Descent Out Of Charm: Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life Peaks Early!

The Good: First two episodes, Most of the acting
The Bad: Second pair of episodes, Character and plot direction
The Basics: Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life starts with an intriguing reuinion of beloved characters who are all experiencing some sense of loss . . . before the show treads in the most familiar and unpleasant directions that Gilmore Girls went in.


When Netflix started producing Netflix Original Television programs, it was interesting to watch how quickly they moved from producing new content from previously-cancelled shows - like Arrested Development - to creating original content, like House Of Cards and Hemlock Grove. What seemed intriguing was how long it took the "network" to go back to buying up shuttered projects to revive them with new seasons. The latest revival is Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life, a four-episode season that returns the viewer to the world of Gilmore Girls (reviewed here!). Picking up ten years after Gilmore Girls is an interesting concept, though it is hard to see the inherent need (the final season of Gilmore Girls did a very good job of closing the book on the portion of Lorelai and Rory's lives that the show chronicled) and requires a lot of faith that the writers would do a condensed season justice.

The concept of Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is a solid one: there are four ninety-minute episodes, each one presenting a season of a year in the life of the three main Gilmore women - Rory, Lorelai and Emily. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is a tough execution of the concept and it is strange that executive producers and writers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino skew toward where Gilmore Girls went before instead of treading into something truly new. After an initial high level of charm as Rory and Lorelai come back into each other's lives in more meaningful ways, there is torsion in their relationship and both protagonists find themselves aimless. But fans of Gilmore Girls have seen that before; when Rory had an affair with Dean while he was married and lost Lorelai's respect . . . and Rory ran away to Richard and Emily's.

It wasn't until the end of "Summer" that I came to recognize that I had some expectations for Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life and that those expectations were not being met. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life could have been the story of an adult child floundering in a world beyond her control and her turning to her floundering mother and the two lifting each other out of their depressions and fears. But long before "Summer" ends, it is painfully clear that Rory has become unlikable in addition to aimless (her disdain for the Thirtysomething Crowd seems arrogant and her cheating on Paul with Logan creates a forced level of moral ambiguity that feels entirely cheap) and Lorelai has become so painfully emotionally distant that when the musical number in "Summer" comes up, it shines a light on just how broken Lorelai has been.

But the real wrench in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is how the characters - who have been characterized by communications - are simply not communicating. Fans of Gilmore Girls who might be thrilled to seek Lorelai and Luke living together soon realize that there is no passion in their relationship; fans of the mother/daughter story of Lorelai and Rory quickly see that the two aren't actually having conversations (which is a real bummer because Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life opens with a classic patter between the two). So, instead of growth and development, Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life quickly forces conflict between Lorelai and Emily and Lorelai and Rory.

Opening in winter when Rory returns to Stars Hollow after leaving her apartment in New York, after getting a piece published in The New Yorker, Rory and Lorelai are reunited. Rory is trying to remember to break up with her utterly forgettable boyfriend, Paul, while jetting around trying to sell her next piece and crashing at various friends' homes. Lorelai is struggling with trying to find a new chef for the Dragonfly Inn and with her estrangement from her mother, following an incident at her father's funeral. Rory's return forces Lorelai and Emily back together and an offhanded remark from Emily causes Lorelai to explore having children with Luke. After a somewhat disastrous visit to Paris Geller's surrogacy business (while Rory is off in London meeting with Naomi, the subject of the book she wants to write, and hooking up with Logan), Lorelai and Luke reach the conclusion that they will not be having a child together.

In Spring, Lorelai goes to therapy with Emily, which is completely unpleasant for both of them. While Rory tries to get good material out of Naomi in London, Stars Hollow struggles with b-list actors who are working on a film in Woodbury occupying the Dragonfly Inn. When Conde Nast continues to put off their meeting with Rory, she turns to Logan Huntsberger's father for help. Emily has a private meeting with Luke where she reveals that Richard left money for Luke to franchise his diner . . . and then she takes him out to look at properties. Rory's life comes unhinged after an alumni event at Chilton when her writing options are winnowed away and she tries to write an article for GQ, but ends up having her first ever one night stand with a cosplay Wookie!

Rory moves back to Stars Hollow (despite her protestations) in summer. April visits Lorelai and Luke's and soon after, Jesse visits the town. To try to bring revenue to Stars Hollow, Taylor commissions a play: Stars Hollow: The Musical and Lorelai soon cuts out of the therapy she had continued after her mother bailed when her therapist auditions for a role. Emily becomes listless and obsessed with getting Richard's headstone right, after Rory encourages her to go back into the world. Stars Hollow's secret bar becomes the setting by which Michel tenders his resignation to Lorelai and when Rory pitches writing a book about their lives together, Lorelai rejects the idea soundly and decides to go on a walkabout.

Fall finds Lorelai going on a Wild-style walkabout in the Pacific Crest Trail. Jess returns to Stars Hollow to help his mother and T.J. and Luke. While Lorelai struggles with her walkabout, Rory is reunited with the Life And Death Brigade for a wild night. After Logan offers her a place to write, she rejects the offer and returns to her job renewed. When she cannot find her permit, Lorelai goes for a very short walk and it leads her to call her mother to tell her the story of her best memory of her father. When Lorelai returns home, Luke stands up for himself and their relationship. And Lorelai finally makes a leap with Luke that shows him how she feels.

As one might expect, the return of the beloved characters from Gilmore Girls are a key aspect of Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life. For those who are unfamiliar with them, the key characters in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life are:

Lorelai Gilmore - Rory's mother and the owner of the Dragonfly Inn, she is struggling to make her relationship with Luke Danes work when she comes to realize that years prior he hinted he might want a child with her. She drinks a lot of coffee and is psyched to have Rory in her life more frequently again, even as she searches for a replacement chef for Sooki. She attends therapy with Emily, but when her mother abandons her grief counseling, she continues on her own. She tries to guide Rory, but is unsettled when Rory returns home. Goaded by Emily, she starts to see the dysfunction in her relationship with Luke and she decides to go to nature rather than actually deal with Luke and Rory.

Rory Gilmore - Having written a piece for The New Yorker that makes everyone in Stars Hollow proud, she is struggling to find her next piece that will sell. While finding that she is in a two year relationship with Paul, she meets with the eccentric Naomi Shropshire in London and pitches a book deal with her. She has boxes of her possessions shipped all over so she can crash with anyone of her friends and family. She finds Naomi is too drunk to be coherent and when the website that has been wooing her changes their mind after interviewing her, she moves back in with Lorelai! She takes over the Stars Hollow Gazette when the old managing editor abruptly retires. After taking a few stabs at doing things her way, she returns the newspaper to its traditional narrative. She is encouraged by Jess to write a book about her life with her mother and when her mother rejects the idea, she turns to Logan for support . . . only to discover that his arranged relationship plans with a French society woman are finally being executed.

Sookie - Having gone on sabbatical from the Dragonfly Inn, her absence forces Lorelai to try to hire someone new to cook. She pops up, though, to help Lorelai at a key moment in her friend's life.

