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"This Chick Is Old
Enough To Have Dated
T.C. In High School" |
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Directed by Paul Dinello
- Written by Paul
Dinello, Stephen
Colbert, Amy Sedaris
Starring Amy Sedaris,
Paul Dinello, Stephen
Colbert, Greg Hollimon
Distributed by ThinkFilm -
2006 - 97mins - Rated R |
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Going to high school is always scary...Especially the second time
around. |
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Watching “Strangers With Candy,” I faced the same dilemma that haunted
me when I viewed “Serenity” last year: Here is a film based on a
television show that I love…how much should I consider it’s previous
incarnations when I evaluate it?
With “Serenity,” I felt that the film stood well enough on it’s own to
earn an A-. “Strangers with Candy” is a different story. I cannot
imagine anyone who has not seen that show liking the movie. It leaps
right into the gags without setting anything up…which was okay for the
half hour TV show where we could watch a few episodes and grasp the
characters, but not for a 90 minute stand-alone film. Also I should
note that the movie itself does not pack as many laughs as individual
episodes of the TV series. This feels like one of the more average
episodes stretched out a bit too far.
This is all petty complaining, though. If this is as funny as a
middling episode of the show, than it is still funnier than most
things to come out this year. This is a movie made for the fans.
For those of you not familiar with the show, here’s the basic story:
Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris), a 47 year old junkie/whore returns to here
childhood home after a stint in prison, where she resumes her life as
it was before she ran away from home as a teen. She goes back to high
school and lives in her old house, where a new stepmother and
stepbrother who hate here guts reside. In school, she meets Mr. Noblet
(Stephen Colbert) and Mr. Jellineck (Paul Dinello), who are…er…”friendly.”
Let us not forget the principal, Mr. Blackman (Greg Hollimon), quite
possibly the most random character ever to hit television (and now
movie) screens.
The entire tone of the movie and series is that of a cheesy
after-school special. Our heroes learn life lessons after much
failure, shame and overly dramatic music. The catch is that the
characters always learn the wrong lessons by doing the wrong things.
It’s twisted, random, surreal and BRILLIANT.
The movie…the movie? Oh yeah.
I will say this until you get bored of this review and stop reading:
this is a movie that does not stand on it’s own. You must like the
show to like this. If you are an exception, e-mail me. Please.
Amy Sedaris is probably the funniest woman currently alive. Stephen
Colbert is among the top three funniest men alive today. I have not
seen Dinello or Hollimon outside of “Candy,” but there are
consistently hilarious. This is a group of skilled comedians doing
comedy that will only appeal to a small niche of people. This comedy
is offensive, gross, absurd, surreal and random.
This is the definition of “cult film.” It will not find huge success.
It will never enter public consciousness.
Therefore, make it your mission to watch the show at least once. If
you like it, see the movie. And treasure both.
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© Written by Jacob Hall
E-Mail me with your comments! |
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Richard
Propes' Comment
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