Humor Returns For Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 3!

The Good: Very funny, Good performances, Moments of character
The Bad: Meandering and predictable plots, Imbalance in main cast over the course of the season
The Basics: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season Three manages to develop the characters of the show while being very funny, making for the best season of the comedy yet.


When it comes to Netflix comedies, there have been few I have had more mixed feelings on than Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (reviewed here!) went in a far more dramatic direction than the first season would have indicated and I was not wowed by the addition of Amy Sedaris to the cast in the recurring role of Mimi Kanasis. Ultimately, Kimmy letting her narcissistic mother off seemed like a cheap resolution after the surprisingly deep psychological work Kimmy did throughout the rest of the season and ending the season at essentially the same place as the first (Jacqueline having left New York City in the first season was replaced with Titus having left New York City in the second, Titus being married as the big reveal at the climax of season one was replaced with Kimmy being revealed to be married at the end of season two) was utterly disappointing. So, when I sat down to watch Season Three of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, I was, admittedly, a little less excited about it than I might be with other shows.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 3 picks up the adventures of Kimmy Schmidt after she has been out of the bunker she was trapped in for fifteen years. Now living with wannabe actor Titus Andromedon in the basement of Lillian's apartment (tugboat), Kimmy has her GED and is working to un-entangle her life from that of the villainous Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne.

The thirteen-episode third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt includes the episodes:

"Kimmy Gets Divorced?!" which finds Kimmy getting her G.E.D. She is inspired by Lillian to apply to college and encouraged by Jacqueline to delay signing her divorce papers. When Titus returns from the cruise, he is hesitant to track down Mickey because of his failure to come back with a lot of money, so he appeals to his enemy to get a job on Sesame Street. Lillian, now running for District Council, dumps Bobby and Kimmy learns just how expensive college will be, which leads her to take an alternate tact in her divorce,

"Kimmy's Roommate Lemonades!" is a concept episode that mirrors Titus Andromedon's relationship collapsing with parody tracks from Beyonce's Lemonade. Kimmy takes a tour of a local college where she meets a philosophy student after she discovers from a job aptitude test that her ideal career is "crossing guard." When Jacqueline attempts to present funds from her boyfriend's foundation to clean up the neighborhood, she is blocked by Lillian. When Lillian and Jacqueline both realize that Kimmy is the only registered voter in the neighborhood, both women attempt to exert influence over Kimmy to get her vote. As Titus recognizes his relationship with Mikey is doomed because he is Mike's first relationship as a gay man, Mikey realizes he has been having an emotional affair on Titus and both Titus and Kimmy have to make big decisions,

"Kimmy Can't Help You!" in which Jacqueline has her first real chance to get Russ's family to change the name of the Washington Redskins. Working with Russ, she tries to stage a fight with him as Russ's father's 75th birthday party, but in the process Russ gets slowly run over by a car. While Jacqueline stays by Russ's side, Russ's family sees her as a public relations victory to their team name problem. Back at the apartment, Titus and Kimmy meet the woman who wants to marry the Reverend when she brings the divorce papers there,

"Kimmy Goes To College!" - Kimmy joins the app Task Rabbit to earn money to afford tuition. She ends up running errands at Columbia University, where she is reunited with Xanthippe. While Lillian represents East Dogmouth on the District Council by filibustering against Big Naturals grocery store that wants to move there, Titus advances his singing career by providing backing vocals on right-wing songs,

"Kimmy Steps On A Crack!" which opens with Kimmy being approached by the FBI to talk Gretchen out of a situation she has gotten into. Jacqueline, meanwhile, entertains her new in-laws. Lillian helps diagnose Titus with scurvy and the two head out into Dogmouth to try to find fresh fruit. Gretchen has tried to form her own cult and the FBI is after her for taking children (as "child husbands") hostage. And, she's armed to the teeth!

"Kimmy Is A Feminist!" finds Kimmy going to a college party. There, she realizes that the privileged students going to Columbia are incredibly immature. Meanwhile, Jacqueline is besieged by her new husband's brother, Duke. Duke attempts to seduce her but with Titus and Lillian's help, Jacqueline works to get everything she needs to take on the NFL over the Redskin name!

"Kimmy Learns About The Weather!" opens with Titus having nightmare flashbacks of his time on the cruise. Kimmy tries to talk with Titus about Perry, but gets caught up with watching weather reports instead. Kimmy gets furious at how the weatherman is instilling fear in New York, while Titus goes on a quest against Big Pharma to get residuals for a commercial his voice was used in. And Lillian accidentally starts a strike, which leads her and Artie Goodman to have a surprisingly frank conversation.

