to appear in it, as he does here, in the dual roles of Gerald "Coop" Cooperberg and Alan Shemper.  Peter Salett, who's Guitar Dude here, would be Manfreddie in Wanderlust.  Nina Hellman, who's Nancy here, would be a Protester there.  And Michael Ian Black, who plays Ben's boyfriend McKinley, would be Trevor in TCT.

Zak Orth was Mike in In & Out, is J.J. here, and would be David Newbert in Music and Lyrics.

Dogma

Dogma
November 12, 1999
View Askew
Comedy, Horror, Fantasy
DVD
C+

I said of Chasing Amy that it was a weaker film than Clerks, in part because it attempted more.  Well, this entry, which Kevin Smith spent years on, attempts even more, no less than an examination of Christianity, specifically Catholicism, but with, yes, a comedy/horror/fantasy slant.  And it just doesn't work.  It's not without interest and it does have some nice cameos, notably Janeane Garofalo as Liz and George Carlin as Cardinal Glick, but the leads are too given to speechifying, and mixing this with jokes about shit and acts of bloody slaughter does not help.  The best of the major characters is Jason Lee as Azrael.  Yes, he's doing his Banky thing, but it works for an annoyed demon.  Alan Rickman, as Metratron (the Voice of God) looks like he'd rather be somewhere else, and I can't tell how much of this is just the character and how much of it is Rickman.  (He is well cast though in the sense that in the following decade his voice would sway a fandom.)  It's always nice to see Bud Cort, but the plot renders him immobile for most of the movie.  Ben Affleck as Bartleby and Matt Damon as Loki, yes, once again besties playing besties, speechify and commit the aforementioned acts of bloody slaughter.  And Kevin Smith manages to pull a Thalberg on himself and "hetero life-mate" Jason Mewes, since Jay and Silent Bob are supposed to be heroes in this one, while still being low-lifes.  In fact, there are scenes where Bob is so MGM-Harpo-ized that he starts communicating in pantomime (though he can actually talk in this and other movies).

Verdict: I'm unlikely to buy any more K. Smith movies, but if someone gave me one, I'd probably keep it.

Among the View Askew regulars are Dwight Ewell (Kane), Walter Flanagan (Protestor #2), John Launder (Priest with Buddy Christ #1), Kimberly Loughran (Woman in Elevator), Scott Mosier (Smooching Seaman), Ernest O'Donnell (Reporter), Vincent Pereira (unknown character), Ethan Suplee (Voice of Noman), Guinevere Turner (Bus Station Attendant).  Also Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran, Randal and Dante of Clerks, here play respectively Gun Salesman and Grant Hicks.  Joe Shelby, who was a doctor in Bob Roberts, is a Bus Rider here.

So, wait, you're smart enough to cast me and then you drop me from the rest of the movie?

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
April 25, 1997
Buena Vista
Comedy
VHS
B+

While this has its flaws (borderline racism and homophobia, a very meandering plot), this remains a delightful, joyous film, in the tradition of Earth Girls Are Easy and Clueless.  That is, there's sort of a deeper message beyond the bright colors, bouncy soundtrack (here heavy on early to mid '80s pop), and "dumb" heroines.  But mostly the movie is a lot of fun with many quotable lines.  The leads are a I-can't-place-it-but-I-love-it accented Mira Sorvino and a Phoebe-era Lisa Kudrow.  Whether they're mocking Pretty Women or claiming that they invented Post-its (Sorvino as Romy does something amazing to her O's, while Kudrow as Michele reels off a formula for glue), they are very funny.  (And the "I've got a phone" brag by Romy, a flip-phone no less, has only gotten funnier with time.)

Also, their best friendship is touching and believable.  It's sort of a sismance, a female version of a bromance, something not seen enough in movies.  Yes, they're both given romantic prospects--Michele's is a still nerdy but now rich Alan Cumming--but the focus is on their relationship.  (They consider becoming lesbians if they're still single in a couple years, although Romy is disgusted by the idea of having sex with a woman.)  It is entirely fitting that when Cumming (as Sandy Frink) asks Michele to dance, they have to include Romy.  (It's to "Time After Time" and is worth the price of admission/rental in itself.)  It's quite clear that Romy and Michele are each other's favorite person in the world.

But the real gem here is a gaspingly hilarious Janeane Garofalo as the hostile but vulnerable Heather Mooney.  It's a very different role than Abby in The Truth About Cats & Dogs, much more out there, but in its own way just as lovable.  Michele has a line late in the film, "For me, it's like I've just given birth to my own baby girl, except she's like a big giant girl who smokes and says 'shit' a lot.*  You know?"  Meanwhile, Heather decides to buy a non-black dress that "exacerbates the genetic betrayal that is my legacy."  That there was never a 20th-year reunion sequel is one of the minor crimes of Hollywood.

17-year-old William R. Phillips, who's Man at Diner here, would still look young enough to play a student in Kudrow's Mean Girls seven years later.


*Yes, there is profanity in a Buena Vista release.  Also a lot of cleavage.  I'm sure Uncle Walt was rolling over in his grave.

The Truth About Cats & Dogs

The Truth About Cats & Dogs
April 26, 1996
Fox
Comedy, Romance
VHS
B

This is a bittersweet, funny, and amiable rom-com but it is not without its issues.  To begin with, our heroine Abby, as played by 31-year-old Janeane Garofalo, is just not plausible as a woman who is so insecure that she would lie about her own identity when she meets a charming, handsome, but down-to-earth Brit (Ben Chaplin).  (After all, it's not like she's got a huge nose, like Steve Martin in Roxanne.)  Without pitting women against each other, I do have to say that I'm not alone in finding Garofalo far more attractive than Uma Thurman, in this or any other movie.  Nothing against Ms. Thurman.  She's cute and quite likable here.  I enjoy the friendship dynamic between Abby and Noelle.  In fact, if this had been the indie movie that Garofalo thought she had signed on for, or for that matter a porn movie, the triangle could be resolved quite plausibly with a threesome.   The chemistry among Garofalo, Chaplin, and Thurman is strong enough, and a ménage à trois might actually work better than what this movie offers, which is a dubious lesson about how when you get to know and like someone, they can become much more attractive.  Even more dubious is that the women deceive Brian for far too long.  Yes, he seems a bit thick to not catch on, but it's an unfair situation to put him in.

That said, there are some great scenes, among them the non-explicit phone sex and the "free radicals in my regime" beauty counter encounter and its follow-up ("If I were a guy, I'd fuck you," "I know you would, Sweetie").  Since I'm a cat-person, I like seeing Abby with her cat, and the dog is cute, even if the roller-skating is a bit much.  Also, it's a very '90s movie, almost modern (especially in its body-image subject matter), but still before the widespread use of the Internet and cell phones, which would've impacted the plot in various ways.  Definitely a must-see for Garofalo fans, since she's very sarcastic yet vulnerable here, in a different way than in her scene-stealing role in the next year's Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion.

One of the Newcast Auditioners, Linda Porter, would be Mrs. Crabbleman in Dude, Where's My Car?