Lane Kim - She is still married, with her two children and she is still in her band. She has not seen Rory for quite some time before Rory returns to Stars Hollow and has some boxes shipped to her place. At the Spring food event in Stars Hollow, she runs the Korean food table. She starts supporting Rory when Rory returns to town full-time, including trying to help her kick her Logan habit. She and Zack play music at the Silent Bar in Stars Hollow.

Paris - Now the owner and manager of Dynasty Makers surrogacy service, she is estranged from Doyle. She is as aggressive as ever, but is highly successful (namedropping to Lorelai and Luke that her service was recently used by Neil Patrick Harris!). She turns to Rory for help when they go back to Chilton for an alumni event (she terrifies the students she speaks to!) and she is psyched when Rory is willing to look after her kids occasionally.

Kirk - Still flitting from project to project, he starts as the owner of Ooo-ber, a car service, before he starts a grog cart business. He helps Taylor run the Spring International food celebration in Stars Hollow. He releases his second film, finally, and he is shocked (as a pig owner) to realize that his love of BLTs makes him a purveyor of pig genocide.

Michel - Married for five years to Frederick, he still works for Lorelai at the Dragonfly Inn. He is anxious about Frederick suddenly wanting children and about Lorelai firing every great chef who comes to work at the Dragonfly Inn. He becomes restless when the b-list actors stay at the Dragonfly, which makes Lorelai convinced he will abandon her, just as Sooki did. After visiting New York City and one of the prestigious hotels there, he tenders his resignation as he knows Lorelai cannot afford to pay him what he is worth. He starts to act kindly toward children visiting the Dragonfly Inn to prepare for possibly having a kid of his own.

Emily Gilmore - Lorelai's mother, widowed by Richard four months ago, she has been estranged from Lorelai because of things Lorelai said at Richard's funeral. She mistakenly gets a portrait of her dead husband made in a massive size and tries to declutter her mansion because things there do not bring her joy. She takes Lorelai's advice and gets into therapy. After a few unproductive sessions with Lorelai in therapy, she turns her attention to franchising Luke's diner . . . even though he has no desire to franchise. She retreats from the world, but is encouraged by Rory to re-engage. Getting active in the D.A.R. and at the club again brings her a renewed sense of vitality. She begins to see one of Richard's old friends socially. She stands up to the artifice of her old life rather abruptly.

and Luke Danes - Living with Lorelai and giving out false wi-fi passwords at his diner to patrons there, he is now ambivalent to the idea of having a child with Lorelai. He is still annoyed by Taylor (who is obsessed with a Stars Hollow sewer project) and put off by Rory's unmemorable boyfriend, Paul. He lives with Lorelai and is shocked when Emily tries to execute Richard's wish to have his diner franchised. He has been going along with Lorelai's arrangement for the two of them and he is shocked when Lorelai decides to go on a walkabout.

Fans of Gilmore Girls are likely to love the cameos, both integral (Sebastian Bach!) and obscure - the appearance of Jason at Richard's funeral is an excellent touch that makes perfect sense for the continuity, even if he was a largely forgettable relationship in Lorelai's parade of men. The Town Troubadour is back and characters like April, Doyle, and even Francie make brief appearances. There are some fun cameos for those who love the actors on Gilmore Girls - like Mae Whitman, Lauren Graham's on-screen daughter on Parenthood, who shows up just long enough to be recognized. And when Jason Ritter and Peter Krause show up, it is hard not to smirk.

Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life misses the opportunity to tell a fresh story, though, as the characters move toward a predictable sense of conflict. Gilmore Girls was often at its best when it was the Gilmore women against the world - woman vs. society stories. In fact, the essential conflict that opened Gilmore Girls was one woman struggling against a sense of poverty that pushed her to fight for something better for her daughter. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life has everyone unhappy and there is nothing entertaining about that. Lorelai has been in a relationship with Luke for nine years . . . but they don't talk, they don't connect, they just live together. Rory is cheating on one man with a man who is engaged to be married . . . there's nothing interesting or compelling about her lack of integrity or character in not cutting Paul loose and maintaining an emotional dependence upon Logan. And Emily's journey through her grief in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is woefully underplayed (in favor of a strange series of jokes involving her new housekeeper who does not speak a recognizable language) and is not used to truly advance the character or the relationship Emily has with her daughter or grand daughter.

On the acting front, Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life provides some wonderful actors with familiar parts to play and more than giving viewers something new to thrill to, it simply reminds the viewers what they loved about the performers before. Lauren Graham has a good cry in "Summer" that allows her to illustrate emotional range without any lines and when Scott Patterson's Luke finally stands up for himself, it is a welcome thing. But Alexis Bledel is overshadowed by Liza Weil in every scene they share and Bledel playing Rory as listless quickly wears thin. Bledel never acts loving in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life and given that the core relationship of Gilmore Girls is the bond shared by a mother and daughter, Bledel and Graham lacking chemistry is somewhat devastating in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life.

The fact that one of the biggest emotional scenes of Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life allows Milo Ventimiglia and Scott Patterson to illustrate a depth and development of their characters' relationship says something. Jess and Luke grew into a relationship where they can be emotionally honest with one another, while Lorelai simply goes where Wild (book and movie) went before. Kelly Bishop is consistent as Emily, though she is unfortunately underused for her range and abilities.

Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is not bad, but it belabors the references to Gilmore Girls - the return of the Life And Death Brigade is particularly droll and seems like time that could have been better spent doing something with Rory and Lane to actually develop their adult relationship - while highlighting a number of the worst character aspects of the beloved characters and neglecting the aspects that made Gilmore Girls fresh. The dialogue in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is nowhere near as fast, the references are far more sparse and the relationships are more strained than they are emotionally deep or connected. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life is not bad, but it peaks early and becomes dramatically less charming as it progresses.

For other Netflix exclusive television shows, please check out my reviews of:
Luke Cage - Season 1
House Of Cards - Season 3
Orange Is The New Black - Season 4
Daredevil - Season 2
Jessica Jones - Season 1
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Season 2
Grace And Frankie - Season 2
Sense8 - Season 1
Arrested Development - Season 4
Stranger Things - Season 1

5/10

For other television series and episode reviews, please visit my Television And Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Katherine Heigl Exchanges Mundane Romantic Comedies For A Mundane Gay-Friendly Romantic Comedy In Jenny's Wedding.

The Good: Good acting, Decent writing
The Bad: Mundane plot, Unremarkable characters
The Basics: Katherine Heigl makes a coming out movie for mainstream audiences with Jenny's Wedding, which is a romance about twenty years behind its relevance.


Whenever a subculture's struggle and culture becomes pervasive-enough, mainstream media catches up with where the marginalized group has been . . . usually for years. Twenty years ago, when The Incredibly True Adventure Of Two Girls In Love (reviewed here!) was released, it was a pretty audacious art film that managed to open a wide section of American culture up to the everyday struggles of young lesbian women. The LGBT struggle for acceptance and civil rights recognition has come a long way in the past twenty years and as Jenny's Wedding hits theaters, it is almost passe. Hell, Friends - one of the most popular, most-watched television shows of the last twenty years, had a lesbian wedding episode nineteen years ago.