"Kimmy Does A Puzzle!" has Titus finally explaining what happened to him on the cruise ship. When the storm hits New York, Kimmy, Titus, Artie and Lillian hunker down in Kimmy's new fun bunker. In Kimmy's "funker," Titus begins to unpack his horrible experience on the cruise.

"Kimmy Goes To Church!" has Titus bringing Kimmy to church on Good Friday. While Kimmy embraces the positivity of the church, Titus makes a new enemy in the form of an old woman whom he believes to be a busybody who is out to ruin his attempts to get into the choir. While Titus tries to entrap his adversary, Jacqueline encounters Diedre again. With Lillian's help, though, Jacqueline is able to move past caring about what other people think about her.

"Kimmy Pulls Off A Heist!" finds Jacqueline ready to take on the football owner's meeting to change the name of the Washington Redskins. That puts her at odds with her new father-in-law and Duke. Meanwhile, Titus becomes obsessed with getting a key from the local gas station where he does all of his bathrooming. Seeing the protest against the Redskins, Jacqueline comes up with a way to appeal to the management team's greed to get the name changed.

"Kimmy Googles The Internet!" where the title explains the whole premise. When Perry and Kimmy attend a soiree at a professor's house, she learns about Google because her professor tells everyone she was a Mole Woman. Looking up her online presence, Kimmy freaks out and goes in search of Andrea to make things right. At the same time, Titus starts dating Ruben, but freaks out when he learns about Ruben's daughter Linda. He comes to realize he is not truly over Mikey.

"Kimmy And The Trolley Problem!" puts Kimmy in a moral dilemma when her philosophy professor suggests she could do more to be a good person. Feeling low about herself, she agrees to appear on Xanthipe's campus television show to talk about her experience in the bunker. Jacqueline starts to get to know Russ after he comes out of reconstructive surgery looking amazing. Artie and Lillian start to plan their first trip together when Artie wants to take her to Europe. Jacqueline takes a meeting with executives at Bravo to try to get exposure for a charity important to her.

and "Kimmy Bites An Onion!" ends the season with Kimmy trying to pass a chemistry test and taking a job as a crossing guard. As Jacqueline fights for Titus's rightful compensation for "Boobs In California," Lillian tries to find Artie a new heart.

The third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt remembers to bring back the funny while still maintaining the characters who have been established. Like the first season, the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has a lot of incredibly funny, laugh-out-loud hilarious lines. The non-sequitors are delivered expertly, while still maintaining the integrity of the show's characters.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is also delightfully daring by calling out the modern (faux-)feminist movement in "Kimmy Is A Feminist!" Graphically illustrating just how ridiculous the "we're empowered by doing everything men want us to do" argument is, "Kimmy Is A Feminist!" is fearless in its attack on the faux-left. . . while still being hilarious.

Finding the balance between humor, advancing the plots and advancing the characters while being true to them is a mark of good writing and the character work in the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is quite good. To better understand the characters, it helps to know that in the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the primary characters are:

Kimmy Schmidt - Now in possession of her G.E.D., she is determined to go to college. She contests the divorce with Reverend Wayne in order to get assets to fund her college tuition. She takes a job aptitude test to learn that her ideal career is that of a crossing guard and she begins to pursue a college degree with that as her goal. When she impresses the members of the crew team, she manages to get a full scholarship to Columbia University. She has to talk down her old bunkermate when Cyndi starts her own cult and the FBI is called in. She starts to develop a new romantic relationship, but rejects him when the philosophy major expresses a desire to get a divinity degree. She has a negative reaction to the infotainment version of weather reports in New York City and when she tries to survive the storm, she accidentally remakes the bunker experience with her friends. When she learns about Google, she becomes terrified that Perry knows her deepest secrets.

Titus Andromedon - Washing up on a beach, he returns home broke. He is furious with Mikey when he sees his boyfriend go into his home with another man. He sees in Mikey's desperation a mirror of his first failed relationship and sets Mikey free, even after rejecting a sexual harassment advance that would have landed him a good job on Sesame Street. He gets scurvy and has to eat fruits and vegetables for the first time in a very, very, very long time. He works to help Jacqueline fend of Duke by playing straight and interested in her. His voice is used for a bladder control commercial against his will. He gets told off by Kimmy when he acts self-centered during the funker experience. He starts to reject Reuben when he learns his new paramour has a daughter named Linda.

