July 2005

Funny, Funny, Funny. And stupid. But funny.

I think I should just lighten up.
Big dumb comedies have been back in fashion for the last few years and I have been very resistant to them. American Pie, There’s Something About Mary, Meet the Parents, Old School, Anchorman, and Dodgeball are just a few that seem to wallow in extreme slapstick, vulgar sex jokes, and totally unbelievable situations. Sure, I laughed a lot when I saw American Pie in the theater but I later felt a little dirty about it.
This is where my friends tell me that I should lighten the hell up, and after seeing Wedding Crashers, I think they’re right. Here’s the deal: Wedding Crashers is stupid, dirty, far-fetched, and terribly predictable, but I laughed my ass off while watching it. It was thoroughly entertaining, even though it did make me feel a little dirty for liking it.
Here’s the story: John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) are divorce lawyers who work together and have been best friends since adolescence. When they’re not hearing the horrendous details of people’s marriages breaking up, they’re pursuing their main hobby, which as the title of the movie suggests, is crashing weddings. They come up with elaborate schemes to get into weddings, party with the families at the receptions, and most of all, pick up chicks and go to bed with them.
After a particularly busy wedding season, the two decide to crash the biggest one of the year: that of Treasury Secretary William Cleary’s (Christopher Walken) daughter. John is immediately taken by the bride’s sister Claire (Rachel McAdams) and proceeds to woo her. Meanwhile, Jeremy sets his sights on the other sister, Gloria (Ilsa Fisher), who just happens to be insane. Wackiness ensues as the two join the family in a post-wedding weekend celebration at the Secretary’s house and John tries to get Claire away from her psycho-jock boyfriend.
I went into this movie with extremely low expectations because although I really like Owen Wilson, I have had a big problem with Vince Vaughn. Maybe it was that ultra-crappy remake of Psycho that literally turned my TV into a toilet bowl when I watched it or his performance in Dodgeball that was even too wooden for a stupid comedy. Well, Vince really does quite a good job in this flick at playing the rough but loveable guy that ends up being the film’s comedic punching bag. He has a variety of violent things happen to him and gets the most psychotic abuse from members of the Secretary’s wacko family. I actually liked him by the midpoint of this film. Way to go, Vince!
Owen Wilson is great, as always, and does a good job of making this tremendously stupid movie work. I may even go out on a tiny limb and say that it’s the stars’ charisma that elevates this movie above the other horny, schlocky, comedies that seem to be popping out by the dozen these days. And of course Christopher Walken is great in this movie doing his requisite “creepy man” thing that he naturally does; he manages to be funny and creepy at the same time.
I laughed often and loudly in the theater when I saw this. You can’t really argue with that. I guess after being bludgeoned for two hours with the crazed sledgehammer of a movie that was Oldboy, I needed to watch a movie where I could just shut my brain off and enjoy it. So I suggest that you do just that: go to your local theater, stop thinking, and revel in the cinematic retardation that is Wedding Crashers.

Rock and Roll! Drugs! Furry Animal Costumes! Ladies and gentlemen, The Flaming Lips!

The Flaming Lips SMASH!

One of current rock’s most creative forces, The Flaming Lips, have had a rather unusual success story. Hailing from Oklahoma City in the early 80’s, they created a noisy and anarchic brand of psychedelic punk rock that found a cult audience of true freaks but bewildered most. As time went on the band somehow secured a major record label contract in the early 90’s, had a novelty alternative hit with a song called “She Don’t Use Jelly”, and was poised to be the next one-hit-wonder band of the mid 90’s to never be heard from again.
Then, a curious thing happened. They came out with two stellar albums in a row, 1999’s The Soft Bulletin and 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, which gave them both critical raves and commercial success. A newly released documentary DVD, The Fearless Freaks, takes a look inside the band members’ personal lives while giving a slight history of how they got to be where they are today.

In The Fearless Freaks, filmmaker Bradley Beesley tries to give us two things: a history of the band and an intimate look at what makes them tick. The history is very disorganized and doesn’t give the viewer a very good idea of how the band progressed from scrappy, noisy punks to adventurous purveyors of orchestrated pop. None of the band’s five albums before their breakthrough Transmissions from the Satellite Heart are really discussed and there are few insights given into how they actually create any of their music.

While Freaks fails on the historical front, it wholly succeeds in providing a very personal document of the band’s origins, home lives, families, and even some of their troubles. The bulk of the movie is made up of current interviews with singer/guitarist Wayne Coyne and drummer/keyboardist/guitarist/all-around musical whiz Steven Drozd. Wayne’s childhood is discussed extensively, with a good portion of the film’s running time devoted to interviews with his family members (one of which was the band’s original singer). While watching these scenes it quickly becomes apparent that growing up in a culturally isolated place like Oklahoma City in the 70’s created the foundation of the band’s weirdness. The gang mentality that Wayne and his siblings had combined with the strange white-trash nature of the people involved make Oklahoma in the 70’s almost seem like a different planet (and this is coming from someone who grew up in Oklahoma about three hours away from the Coyne’s). All of this actually makes the band seem more mythical and strange.

A real turning point in the band came in 1991 with the addition of Steven Drozd. His musicality and ability to play multiple instruments gave the band a sharper focus and eventually steered them towards the kind of music they are making today. Of course, being a talented artist has its price, and Steven’s problems with substance abuse nearly ended the band on a few occasions. This is discussed with such openness that parts of the last third of the movie are a bit shocking, but it makes for very compelling viewing.

…

Yes Meets The Sex PistolsRead More »