Does that mean the struggle does not still exist for lesbians and gays coming out to their families? No, but the struggle is hardly that momentous in much of the United States and in most of the developed world. Katherine Heigl and Alexis Bledel lead the cast of Jenny's Wedding in a mundane love story and coming out story that is about as interesting as watching any two middle class, heterosexual people turn a casual college romance into wedded bliss. These stories need a hook and Jenny's Wedding does not have one. Katherine Heigl and Alexis Bledel are incredibly safe casting choices for a lesbian couple and the sheer lack of complication in their characters' relationship makes Jenny's Wedding drag. Are we really at the point in our society's development where we truly need a film that implicitly states "they [LGBT folks] are just like us [the heterosexual majority]?" IFC Films seems to think so.

In advance of her parents' anniversary party, Jenny finds her family - especially her nosy sister - pressuring her to settle down and get into a relationship. After discussing it with her roommate and longtime girlfriend, Kitty, Jenny attempts to come out to her family at her parent's anniversary party. Her mother and father are shocked and ask Jenny to not tell the rest of the family and she begrudgingly agrees. Jenny's father, Eddie's, attitudes quickly change as he becomes troubled by how his firefighter co-workers refer to gays and lesbians. His wife, Rose, is much more shocked by Jenny's coming out and that complicates her interactions with her friends. In fact, that Rose asked Jenny to continue lying causes friction between Rose and Eddie.

As people find out, Jenny stands up for herself and Kitty and they begin planning the wedding in earnest. Despite an awkward public coming out at her old neighbor's funeral, Jenny sticks by her decision and prioritizes her love for Kitty over the discomfort of her parents. And her parents work to come around to accepting her.

Katherine Heigl is a good, safe, choice for Jenny and Jenny's Wedding does exactly what it sets out to do. It's a coming out and gay wedding movie. And for those who have never seen one of the hundreds (thousands, maybe?) of coming out movies in the past, this is a wonderful, safe entry for the masses into the genre. Personally, I still prefer The Incredibly True Adventure Of Two Girls In Love as it is far more complex as it includes issues of economics, interethnic relationships, and first-time/experienced individuals exploring a relationship.

The closest to genuine conflict that Jenny's Wedding has comes when Jenny's sister, Anne, sees Jenny and Kitty at Nordstrom's and freaks out. Anne's rant to Rose is interesting in that Anne is suddenly complex; she is less angry about Jenny being gay than how Rose having Jenny continue lying to her continues a long history of bad cycles in their relationship. As Jenny comes out more publicly and Rose works to accept who her daughter is (and has been), Jenny's Wedding becomes very mundane. And, for fans of the genre, there is the very predictable "person who already knew" character (this time in the form of Jenny's brother).

Jenny and Kitty are well-off enough that the wedding isn't going to financially ruin them or truly strain their relationship. Jenny and Kitty are in a longterm, monogamous relationship so neither has to break the heart of their beard to move ahead with their wedding. And in yet another, desperate attempt to create a film that makes everyone as comfortable as possible, Jenny and Kitty are looking to start a family of their own, which involves them having children (because, screw you, child-free people!). Seriously, Jenny is a good, Christian, girl who wants to have a normal family unit with her wife, so mainstream America, see how not-fringy these people are?! Jenny and Kitty are more stable and happy than Anne and Frankie, so it's not like heterosexuals are characterized as all happy and okay.

Outside a stifling lack of onscreen chemistry between Katherine Heigl and Alexis Bledel, what Jenny's Wedding has in spades is great acting. Tom Wilkinson is wonderful as Eddie and the scenes where he and Katherine Heigl play opposite one another are the performance high points of the movie. In fact, it has been easy for years to say that Katherine Heigl is overrated or typecast in works in which she appears: Jenny's Wedding proves she has talent. Heigl holds her own for screen presence with Wilkinson and that is no small task. When Heigl manages not to flinch under Wilkinson's quiet, but furiously-delivered lines at the funeral, it is hard not to sit up and notice her!

Jenny's Wedding has decent supporting performances by Sam McMurray, Grace Gummer, and Linda Emond. McMurray delivers the funniest line of the film as his character tries to reconcile Kitty's name being the same for both Jenny's fiance and the married man with whom she supposedly had an affair. Gummer shows more range than she was allowed during her tenure on The Newsroom (season three is reviewed here!) and Linda Emond does everything that That Type Of Character is supposed to do as Rose. Rose is the reticent mother whose love of her daughter will give her the opportunity to come around, despite all her inherent hurt and prejudices and Emond plays the part well-enough to be convincing.

But the performances are not enough to save Jenny's Wedding. The female sidekick (in this case Anne) comes up with the standard romantic comedy cliche epiphany that seems pretty ridiculous, the soundtrack is troublingly overbearing, there's the conflict montage and everything essential fits into the allotted ninety minutes (or 94, in this case). Jenny's Wedding isn't bad, but it's a movie virtually everyone has already seen.

For other films currently in theaters, please check out my reviews of:
Dragon Blade
Fantastic 4
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Ant-Man
Lila & Eve
Minions
No Way Jose
Terminator Genisys
Inside Out
Jurassic World

5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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An Average Indie Allegory Story: The Brass Teapot

The Good: Moments of concept, Character, Adequate performances
The Bad: Overbearing soundtrack, Obvious morals
The Basics: Money changes everything for those who suddenly get a windfall from The Brass Teapot.


Last year, I discovered a hidden gem of a film to be the best movie of the year. The indie film Cheap Thrills (reviewed here!), while understated and horrifying, blew me away. When I began praising that film, my wife started looking into similar films. She discovered The Brass Teapot and what Cheap Thrills did with subtlety and class, The Brass Teapot does with overt, reckless abandon. Instead of trying to pound its message home in a potent way, director Ramaa Mosley tries to make a stylish film that entertains.

In Laurel Springs, Indiana, John Macy sells extended warranties over the phone, while his wife, Alice, looks for a job. She has spent years getting her Bachelor's Degree and she discovers the jobs she wants has applicants who have better degrees and vastly more experience. The pair overdrafts their checking account paying their rent and goes to a party for one of their less-talented former classmates. Their friends, Louise and Chuck, are going through similarly tough times while the rest of their classmates seem to be excelling in their fields. The next day, John and Alice go out for a drive and are hit by a truck when they cross through an intersection where the stop sign was sawed off. Across the intersection, Alice sees an old lady at an antique shop pull a brass teapot out of her hiding spot and bring it back into her store. Alice steals the teapot and the two take it home.

The next day, Alice is at home when she accidentally burns herself on her curling iron. Immediately, hundreds of dollars appears in the brass teapot she stole and she quickly figures out that whenever she endures pain, the teapot generates hundred dollar bills. John is fired from his job, but returns home to find Alice wounded, but elated. John steals the teapot from her because he is concerned with how the inflicting of pain will end for them. The two come back together and exploit the teapot for money by hurting themselves and one another. They make a plan to work up to $1,000,000 by more conservatively, but because John appeared on The Antiques Roadshow with it, they soon find themselves targeted by various individuals who have been hunting the teapot for decades!

The allegory aspect of The Brass Teapot is incredibly thin; we hurt ourselves for money. The more we sacrifice, the more we earn. And, of course, nothing comes for free; the consequences of using the brass teapot outweigh the cash it dispenses. Greed corrupts.