Jacqueline White (formerly Voorhees, now Snyder?) - She encourages Kimmy to use her divorce to get back at Reverend Wayne. Still dating the do-gooder Russ, she tries to improve Lillian's neighborhood and finds herself at odds with her friend. She starts working with Russ to get the Washington Redskins name changed, but accidentally gets Russ run over and marrying him when he is unconscious instead! She recovers Russ's grandmother's secret recipe for corn pudding and has to cook for the first time in years! She fends off Russ's brother, Duke, with Titus and Lillian's help, getting the keys to defeating her new in-laws in the process. She leads the fight from within to get the Redskins name changed, even though her family does not believe in her. When Russ is about to come out of the Smoosh Ward, she takes care of Mimi in preparation and freaks out.

Lillian Kaushtupper - Now running for District Council, she dumps Bobby because he is the son of the biggest neighborhood developer in the area. Determined to keep the neighborhood from gentrification, she is elected by convincing Kimmy to vote for her. Once elected, though, she finds her power on the District Council is exceptionally limited. She takes a stand against Big Naturals and ends up as their community support liaison. She actually finds herself relying on Big Naturals to get Titus healthy and she helps Jacqueline fend off Duke. When she mentioned the 2nd Avenue Subway to Artie, she is shocked when Goodman actually revives the long-dead project! She starts a real relationship with Artie later on and they both have to wrestle with their past relationships while developing their new relationship.

Russ - Recognizing that his father, the owner of the Washington Redskins, hates him but loves Jacqueline, he works with Jacqueline to change the team's name. When his brother is promoted to owner, Russ gets run over by a car and while he is in traction, his family convinces Jacqueline to marry him! He eventually comes out of the coma and traction and renews his relationship with his new wife. Unfortunately, looking traditionally good leads to some unfortunate personality changes for the man who was once a social justice lawyer.

Mikey - After having what he believed was an innocent friendship with another man, he is dumped by Titus. He starts to date after Titus pushes him away, but he does not seem nearly as happy as when he was with Titus.

and Artie Goodman - The owner of the massive Big Naturals grocery store chain, he calmly deals with Lillian's hatred for his development of East Dogmouth. Slowly, he convinces Lillian that he is a good guy who wants to help the people of her neighborhood. He has a heart problem that leads him to try to get the most out of life.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 3 is a lot of fun and it includes a fun crossover with Orange Is The New Black and a wonderful recurring role played by Peter Riegert. Riegert plays Artie very calmly and when he delivers some of the season's funniest lines, his deadpan is amazingly funny! As well, Tina Fey helped get many of her 30 Rock co-stars cameos in the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The little guest roles are funny and seeing Scott Atsit and Judah Friedlander again is wonderful!

Ellie Kemper and Tituss Burgess are incredible in the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Burgess and Kemper have both great comic timing to land the jokes and surprisingly serious deliveries to accurately sell the dramatic moments. Ultimately, the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a good balance of humor and genuine character development.

For other works from the 2016 – 2017 television season, please check out my reviews of:
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 4
Sense8 - Season 2
Dear White People - Season 1
"Out Of Time" - Legends Of Tomorrow
"Oxygen" - Doctor Who
The Walking Dead - Season 7
Thirteen Reasons Why - Season 1
Grace And Frankie - Season 3
Iron Fist - Season 1
Love - Season 2
Santa Clarita Diet - Season 1
A Series Of Unfortunate Events - Season 1
One Day At A Time - Season 1
Travelers - Season 1
The OA - Season 1
Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life
"Invasion!" - Arrow
"Infantino Street" - The Flash
"Resist" - Supergirl
Luke Cage - Season 1
Stranger Things - Season 1

6/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Character Progression, With Less Humor: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season Two Treads Surprisingly Dramatic.

The Good: Good character development, Moments of creativity, Tituss Burgess's performance
The Bad: Dramatic imbalance of both humor and characters, Some troubling plot and character conceits especially as the season progresses
The Basics: After an initial burst of humor consistent with the first season, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season Two treads toward the predictable and dramatic, undermining itself.


