Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

This was the mocumentary that killed all mocumentaries for me and that’s all right. As I’ve said before, like animal porn, some things aren’t for everybody. The only thing I found amusing in this thing was Will Sasso playing a mentally challenged adult. That says a bunch as normies playing mentally impaired adults is one of the only things that loosely offends me. (However I maintain that I am unoffendable, the girl does not agree.)

It occurred to me as I watched Drop Dead Gorgeous that mocumentaries are a license for actors to overact and when aiming for comedy I find this to be a terrible combination. All the actors become their own directors and subtlety and anything resembling good acting are nowhere to be found. IRONY: All mocumentaries I have ever seen, rely heavily on laughing at dumb people. (I will not cite other examples here as I don’t like to draw attention to movies I don’t like, but I’m sure you can name a few and I can name The Office since it is not a film nor a movie, but just barley a TV show.) It seems to me that you have to be at least leaning towards the dumb end of the spectrum to buy into these poorly acted, smash you over the head comedies. The conclusion I have walked away with after watching this one is that dumb people like mocumentaries because they love to point and laugh at people who are dumber than themselves as this makes them feel smart. PARALLEL EVIDENCE: Heavy people love The Biggest Loser. So, no more mocumentaries for me. I did love the Asian Parents as well as Allison Janney. Hated Ellen Barkin and her beer baked hand. With all this talk about dumb and fat people, I’d like to disclose that without spellcheck you would have found 17 misspelled words, I still don’t know where to put commas and I could lose at least 20lbs

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The Front Page (1974)

Set in 1920’s Chicago, The Front Page opens with a fascinating look at how papers are printed. The original odd couple, Matthau and Lemmon, make this a “should watch” alone, but the writing and frenetic Billy Wilder pacing along with a young Susan Sarandon doesn’t hurt either. Half the cast is made up of faces you’ll recognize as “that guy from that one movie.” A bit cartoony to today’s standards, especially for those of us hooked on Boardwalk Empire (same era) but you can’t help but see where the Coen brothers got some of their inspiration.

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Haywire (2011)

This is without a doubt a Steven Soderbergh movie. That being said, if you’re a fan of his films, you’ll find something here to like. He takes a lot of chances and when it works it works very well. This is found in a number of long “on foot” chase scenes with little to no dialogue. One really gets the sense of what it’s like to chase and or be chased by someone on the narrow streets of Barcelona. However, when these chances don’t work, it’s arrant and distracting. This is the case in his choice  of casting real life MMA fighter, Gina Carano in the lead role. There is a reason why movie stars are movie stars. It’s not always because they are beautiful (see Tilda) or for their ability to memorize and regurgitate lines (see Stewart.) It’s an intangible, a gravitation or what some refer to as the it factor. Gina does not exude these qualities and as a result the movie suffers. Such was the case in Soderbergh’s Girlfriend Experience where he cast porn star, Sash Grey in the lead. The fact that Carano’s voice had to be altered in post to make it “deeper” speaks to this truth.

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After Disaster review

Photos

Stanley; Circa 2009 (more…)