The Brass Teapot only becomes clever in its final third. As the teapot seems to betray John and Alice, Alice learns that they can make money off the pain of others. From the very beginning, Alice exhibits an obsessive quality that make it clear she will go over-the-top, while John tries to maintain his friendships. In her desire to keep the money flowing, Alice is happy to exploit the pain of others to get the teapot to pay out. John willingly goes along with it, but does not delight in it the way Alice seems to.

The Brass Teapot lacks subtlety, from the beginning when the soundtrack is overbearing with indie pop-rock songs to the ultimate turning point for the characters. The moment they reach their threshold is an odd one and it indicates that Alice is not really all that close to her best friend, as opposed to her family.

The performances in The Brass Teapot are good. The film does not call for subtlety, so Juno Temple and Michael Angarano are ideally cast for it. The supporting cast of Alexis Bledel, Alia Shawat, Bobby Moynihan, and Jack McBrayer is good, though hardly used in any incredible fashion. The plot is fairly predictable, but the ride is intriguing-enough to stick with.

For other works with Juno Temple, please check out my reviews of:
Maleficent
Horns
Lovelace
The Dark Knight Rises
Year One
Atonement

5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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He’s Reed Fish, I’m Bored: I’m Reed Fish Fizzles Out.

The Good: Decent cast, Interesting setting
The Bad: Mediocre (as best) performances, Predictable plot developments, Confused character/plot elements
The Basics: Needlessly complicated by being a movie within the movie, I’m Reed Fish awkwardly captures a banal small town romantic situation poorly.


When it comes to independent films, I have discovered that I like little films that are at least trying to be professional, clever, and interesting. I am not, as it turns out, much of a fan of small films that are trying to be small. I get trying to appeal to a niche audience, but sometimes there are little films that don’t even seem to be aiming for a certain niche, they are just small and not trying to say or do anything particularly new. As Gilmore Girls (reviewed here!) wound down, Alexis Bledel seemed determined to take film projects that were small or underperformed, like Post Grad (reviewed here!). One of those projects was I’m Reed Fish.

I’m Reed Fish is one of those rare independent films that I was not grabbed by where it plodded along until it twisted in uninspired ways and left me largely unsatisfied. I like complications in film, but I’m Reed Fish is not clever in the way it complicates itself. Instead, it is unfortunately clumsy in the way it twists. Halfway through the movie, I’m Reed Fish becomes a movie within the movie and the ultimate resolution is something jumbled. After a long period of not actually caring about the characters, suddenly seeing the protagonist face-to-face with the subject of his film did not resonate in any meaningful way or make me more engaged by the characters.

Reed Fish is a local radio personality in the tiny town of Mud Meadows, where he has lived in something of a rut. Living in the shadow of his father’s legacy – essentially doing the same thing – Reed Fish is engaged to the woman of his dreams, Kate, who is studying to be a lawyer and is the darling of Mud Meadows. With his best friend, Andrew, preparing to marry his high school sweetheart, Reed Fish seems to have it all. But, when Jill, a young woman Reed has held a torch for, returns to Mud Meadows, he finds himself somewhat strained in his relationship with Kate.

After Jill and Reed hang out, Reed kisses her and the resulting fall-out finds Reed and Kate estranged from one another. Because Kate is beloved by everyone in Mud Meadows, Reed quickly becomes a pariah and the stress of that pushes Reed to neglect his work and distance himself from the townspeople.

The characters in I’m Reed Fish are almost entirely overshadowed by the setting. Mud Meadows might not be as intriguing a location as Stars Hollow, but it is a pretty distinct place. Everyone listens to Reed Fish’s show and he is able to make movies locally based on his limited celebrity. Of course, all of the young women look Hollywood beautiful and the quirkiest character is Reed’s karate-performing friend, Andrew (played by DJ Qualls). Beyond that, none of the characters are in any way extraordinary. In fact, Schuyler Fisk’s role of Jill in entirely unintriguing. Her whole part seems to be a thinly veiled excuse to get the singer-actress on screen singing.

The role of Reed Fish is not one of the more impressive roles of Jay Baruchel’s. He is once again playing the thin, awkward outsider who is struggling to live up to his potential. Frankly, the character he is playing is not very engaging and his performance stretches him in no recognizable ways. Similarly, Alexis Bledel is barely more than a pretty face without presenting any of her quirky or emotionally impressive range.

While usually I try to go more in depth with a film review, I can’t muster up the enthusiasm for I’m Reed Fish. I’m Reed Fish is boring, says nothing new and uses its performers in a mediocre fashion to do so, leaving me with very little to say.

For other works with Jay Baruchel, please visit my reviews of:
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
How To Train Your Dragon
She's Out Of My League
Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist
Knocked Up
Million Dollar Baby
Almost Famous

2.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Charming But Completely Predictable, Post Grad Fills In The End Of Summer Blahs.

The Good: Moments of laughs, Generally good casting, Moments of charm
The Bad: Entirely predictable, Editing, Incongruent moments with main plotline.
The Basics: Barely fun, Post Grad flops as the subject is not enough to sustain itself, so it frequently digresses.


[Note: This originally was written upon the movie’s release, hence the dated references! Enjoy!]

As the end of summer comes, I find myself considering just what it takes for a film to participate in Summer Blockbuster Season. Every year, it seems, there are a few big surprises or a few sleeper hits and the longer Post Grad went on, the more I felt like it was this year's Swing Vote (reviewed here!). Swing Vote arrived in theaters last year with little fanfare, died at the box office and was generally a mediocre film that was predictable and understated and entirely average. Post Grad is essentially this summer's Swing Vote, replacing the message on the importance of voting with an exploration on the difficulties in the economy today.

Unfortunately for those who like romantic comedies or thematic comedies, Post Grad is far too scattered and predictable to be truly enjoyable and while it has some laughs and moments that garner smiles, it is essentially a failure. This is yet another movie where the preview trailer shows the entire movie and yet, I went into the film with high hopes. After all, this was Alexis Bledel's big chance to open a film. I loved her in Gilmore Girls (reviewed here!) and have been waiting to see what she would do on the big screen. Alas, the film starts out with Bledel playing her new character, Ryden Malby in a very Rory-esque way and the movie stagnates and wanders far too much.

Ryden Malby is graduating from college, trumped by her childhood nemesis for valedictorian, and she is surrounded by her loving family and platonic friend, Adam. Ryden has big plans and after signing a $3,500 check for her ideal loft, she goes to interview for her dream job at Happerman & Browning publishers. En route to her interview, she and Adam get into a car accident and she finds herself competing against several other candidates just like her. When her nemesis, Jessica Bard, gets her ideal job, Ryden is forced to move back in with her father, mother, grandmother and weird younger brother.

While Adam quietly pursues Ryden romantically - all the while feeling out his own musical career and debating going to law school on the East Coast - Ryden and her father try to find a path for the new college graduate. This puts Ryden working for her father, both at his luggage store and a shady startup as a belt buckle distributor, while she tries to get a better job. When her father accidentally kills the neighbor's cat, the chance encounter leads Ryden to a job as a p.a. and puts Ryden's heart in play and her future in uncertain territory.