There are very few works that I review and then have a significant change of heart on later. What some people do not realize about reviewers is that most are attempting speed and accuracy when reviewing and, in order to stay current, early or timely reviews are always the most sought-after. When it comes to television reviews, there are very few reviewers, myself included, who usually view a television season or episode multiple times before reviewing it. As a result, there are, occasionally, works that I come to appreciate more over multiple viewings - if it is something that I enjoyed enough to ever put on again (life is too short for second chances, most reviewers will note!). One of the few works that I would probably have rated higher in retrospect now is the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (reviewed here!). After all, the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has become one of the most quoted shows of late around my home. My wife and I find reasons to quote it almost daily, which is saying something.

So, I decided not to rush my review of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 2. The thirteen episode season has been out since April and I'm on my third viewing of it. My wife and I eagerly binge watched the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt the day it was released . . . and it took us another three months to come back to it. I was worried about reviewing the show right away, but the truth is, my first instinct with the second season was a pretty accurate one: the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is almost a completely different show than the first season. For sure, there are elements that are seeded into the first season, most notably Lillian's offhanded remarks about the neighborhood changing and gentrification, that play out in big ways in the second season. Viewers even learn what is up with Kimmy Schmidt and Velcro. But more than being zany and funny, with an incredible quotable quality, the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt goes for serious, moody, and more realistic the longer it goes on. The result is a season where the characters grow and develop in interesting ways, but their journeys are seldom funny.

Opening with Kimmy and her friends celebrating Christmas, which includes Jacqueline's friend Mimi and is crashed by Dong's wife Sonja, the show flashes back three months. Titus is stuck dealing with the woman he married almost twenty years ago when he was still Ronald Wilkerson, while Kimmy tries to help him. Jacqueline remains with her family in Sioux land, trying hard to return to her Native American roots, but annoying them instead. After Titus makes peace with his past, he makes the difficult decisions that come with cleaning out his closet. Kimmy helps Xanthippe move on from the townhouse after her father sells it and she is forced to move to Connecticutt.

As Jacqueline attempts to re-enter New York's social scene, Titus begins a serious relationship and Kimmy struggles to financially support herself without working for Jacqueline. When the Wi-Fi is set up in the neighborhood, Lillian becomes furious about the gentrification, but Titus and Kimmy use it to make money by renting their apartment out as a B and B. Kimmy becomes an Uber driver, which connects her with a therapist who encourages her to get closure by finding her mother.

The second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a season very much out of balance. After Jacqueline starts pursuing the lawyer, she is written out of the show for three episodes. When Tina Fey arrives in the season, she dominates every scene she is in. The show becomes experimental as it goes more dramatic; Kimmy sees her "happy place" as an animated Disney-like place and one of Mikey's family members is a puppet. But a Titus becomes more serious by mentoring a young man and becomes part of a serious relationship, the show tends to become more predictable and less funny. Mikey coming out to his family, predictably, goes very well for him and the episode plays droll as Titus has to force his way into being the center of attention. Similarly, while the whole Dr. Dave concept is delightfully satirical, the pop psychology entertainment idea is not funny.

Lillian's fight against developing the neighborhood is also good character development, but it is not really funny. Instead, it's sad to watch the woman whose best memories are tied to the neighborhood as it was, try desperately to save it from hipsters and developers. Jacqueline's arc, when they get back to her, seems like pretty much where she began the season. She wanted to help her family and so the idea that she might become interested in an ethical person, instead of just reverting to wanting a rich guy to get back into society, seemed pretty obvious, as opposed to audacious.

In the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the primary characters are:

Kimmy Schmidt - Still hung up on Dong, from her G.E.D. class, despite him being married and overrun with silverfish in his apartment, she becomes terrified that Titus will simply abandon her. She tries to act as an intermediary between Titus and Vonda. She gets a new job working at a year-round Christmas store while Jacqueline is out West. After chasing Dong, she falls asleep while taking the G.E.D. and she has to stand up to Jacqueline when her friend is not financially able to keep her on as an employee. They reach a compromise, which allows Kimmy to use Jacqueline's stolen cop car to be an Uber driver. Through that job, she meets Andrea - a crazed drunk woman by night, generally professional therapist by day - and starts to deal with the feelings she repressed since being abducted. That leads her on a quest to find her mother and figure out who her true family is,