The fundamental problem with Post Grad is that it is a comedy and that there isn't enough material to make a comedy out of the subject. Writer Kelly Fremon attempts to flesh out a script about an overachiever's flailing life after college and the film fails to stick with that. As a result, minutes burn by - not with Ryden-related romantic subplots, which are ridiculous and predictable enough - with cat poop jokes focused on Ryden's father, Walter, a weird bit involving Ryden's mother advising her younger brother to stop licking kid's heads at school and the whole belt buckle enterprise subplot. While these might flesh out the Malby family well, they completely distract the viewer from the movement of the film and the growth of Ryden into an actualized character.

As a result, Post Grad struggles to be funny and stay focused, creating an erratic story where Ryden is a fairly ambitious young woman surrounded by a family that is anything but like her. Her family is funny and Ryden is relegated to the straightman of the family and the film runs out of steam and runs out of plot well before the seventy-nine minute running time is exhausted. As a result, much of the movie is not focused on Ryden's struggle to enter the working world, but pointless digressions like her father's arrest and a soapbox derby race.

What Post Grad does have is a lot of charm and excellent casting. Alexis Bledel even performs well as Ryden more and more as the movie progresses. She and costar Zach Gilford have great on-screen chemistry and the scenes between Ryden and Adam "read" as entirely real. Gilford holds his own in the scenes they share and they insinuate in the ease of their body language a history and connoting that weight is impressive by young actors. Similarly, Bledel and Michael Keaton play well off one another. Keaton plays Walter and he is hilarious as the off-kilter father figure. Jane Lynch and Carol Burnett round out the cast well, though this represents the only bit of poor casting for the main characters. While Keaton and Bledel look like they could be related, Burnett plays Walter's mother, when she and Lynch bear a more striking resemblance.


The only real dud on the acting front is Rodrigo Santoro, whose tenure on the screen is mercifully short. Santoro and Bledel have no chemistry as Ryden and her next door neighbor and their scenes are excruciating in the way they are drawn out. Santoro's role is designed to keep open the age-old paradigm that forces a woman to choose between two men and realize that the man she wants is the one who was with her all along. Unfortunately, Post Grad does not even try to put up the pretense of surprising the viewer. This film is one of the most predictable ones to come down the pike in a long time.

As well, the editing in Post Grad is sloppy; I noticed several bad cuts throughout the movie and this is death to a movie that was already struggling to fill the minimum necessary airtime. For example, when the soapbox derby race begins, Hunter Malby's car that is brought to the starting line is clearly a different vehicle in the first shot than it is in subsequent shots.

On a strangely contrary note, the humor that is generated by the subplots and random humor elements - the headlicking bit especially - are actually some of the film's most enjoyable moments. The problem is that they just don't fit the particular movie the viewer went in to see. If this were "Meet The Malbys" it would be one thing, but it is supposed to be a comedy about the struggles one suffers after college and these scenes - most notably one where Grandma Malby takes the family coffin shopping - just do not fit.

The result is an awkward film that does not quite seem to know what it wants to be and it flounders in a way that makes it drag, despite not being a particularly long movie to begin with. That combination of lack of focus and predictability make one wonder how Fremon and director Vicky Jenson got the movie made. As it is, despite the fact that they did get it made - and with a respectable cast - ought not be encouragement for others to try or for audiences to flock to see it. And for those of us who love Alexis Bledel's works . . . we have confidence she'll get into a better project next time.

For other works with J.K. Simmons, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Megamind
Extract
I Love You, Man
Spider-Man 3
Thank You For Smoking
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man

4.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Rushmore: Wes Anderson's Early Work Proves He Is Not A One-Trick Pony!

The Good: Funny, Quirky, Intense characters, Decent acting
The Bad: Some pacing issues, Light on DVD bonus features
The Basics: An ambitious movie by Wes Anderson, Rushmore explores a few months in the life of an overachiever and his adult friends.


Sometimes, one of the nice things about encountering the works of an artist in any medium later than their initial offerings is that it gives one perspective when going back to look at their earlier works. As someone who found an appreciation for the works of writer-director Wes Anderson with his film The Royal Tenenbaums (reviewed here!) I have had mixed feelings about some of his subsequent works. I was both eager and afraid to take in his works prior to The Royal Tenenbaums because I while I loved that movie, I was beginning to fear that he truly was a one-trick pony. If that movie was derivative of one of his earlier movies, I feared it would be less brilliant in retrospect. So, when a coworker at my previous Job From Hell highly recommended Rushmore, I finally decided to pick it up.

Rushmore is one of two movies Wes Anderson wrote and directed before The Royal Tenenbaums and I am quite pleased to say that it is quite a different film in form and story, if not in cast. Actually, the most intense difference between Rushmore and every other Wes Anderson film I have seen is in mood. Rushmore is a much more active movie and while Anderson holds on significant moments of awkwardness, the movie does not belabor those emotions. Instead, there is the feeling that the director is kept on a shorter leash (or is keeping himself on that leash) and it works to keep the movie generally moving at a pretty decent pace. And while the characters are consumed with the somewhat typical Wes Anderson sense of melancholy and misery, the movie does not seem overcome by the mood, instead it clips along feeling funny and fresh instead of oppressive.

Max Fischer is a fifteen year-old student at the prestigious Rushmore Academy, a private school that sets rich students up for success in the future. Having written a play at a young age and won a scholarship there, Max has spent years devoting himself to the institution by creating various clubs and causes to keep himself occupied, even at the expense of his academic achievement. Accompanied by the student he mentors, Dirk Calloway, Max follows a note written in a library book back to a young new first grade teacher.

Obviously smitten, Max befriends Miss Cross, a widow at the same time he befriends the eccentric and disenchanted businessman Herman Blume. Max and Blume begin ambitious plans to build an aquarium at Rushmore, but soon their plans go awry when Max is expelled for his failing grades and Herman falls in love with Rosemary. Max, furious about losing both Cross and his place at Rushmore initiates a war with Herman that pits them against one another for the heart of the (mostly) indifferent Rosemary Cross.

Rushmore is remarkably intelligent and remarkably silly at the same time. Indeed, it is the combination of these two things that makes the movie something truly special to watch. Blume gets Max's attention when he advocates violent overthrow of the rich at a speech at Rushmore and Max's attention to detail in regard to that earns him Blume's respect. As Max struggles to find his path, Herman takes Max under his wing and offers him a position at his company. In this way, we see a somewhat absurd mix of the practical (man recognizing a brilliant youth) and the absurd (that said businessman would put so much faith in a fifteen year-old). But more than that, the depressed and disappointed Blume soon latches on to Rosemary in a way that does not so much reinvigorate him as give him a purpose. Maligned by his annoying children, Herman is sympathetic and when he falls for Rosemary, the viewer desperately hopes he might actually develop a spine and some happiness.

The resulting war between Max and Herman is ridiculous and high comedy. Both the boy and the man engage in tactics that are brutal to try to crush the other and there are moments, when Herman is safe, where it is clear he envies the imagination of the boy. Max and Herman make as good of adversaries in the middle of Rushmore as they make friends in the film's beginning and it is a pleasure to see something so funny, clever and well-conceived.

In other words, the characters work and the object of the affection of the two men, Rosemary Cross is deeply sympathetic as well. Cross is a smart person and it is refreshing to see a young woman who is portrayed as intelligent enough to recognize the obvious crush Max has on her from the beginning. Moreover, that she addresses it so forthrightly in the beginning gives her a spunk and intrigue that make her worth watching.

Wes Anderson is given a difficult task with Herman Blume, though, and it establishes both his obsession with melancholy characters and his utilizing actor Bill Murray in each of his films. Anderson saw the dramatic potential within Murray quite early on and while others would use it and use it well, it is hard to believe they would have gotten all they could out of Murray were it not for Anderson preparing both the actor and the audience. Herman Blume has to be a man who could believably put his faith and his money in Max and the mix of the character's boredom with corporate America, his desire for Miss Cross and his appreciation of the way Max's mind works all come together to make for a surprisingly believable character.

As it stands, the characters are interesting and Anderson's ability to keep things moving prevents the viewer from ever being mired in Blume's melancholy too long and that works quite well for the film. Rushmore does not lag, though there are moments where the viewer wonders where it is going. Because it is a Wes Anderson movie, the viewer is asked to have a little faith and - despite the two failures I've endured of his - Anderson makes good on that faith. I am left wondering how those who did not have confidence in the writer-director would have made it through the movie initially, but truth be told, the movie works and while it does not so much have a resolution that is satisfying, it remains true to itself and remains largely original. In fact, in the last few years of watching everything I could get my hands on that was different, the only movie even remotely similar to Rushmore that I've encountered is Ghost World.

Part of what makes Rushmore work so well is that Wes Anderson keeps the story focused on the three primary characters. Indeed, I do not believe that there is a single scene that does not have some combination of Max, Herman and/or Rosemary. The characters are well represented and the story is rounded out well with a supplemental cast of actors like Brian Cox, Seymour Cassel, and Luke Wilson. But the three principles rock the film and keep it fresh.

Olivia Williams plays Rosemary Cross and I will admit that when I first saw her, my impression was that she was just going to be another Hollywood-beautiful face on screen. Rushmore is the only thing - to date - that I have seen Williams in and I am quite pleased to say I was wrong about my first impression. She plays Cross as serious, practical and surprisingly substantial given how little air time she has on screen.

Bill Murray makes a dramatic performance that rivals his surprise greatness in Cradle Will Rock (reviewed here!). He is subtle and quiet, never begging for the laugh. Instead, Murray presents a fearless melancholy in Blume that could be stifling were it not for the moments the actor explodes open his eyes and makes a bold proclamation. Murray's challenge - which he easily meets - is to make those moments seem like they are within characters and he does that quite effectively.

But it is actor Jason Schwartzman who is called upon to carry Rushmore. I liked Schwartzman for his supporting performance in the underrated Jersey Girl where he at least made an impression. Here, he makes one rethink the notion that directors should avoid young actors. He comes to the role with a serious intensity that makes the viewer unquestioningly believe in the reality of Max Fisher. His performance is subtle enough that he clearly establishes his damage well before Fisher speaks the lines of his pain to Blume. Schwartzman is almost the straightman of this weird comedy and he does that well.

On DVD, Rushmore is a little light on DVD extras for my tastes. There is a trailer for the movie and that is about it. Given how this movie appears to have launched Wes Anderson's popularity, it would have been nice to get a commentary track and/or deleted scenes. No such luck, though.

As it stands, Rushmore is a surprisingly good dramedy that creates a quirky character, develops a strange love triangle and makes a war between two people on the fringe of society that is engaging for all audiences.

For other works with Brian Cox, be sure to check out my review of:
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
X-2: X-Men United
The 25th Hour
Adaptation.
The Ring
The Bourne Identity
Braveheart

7/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the films I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Gilmore Girls Robbed Of Its Status By A Moment On DVD With "The Complete Season Six!"

The Good: Excellent acting, good character development, Engaging plots
The Bad: Light on DVD extras, Pacing issues near the end.
The Basics: In its sixth season, Gilmore Girls adds more conflict to the mix, making for a more realistic presentation of two women in transition


For those who might not follow my reviews, I have a fairly wide array of tastes when it comes to television shows on DVD that I watch and enjoy. So, for example, I am a fairly devout Trekker, love The West Wing, discovered Veronica Mars on DVD and have been known to make time for NYPD Blue. Knowing my diverse tastes, it might not be a surprise that I have a love for Gilmore Girls and have been reviewing each of the seasons on DVD. Having finally reached the penultimate season of Gilmore Girls, it's quite possible that my standards have been raised to the point that it might seem like I am being petty in knocking Gilmore Girls - Season Six down because of a moment. The truth is, though, "Season Six" has a lot going for it, but it is not a perfect season.

For those unfamiliar with Gilmore Girls, the show has been building for years to get where it begins at the start of "Season Six." It is very difficult to jump into the series at this point and as a result, it is very difficult to start with this boxed set. Understanding the complexities of the relationships coming in this late in the series is almost impossible, especially given that the first episode begins the moment the last season ended, with a question from Lorelai. It is worth noting that there is no way to discuss season six intelligently without revealing moments from the climax of season five. As a result, anyone who wants to watch the series and be surprised ought to read my reviews for seasons one through five, purchase Gilmore Girls - The Complete Series (reviewed here!) and take on faith that seasons six and seven are as good. That said . . .

Starting where Season Five left off, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore are estranged based on Rory leaving Yale and moving in with her grandparents and Lorelai finding her only real ally in Luke. Her abrupt proposal is met by only momentary surprise before Luke regroups and says "yes." Luke and Lorelai move in together, Lorelai gets a dog - Paul Anka - and Luke and Lorelai renovate her house as opposed to moving into the old Twickam house (as Luke had planned). Meanwhile, Rory drifts for months on her own, joining the D.A.R. with her grandmother and losing her interest in pursuing her dream jobs in journalism.

After months of estrangement, including awkward times when Rory and Lorelai are forced together as a result of Sookie's children's baptism (the Gilmores end up as godparents), Richard and Emily come to realize that Rory's drifting might not be short-term and they begin to push the young lady toward returning to Yale. Rory and Logan continue their relationship, though Rory finds herself living with Paris for a spell. And as Lane and Zach get married, Lorelai's long-delayed wedding plans come to a head.

Gilmore Girls The Complete Sixth Season might well be a season that worked better in its initial airing than it does on DVD. On DVD, fans and viewers will want to watch episodes back to back as the season is highly serialized and the choices characters make early in the season resonate throughout. No choice is probably more surprising than the appearance of April, a teenager who walks into Luke's Diner for some DNA for a school science project, a project that reveals that Luke is the girl's biological father. That Luke's knowledge of this leads him to keep it from Lorelai changes much of the way the two interact and alters the direction of the season.