Titus Andromedon - Struggling with the consequences of abandoning Vonda, he is forced to face Kimmy's fears that he will abandon her. When Kimmy confronts him, he starts to exhibit traits of someone suffering from multiple personality disorder. After launching a one-man play featuring his geisha personality, which earns the ire of the Asian-American community, he goes on a date with Mikey and starts his first serious relationship of his adult life. He becomes more moody when he realizes that he is happy and reverts to form when Mikey confesses he is not a big talker. When Mikey comes out to his family, he hijacks the experience,

Jacqueline White (formerly Voorhees) - After trying to reclaim her identity as Jackie Lynn, she becomes a pain in the ass to her family. She returns to New York City where she attempts to win over the snobby mothers at her son's private school. She tries to compete with Deirdre and that leads her to overbid at an art auction. She attempts to create a charity to raise money for the Sioux, but has a rough time attracting patrons. To deal with her son, Buckley, she turns to medicating him. After trying the medication herself, she takes her son off it. She knocks out her own tooth and, soon after, she and Kimmy fall out over her inability to pay Kimmy. She literally walks in another woman's shoes in order to get her tooth fixed and, in the process of trying to raise money for the First People, she thwarts Deirdre and realizes just how loathesome most of her old society "friends" actually are. When the family that rightfully owns the painting she bought sues her for it, she works with Lillian to swindle the insurance company for its value before meeting a lawyer who she starts to pursue to get back into upper class society,

Lillian Kaushtupper - Titus and Kimmy's addled slumlord, she encourages Kimmy to explore moral relativism after she runs into her old lover, Robert. She becomes convinced a new gang has moved into the neighborhood and is heartbroken to learn that the neighborhood is getting high-speed internet and attracting hipsters. She advises Kimmy to give up on pursuing Dong, when she sees how much pursuing the married man hurts Kimmy. She locks herself to a bulldozer to protest, even as she advises on Titus on his sudden inkling to have children,

Gretchen - She joins a new cult, the Church Of Cosmotology, which leads Kimmy to kidknap her to save her. Kimmy realizes she has never had to think for herself after a terrible night out together and Kimmy convinces her to form her own cult,

Cindy - She returns to New York to meet her "therapist" only to discover that he is a television personality who uses victims of disasters for his shows,

and Mikey - After coming out to Titus last season, he randomly takes Titus's donated clothes out of a dumpster, which starts off a new relationship. He is a construction worker, who is not out with his co-workers and he goes out on a limb to hit on Titus. He has an awkward first date with Titus, but has a lot of love for the much more experienced man. On his first date with Titus, he is so nervous that he talks quite a bit, which is very different from how he usually is. After coming out to his family, he gets ill and that tests his relationship with Titus.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 2 starts with a lot of potential with "Kimmy Goes Roller Skating!" but by the end of the teaser to the fourth episode, almost all of the elements are in place for the more serious elements that come to dominate the season.

Titus Andromedon has the most significant and consistent character arc of the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and the role finally gives Tituss Burgess something to play that viewers have not seen from the actor before. In the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Burgess starts to explore his character falling in love and committing to a serious relationship, instead of playing to the parody elements of his character.

Tina Fey, Ellie Kemper, Carol Kane and Jane Krakowski each play their characters with consistency and well within the range they have exhibited in other projects. Amy Sedaris is especially distracting in her scenes as Mimi and every time she is on screen, the viewer is aware they are watching Sedaris, as opposed to the character she is supposed to be portraying.

The second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is not bad, but the genuine character development and moments of Tituss Burgess's exceptional performances are crammed between unfortunately canned plot conceits and dramatic moments that completely change the tone of the usually zany production.

For other works from the 2015 – 2016 television season, please check out my reviews of:
Legends Of Tomorrow - Season 1
Jessica Jones - Season 1
Daredevil - Season 2
House Of Cards - Season 4
Doctor Who - Season 9

4/10

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

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Colorblind Culture That Will Revenge For Good Cause: A Social Anthropology of Four Brothers.

The Good: Decent acting, Interesting characters, Well-executed plot, Good direction
The Bad: Far too many "types," Problematic lack of consequences
The Basics: Despite limitations in terms of some of the characters simply taking on archetypal roles, Four Brothers works hard to defy a lot of stereotypes.


I was surprised, given how many people have recommended I see Boyz N The Hood, that I had not yet seen a single film by acclaimed director John Singleton. Having watched Four Brothers, a movie that serves as vehicle for Andre Benjamin ("Andre 3000" to Outkast fans), I have to say that Singleton rightfully deserves his reputation as one of the best directors working in America today. He may not produce a yearly movie (a la Spike Lee), but he seems to make up for it with the qualitative results that make for significant movies that will last in the collective unconscious.