Far less problematic is the completely plot-convenient character twist that comes in the form of Chris, who reappears near the end of the sixth season penitent over his behavior in the fifth, to reveal that his rich grandfather has died. This comes at a completely plot-appropriate time in the season when Rory is looking to emancipate herself from the grandparents (who sit her down with a minister to talk about sex and move her into the house in order to keep her from having sex with Logan) and changes everything in so much as it allows for certain very predictable plot elements to unfold. Lorelai suddenly has options and the reappearance of Chris seems much more plot-motivated than character motivated.

What saps serious points from this boxed set, though, is how watching the episodes back-to-back guts the emotional resonance of some of the season's biggest emotional moments. The prime example of this comes near the end of the season, when Rory learns that Logan has had sex with an entire wedding party - while they were broken up - she freaks out, moves out of his apartment and in with Paris. The episode ends with the wonderful emotional resonance of Rory calling Lorelai to tell her. Sadly, the next episode picks up minutes later with Logan arriving at Paris's and by the end of the conversation, Rory is headed back to Logan's apartment. The problem here is that the strength of the finale of the prior episode is gutted in moments when the next episode begins. How Rory so quickly comes to that while she was so angry before makes little sense. It seems uncharacteristic and on DVD the problem is accented when one presumes the episodes originally aired a week apart and viewers at least had a chance to reconcile the emotions of the character changes.

On DVD, eager viewers get no such catharsis and the result is that the season is taken down a peg because realism is sacrificed for expediency.

None of this, of course, makes any difference to those who do not know who the essential characters are on Gilmore Girls and who they are in the sixth season. In this season, the principles include:

Lorelai Gilmore - Engaged to Luke, she begins to feel estranged from Rory and all that is familiar to her while Luke goes to help his injured sister. When she refuses to nail down a wedding date and then Luke wants to delay, she begins to get more and more anxious about the relationship. When she and Rory manage to reconcile, she finds dealing with Rory as an adult a bit more complicated than she remembered,

Rory Gilmore - She begins to take life a day at a time and in the process, she soon finds satisfaction in arranging events for the Daughters Of The American Revolution. Still hurt by the elder Huntzberger's rejection of her career path, she begins to emulate her grandmother and she spends months without purpose,

Luke Danes - Eager to marry Lorelai, he is temporarily stymied by the latest problems of Liz and T.J. He becomes eager to marry Lorelai and soon realizes that moving in and renovating her house is the only way the relationship will work, so he goes with it. Soon, though, he discovers he fathered a girl who is now interested in having him in his life and he makes the rather serious error of keeping that information from Lorelai as opposed to disclosing it,

Sookie - Gladly no longer pregnant, she and Jackson raise the kids and keep an eye on Lorelai while Rory is AWOL. Her cooking creations continue to help the Dragonfly Inn be successful,

Logan - As his graduation nears, Logan begins to stress his future as he attempts to rebel against his father and the plans his father has for him. He bears with Rory as she struggles with finding her own identity and his time in the Life Or Death Brigade comes to a rather abrupt end,

Paris - She and Doyle move in together off campus and she begins to treat Lorelai as a surrogate mother. When her trust fund gets axed, she finds herself working for Rory at the D.A.R. briefly,

Kirk - Continues dating Lulu, continues working virtually everywhere in Stars Hollow and becomes a punchline whenever needed,

Lane - As Hep Alien falls apart because of Zach, she and Zach get closer as a couple. Soon, they are engaged and as the wedding approaches, she and Rory work to keep their friendship, despite the different directions their lives are headed,

Richard - Having reunited with Emily, he takes in Rory. His business takes off again and he begins to travel more. He becomes outraged with Mitchum when he realizes that Lorelai was telling the truth about why Rory left Yale,

Emily - Enthusiastic about having Rory around - especially once Richard begins to travel around more again, she feels like those she love are beginning to abandon her when they try to liberate Rory from her depression,

and Michel - Shows up and is sarcastic.

By this time, the performances in Gilmore Girls are honed to the point that one expects greatness and consistency from the performers and the characters. This is exactly what the viewers get in this season. This is not to say that the acting is in any way unmemorable or disappointing, but rather that this is a season where consistency is the rule and the performances are at a caliber that most shows only strive for.

That said, there are two standout performances in the sixth season. One of those performers is Scott Patterson as Luke Danes. Luke's character growth has been a very long arc and in the sixth season, Patterson manages to hone his comic timing so he is his character is actually able to be believably happy and less stuffy. Patterson is able to carry scenes on his own and for the first time, he is given longer stories that involve neither of the Gilmore women. Moreover, he makes them work by presenting Luke as a straightforward guy who is soft-spoken, yet clearly has ideas of his own.

But the star of season six might well be Alexis Bledel, as Rory Gilmore. Bledel becomes her own woman in this season and any hints of mimicry in her performance is gone. She distinguishes herself from star Lauren Graham this season by slouching through the early episodes and then infusing her later performances with a deep sense of professionalism and dignity. Bledel makes her every moment on screen an event, a reminder of classic actresses like Hepburn who seem to come to every scene with strength. Bledel does a great deal more than just showing up and as a result, the structural problems near the end of the season are accented more. Indeed, it is Bledel's performance that sells the viewer on how deeply hurt Rory is by Logan's treatment of her that makes her character's forgiveness of him problematic.

On DVD, Gilmore Girls - The Complete Sixth Season is rather light on the extras. There are a few deleted scenes and a featurettes focusing on the season and the relationships in the sixth season. There are no commentary tracks and the featurettes are brief and somewhat lackluster. As someone who loves both this series and commentary tracks, the DVD presentation is disappointing, though the programming is not.

In all, it's a great ride filled with memorable characters who are easy to empathize with, which continues the tradition of the earlier seasons of Gilmore Girls while growing the characters well past where they have been before. A must for anyone who loves great family dramas!

Very few television shows get a sixth season. For reviews of other sixth seasons, please check out my takes on:
Frasier - Season 6
The West Wing - Season 6
Lost - Season 6

8/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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All Good Things Come To An End: Gilmore Girls - The Complete Seventh Season Ends The Series Well.

The Good: Decent character development, Convoluted but interesting plots
The Bad: Acting is a bit more mediocre than in other seasons, Light on DVD bonus features
The Basics: Still filled with fast-paced, decent dialogue and quirky characters, Gilmore Girls is put to rest in a season with mediocre plots.


The final season of Gilmore Girls takes a lot of flack and I'll be the first to say that some of that it completely unjustified. Television shows work best when they have someplace to go and truth be told, family dramas like Gilmore Girls have the most difficult time as they progress because they are not so much about things that happen as they are about the long process of characters developing. Of course, characters develop through incidents and events, but the best shows are driven by the characters, their decisions help determine what happens next.

In this regard, Gilmore Girls is a winner, right up through its final season, now available on DVD. Lorelai's decisions at the climax of the sixth season set up the events of the seventh quite well and they do move the show forward. Gilmore Girls is known primarily for its witty, fast-paced dialogue and the cultural references that are spewed from the mouths of the quirky characters and the guff that Season Seven takes is somewhat unjustified in that the series keeps this trait up remarkably well in the final season.

It is, however, impossible to discuss the seventh season without alluding to events from late in the sixth season, so those who want the minor dramatic surprises Gilmore Girls has to offer to be fresh, go watch the sixth season before reading more in this review. Seriously.