When Evelyn Mercer is killed in a convenience store robbery, her four adopted sons reunite for her funeral. Bobby, the oldest of the quartet, soon learns that the death of the matriarch might well not be a random crime, but rather a calculated attack, a hit on the Mercers. Bobby easily convinces brothers Angel and Jack to help him avenge their mother's death, but Jeremiah, now a respected businessman trying to revitalize the community, is resistant to any retribution. What follows in a vigilante investigation that puts the four Mercer boys against a corrupt gang that pretty much owns Detroit, including the police department, which is investigating both the Victor Sweet gang and the Mercer boys.

Four Brothers is most intriguing for its vision, which I give a lot of credit to David Elliot, Paul Lovett (the writers) and John Singleton for creating. The negative aspects of this intrigue are simple and direct. The movie has no strong female characters, save the deceased Evelyn who is wise, good, but somewhat nagging, and Jack, the token homosexual brother, is treated rather poorly by the others. In this way, the movie reinforces very negative stereotypes toward both gays and women in the culture it is depicting.

But what it does right is even more compelling if one views this as a Man's movie. Like ignoring Sigmund Freud's half-assed attempts to explore female psychology - which he had no interest or significant studies on - the three creators of Four Brothers seem most interested in telling a story about men and if viewed that way, Four Brothers is certainly an above average movie and a surprisingly positive one. The Mercer brothers are close with an established history and comfort level between them, but they are not all the same.

While Bobby is clearly the leader of the bunch, Angel frequently goes off on his own, exercising his own judgment and values to do his own part of the investigation and quest for justice. This works rather well on a character level and it helps to smartly differentiate him from brother Jeremiah. And Jack defies some of the stereotypes thrust on him when he volunteers at points in the movie to do various dangerous things in his emotive quest for vengeance.

But the family here is a family and that is the vision that Elliot, Lovett and Singleton create. Two of the brothers are white, two are black, but they are a functional family unit where race matters very little. Four Brothers rightly makes the connections that our society is much more controlled by economics than ethnicity. That is to say that the traditional stereotypes that are engaged in Four Brothers fall more along the lines of economics than traditional ethnic stereotypes. This is embodied most in the characterizations of Bobby and Jeremiah. Bobby uses a sense of street justice that a white character could not traditionally pull off and Jeremiah, as an up and coming businessman who is very concerned with protocol embodies both the black man who pulls himself up out of poverty but also takes the role usually more focused on white characters in movies with black casts. That is in Four Brothers, Jeremiah is not competing with whites for his positions but other black characters and Jeremiah's concerns are mostly white collar. And Jeremiah's character reinforces the strength of the ideals of collective bargaining in the blue collar sector and his character effectively transitions from a blue collar to white collar worker as part of social mobility that is an ideal in the culture. And it works.

One of the most telling moments of the movie, strangely, is a bathroom scene. While Bobby is on the toilet, he's talking to Angel and Jack is in the shower. The scene, which is short and not terribly earth shattering in the movement of the movie, is very telling for what the movie is trying to say. Despite the jibes of the others toward Jack, Bobby has no problem being near-naked in front of him and Angel has no problems with walking in the two in the bathroom. Ultimately, this creates an atmosphere that is strangely powerful about the level of connection of this family and when people in the future look back on Four Brothers, this will be one of the scenes cited that illustrates that interethnic relations are supported by integration down to the family level as opposed to any form of segregation.

John Singleton deserves a lot of credit. As the man who creates the vision on the screen from the page, Singleton is responsible for making a fairly straightforward vigilante murder investigation visually interesting. He succeeds admirably. In fact, one of the best examples of Singleton's success is with a car chase scene. Car chases are fairly passe. We've seen people chase one another in cars. Even a television show like "Alias" can afford to do a decent car chase scene. But we get the chase scene. It's usually a bridge scene between two character scenes used to move the plot by either resulting in the capture of the quarry - which forces the character choices of what to do with that person or thing - or the escape of the fleeing person, which forces the characters to either try again, try a different methodology or give up. Singleton takes a cliche and makes it visually interesting with, of all things, characters who are acting essentially as cheerleaders. As Bobby, Angel and Jack are pursuing the two men they suspect are the gunmen who killed Evelyn, Bobby is cheering Angel on to shoot their car, there's yelling not to lose them and the whole feel of the scene is surprisingly original. It does not feel like every other car chase scene we've seen before in movies.

On a simple storytelling level, though, there is a lot in Four Brothers that is less than stellar. In the scenes involving the police officers, there is much that is oversimplified. I'm not writing about Lt. Green's "self-defense" brush-off of the gunfight that occurs in plain sight on the street (that actually works) but rather the representations of the characters themselves. Just as Sofi is "crazy girlfriend," Jack is "gay brother," Lt. Green represents the detective with integrity vs. Detective Fowler who is nothing but an embodiment of "corrupt cop." And it is the lack of consequences for the collateral actions in Four Brothers that will trouble those who look back on this film. We understand the desire for vengeance when the matriarch is killed, but that there are no negative consequences for the characters is hard to swallow. Especially in a movie that seems to argue for the need for personal responsibility and family.

What sells the underlying concept of Four Brothers, though is the acting. It's always nice to see Josh Charles and his role in Four Brothers is cool. Having just seen Crash, it was nice to see Terrance Howard playing Lt. Green, a very different character from his role in Crash, but with that same sense of dignity that he brings to bear as a quality actor. And every scene that Fionnula Flanagan is in as Evelyn Mercer, she works well. Flanagan plays the role with a sense of something between dignified matriarch and nagging specter. She adds subtlety with her soft voice and the simplest of looks.

It is the quartet of Garrett Hedlund, Andre Benjamin, Tyrese Gibson and Mark Wahlberg that is responsible for selling Four Brothers. They pull it off. The quartet has more natural on-screen chemistry than half the romances I've seen in recent memories. As a perfect example, Wahlberg, Gibson, Benjamin and Hedlund are a more convincing, more natural unit of individuals who are bonded to one another than Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom tried to pull off in Elizabethtown (reviewed here!). The four are believable as a family in the way that they are at ease with one another in their body language. It transcends the lines on the page. And they sell it.

Ultimately, Four Brothers is an urban story and when one accepts the conceits of that world, the movie works extraordinarily well. As important, it defines and defies that world for those who are not a part of it, so for example while the quartet is a family there is almost no physical contact between them throughout the movie. It's hard to hold onto old stereotypes and traditional viewpoints of the urban culture when one watches an interethnic family unified toward common goals motivated by a familial sense of love.

Perhaps in the near future, Singleton will work to push the envelope in such a work and the characters will be emotively connected in such a way as to allow them to show not only respect for one another but genuine affection.

For other works with Tyrese Gibson, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
Legion
Death Race
Transformers

7.5/10

Check out how this movie stacks up against other films I have reviewed by visiting my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Aaron Sorkin's Worthwhile (And Neglected) Endeavor: Sports Night Might Be Short, But It's Perfect!

The Good: Funny, Heartwarming, Great Acting, Wonderful Characters, Great Stories, Originality! Now with decent DVD bonus features!
The Bad: Short-lived.
The Basics: An amazing series that follows the exploits of professionals in the television industry as the love and grow.


It's a rare thing when pretty much every critic in the world agrees on the merit of a television show. But the truth is, the universal praise Sports Night received in its two-year run on ABC was just that, universal. And fans of this show were a remarkable thing: we rallied to it EVERY week and tried to convince those who had not seen the series to tune in. It's too bad not so many people did. I blame ABC (who took the show off EVERY time sweeps came around) and Aaron Sorkin, the show's creator.

Why do I blame Sorkin? The title. Sports Night killed this show even quicker than ABC. Why? I hate sports, so do a lot of other people. This show has nothing to do with sports. While it has everything to do with a show about sports, Sports Night is NOT about sports, it never was and it never would be. The problem is, one of the audiences that would have appreciated this series quite a bit was turned off just by the name. I speak of women. This is a show that, among other things, illustrates the power, ingenuity and greatness of women. Unfortunately, so many women were turned off by the title that feminist organizations failed to rally to keep the show on the air.

So, what is this great show that has nothing to do with sports?

Sports Night follows the lives of six individuals who are working on a late-night cable sports show called "Sports Night." In the course of the series, it follows their triumphs and emotional entanglements as they bring their lives to the office. The characters include:

Casey McCall, the lead anchor of "Sports Night." The series opens with Casey undergoing the final stages of a messy divorce to a heinous woman named Lisa who has basically emasculated the anchor. As the series progresses, he opens up to loving again and finds himself attracted to Dana.