Following Lorelai realizing she would never marry Luke while at Lane and Zach's wedding in the sixth season, Lorelai runs off with Christopher (Rory's father) and trashes her relationship with Luke. Christopher, finally getting over the timing problem he has had for most of his life in relation to Lorelai, leaps upon the opportunity and whisks her off to France where they marry. Upon returning, Lorelai is faced with the problems of explaining her new marriage to Rory and integrating Christopher into Stars Hollow, a town that liked Luke and Lorelai together.

While Lorelai works on her marriage with Christopher, struggling when issues with Luke pop up and her father has a severe heart attack, Rory dives into her final year of college at Yale while trying to figure out her relationship with Logan and determine her life after school. With Logan in London, Rory tries to make new friends, while maintaining her friendships with Paris and Lane. She is present when Richard collapses at Yale and she finds herself confused and hurt by her father and mother marrying.

In addition to the two main characters on Gilmore Girls, the seventh season gives good plotlines to the main supplemental characters. Luke continues to get closer to his daughter, April, to the point that he finds himself in a custody battle for her when her mother moves across country. Lane returns from her disastrous honeymoon in Mexico to discover that her first sexual experience has left her pregnant and she and Zach prepare for the appearance of . . . twins while developing their rock and roll dreams.

The Complete Seventh Season of Gilmore Girls makes for an important bookend to the series and it is understandable why so many people abandoned the show at this point. We want to see Lorelai growing out of her noncommittal ways. Most of us wanted to see Lorelai and Luke get together. Some shows can pull off a marriage between two main characters, as Once And Again proved with the climax of their second season and the subsequent third season. Apparently the producers of Gilmore Girls feared the loss of conflict in Lorelai's character if she and Luke actually ended up together and happy.

The problematic aspect of this is that in the Seventh Season - especially on DVD when one can just burn through watching the episodes one after another - this begins to feel like a delaying tactic. The viewer is left feeling like the writers and producers are stalling, keeping Lorelai and Luke apart for the year to set up their inevitable togetherness in an unproduced Season Eight.

This obsession with continuing conflict over developing truly complex romantic relationships is further illustrated in Rory's relationship with Logan. Logan is kept in London, far away from Rory, which strains their romance and gives Rory surprisingly little to do outside of school, save in the every five episode "surprise visit" from Logan. Indeed, the argument could be made that Logan develops more in this season as he rebels against his father and his father's plans for him and strikes out on his own business venture.

Fortunately, most of the season is rich in character development and struggles of each of the main characters. Here is how the final season finds the principle characters:

Lorelai - Having abandoned Luke, she runs off with her childhood sweetheart whom she marries. Soon, though, the cracks in their marriage begin to show and she is left wondering - yet again - what is truly important to her in a romance,

Rory - Overwhelmed with schoolwork from the crunch of squeezing in the workload from the extra semester she missed, she makes new friends in the art community while working on one of her last assignments for the Yale Daily News. She relinquishes her position as editor of the school's newspaper and struggles to find her place in the world afterward,

Luke - Happily embracing his role as father to April, he fights for the girl while dealing with losing Lorelai. Given the opportunity, though, he once again steps up to provide her with coffee and caring in her moments of need,

Lane - Married now and pregnant, she is forced to put her dreams of touring on the back burner while she prepares for twins. She and Zach find an unlikely ally when they stand up to Mrs. Kim and discover that her mother can be surprisingly flexible,

Sookie - As Lorelai's best friend, she works with Lorelai to get Christopher accepted by the townsfolk, primarily by having her husband, Jackson, be seen publicly with him,

Logan - Forced to London by his overbearing father, Logan forsakes his trust fund and sinks all of his money into a company of his very own, which brings him back to Rory . . . for a time,

Kirk - He shows up and acts as a straightman for humor. Still with Lulu (though know one really knows what she sees in him),

Paris - She and Doyle plan for life after graduation and Paris begins to get a plethora of postgraduate opportunities. In a weird display of friendship, she tries to organize Rory around applying for everything possible,

Richard - Toning down his business some, he becomes a visiting professor at Yale, where he collapses with a severe heart attack while teaching one of Rory's classes,

Emily - Facing the possibility of losing Richard, her delight over Lorelai and Christopher finally marrying dematerializes. She illustrates her efficiency and love to Richard, Lorelai and Rory throughout, though,

and Michel - Holds down the fort at the Dragonfly Inn, doing nothing much more.

The characters develop, even though Lorelai seems to have the slowest learning curve of the bunch. The thing about the seventh season, though, is that none of the performers do anything extraordinary on the acting front. My perennial favorite, Liza Weil, who plays Paris, is almost completely neglected and so she never has the chance to shine.

Alexis Bledel is only given the chance to truly do something extraordinary as far as acting in the penultimate episode of the series. She plays off costar Matt Czuchry perfectly in the scene that resolves the relationship between Rory and Logan. The thing is, it's a long time to wait for a knockout performance by one of the series' two main stars.

Surprisingly, it is only Keiko Agena who is given the opportunity to do something new, different and extraordinary on the acting front. Agena paid her dues by sticking out several seasons of neglect for her character in the earlier years of Gilmore Girls, but with her marriage and pregnancy, she is given the chance to explore her ability to do comedy. Agena rises with apparent effortlessness to the task and as Lane becomes more and more pregnant, she explores her ability to do physical comedy. She is funny and has an excellent sense of timing.

The main problem with the seventh season of Gilmore Girls is one that comes from the show's producers and rules of the Industry. David Sutcliffe, who plays Christopher, is only credited as a "Special Guest Star" in the episodes, starting at the beginning of the season. I know there are issues with the Guild and pay scale and such, but seriously, folks: Gilmore Girls viewers are a pretty savvy bunch. If you want to keep us guessing even for a little bit, it helps to put Lorelai's love interests in the opening credits. Otherwise, it doesn't matter what direction the relationship between Lorelai and her man is going, we all know where it will end up.

On DVD, Gilmore Girls The Complete Seventh Season is filled with very few unremarkable bonus features. Kirk gives a tour of the town full of clips of the various locations in Stars Hollow over the years and there are a few commentary tracks. There is a retrospective on the whole series. Perhaps the best featurette, though is Keiko Agena giving the viewer a tour of the last day of shooting on the Seventh Season. She makes continual references to the episode being the season finale, not mentioning at all that the series was wrapping forever. As a result, the viewer gets the impression that the series was canceled abruptly, without the stars knowing it would not get renewed. The footage, then, takes on an especially melancholy tenor for those who know what did happen. For my money, I would have preferred more deleted scenes and commentary tracks than we received in this set.

As a fan of the series, I would not recommend this season boxed set, solely because there is the vastly superior Gilmore Girls - The Complete Series (reviewed here!) which takes up almost the same amount of space! Anyone who is a fan of Gilmore Girls will want to stick around to the melancholy, bittersweet end, but for those who are renting, borrowing or considering stealing (don't steal! - Or there will never be a Gilmore Girls Movie!) the set, it is certainly worth watching.

For other final seasons of shows, please check out my reviews of:
The West Wing - Season Seven
Frasier - Season Eleven
Veronica Mars - Season Three

7/10

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© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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