Dan Rydel, the other anchor of "Sports Night." Dan is a standup, emotionally connected guy who has several issues. Rather rapidly, we learn that Dan had a brother who died and Dan blames himself for it. As Dan progresses, he falls in love with a woman who claims to be divorced and ends up in therapy. He is the emotional soul of "Sports Night."

Dana Whittaker, the producer of "Sports Night." She is an easily frazzled, woman in charge who is in command of "Sports Night," but completely lost in her social life. Her arc follows an engagement that goes bad to her opening up to Casey as a partner and ultimately losing what she wants most.

Isaac Jaffe, the managing editor of "Sports Night." He's a respected man who tries to protect the show from the network that seeks to cancel the show constantly. He's a man of great dignity and integrity. Isaac has a stroke which cripples him and puts the show in jeopardy.

Natalie Hurley, the senior associate producer. She's a flighty, kind young woman who is very emotional and very loyal to Dana, Isaac and the show. She's ambitious and absent-minded.

Jeremy Goodwin, an associate producer. In the first episode, this genius is brought on board by Natalie to help keep facts straight and keep the show running better. He's an analytical geek who is most comfortable being a sports genius and his love for Natalie grows and changes throughout the series.

The characters undergo a good number of adventures, such as Casey trying to demonstrate something to his son's class, Dan learns the consequences of singing "happy birthday" on the air, Dana discovers the joys of removing her panties while eating dinner in a restaurant, Isaac stands up for his morals, Natalie is assaulted by a football player and Jeremy deals with his parents divorce.

The hallmark of Sports Night is the fast-paced dialog. People on the show speak at the speed of normal conversation and as a result, it's often difficult for the casual viewer to keep up. Sports Night is definitely a show to sit down and watch, not just for use as background noise. But the show writes with intelligence and this is not the typical, idiotic sitcom that we're stuck seeing most times.

Sports Night is known for defying the typical pretenses of a situation comedy. The first is that Aaron Sorkin fought hard to have the laugh track removed from the series and for the second season he succeeded. Many people cite that it takes on serious issues in addition to trying to be funny, but the truth is, this is a very funny show. A lot of the humor hinges on the speed of the dialog so something like,
"Dana, did I say 'a neighborhood park all covered with cheese?'"
"There's a consensus yes." . . .
"Let me fix it when we come back." . . .
"Are we sure it's wrong? Are we sure the park isn't all covered with cheese?"
might not translate quite so well to the page. But it does have quite a bit of humor and it's a worthwhile series.

But more than anything, this is an intelligent comedy that respects its audience. It's funny and heartwarming and it is about people who make decisions and live with the consequences of them. People in this series grow and love and get hurt. This is a drama with humor.

The DVD set of Sports Night is a great way to go . . . finally. Following on a lackluster original release, Shout! Factory as released the Tenth Anniversary Set. In this DVD set, viewers get the whole series in one fell swoop. In addition to scenes that have been added back into the show from the original release, there are other bonus features. For restored scenes, there are several scenes on the last disc's "The Local Weather." I still haven't figured out what was cut out of the episode to incorporate the new scenes. There are also new commentary tracks on eight of the episodes, as well as featurettes on the making of the show. There is also a gag reel for each season, which is fun as well.

Even without the scenes that have clearly been deleted to keep each episode 21 minutes, this is a perfect series. It's wonderful and intelligent, the dialog is witty and funny and worthwhile. The worst aspect of the failure of Sports Night to endure on television is that writer Aaron Sorkin recycled important character and plot events into his other show The West Wing. You know that great speech Sam Seaborn gives about his father cheating on his mother? If you thought it was clever, see it done the first time when it was original in "The Sword of Orion" when Jeremy undergoes the same problem.

Sports Night is an amazing series and it has several episodes that are completely perfect, like "Shoe Money Tonight" where the gang plays poker for a night, "The Sword of Orion" where Jeremy learns his father is having an affair, the second season premiere "Special Powers" wherein various characters reunite, and "The Giants Win the Pennant, The Giants Win the Pennant" where Dana and Casey's near-relationship comes to a heartwrenching conclusion.

Well worth the money for anyone who likes an intelligent television series.

For other television program reviews, please check out my takes on:
30 Rock Season 1
Lost The Complete Series
VR.5

10/10

For other television reviews, please check out the index page!

© 2010, 2008, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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