Agonizing In Between Great Lines, Why Stop Now? Just Doesn't Nail It.

The Good: Decent performances, Some good lines
The Bad: Oppressive mood, Predictable character moments, Direction
The Basics: Failing to straddle the line between comedy and drama effectively, Why Stop Now? is more unpleasant to watch than it is entertaining.


I am a fan, in general, of the recent trend in movies and television that blurs the lines between drama and comedy. The rise of the dramedy - dramas with some truly hilarious lines or comedies with some punchy characters or hard-hitting lines - hit the mainstream with the widespread success of The West Wing (reviewed here!) and nothing proves how hard it is to find the right balance between humor and drama like a work that does not do it well. Why Stop Now? certainly falls into that category.

Why Stop Now? is too awkward and painful to watch throughout the bulk of the film to actually appreciate the hilarious outbursts and funny lines when they do come up. The film is hampered by characters who are (once again) supposed to be smart people, but overlook the most obvious, simple, and intelligent solutions to their problems. After alienating the audience thoroughly, the film transitions into an occasionally hilarious, sometimes heartwarming, but still painfully awkward movie that the viewer has to fight to sit through.

Opening with Eli Bloom arriving, almost late, to a piano audition, the film flashes back to the night before. At a local college party, Eli gets so drunk that when he tries to play the piano, he throws up next to it, in front of the young woman he has had a crush on for years, Chloe. Eli then returns home to his mother. This is the day he is putting her in rehab and after dropping his younger sister off at school, they head to C.A.M.P. to enroll Penny. Penny, however, has a problem; she's not high when she gets to rehab and she does not have insurance. So, she is told to come back with dirty urine and under those circumstances, a bed can be made available to her.

In the quest to get his mother drugs, Eli visits her dealer, Sprinkles. Sprinkles is trying to restock his drug business, but his usual translator is no longer with him. Eli steps in as a translator to help negotiate the deal for the drugs that will get his mother into rehab. However, in negotiating for the drugs, he is shoved and cuts his hand badly, which jeopardizes his one chance to get away from his addict mother and get into the music conservatory of his dreams.

Why Stop Now? is seriously hampered by a fundamental problem that none of the characters seem smart enough to figure out. When Penny is told she needs to fail a urine test to get into rehab, Eli becomes obsessed with getting drugs in her system. Penny does not need drugs in her system; she just needs the urine of any drug user she can find. Or to bribe the admitting clerk to mark that she did fail her drug test. Here the direction of the film works vastly against the plot; we are shown Penny taking her drug test and it would have been absolutely simple for her to smuggle in a dirty urine sample. That this solution occurs to none of the characters is one of the earliest, gut-wrenchingly irksome decisions one of the people on screen makes that pulls the viewer out of the film.

The obscure film is headlined by Jesse Eisenberg and Melissa Leo, both of whom are often far more impressive in their performances than in Why Stop Now?. Eisenberg feels like he is playing his version of Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network (reviewed here!) without a similar level of diction and while sleepwalking through the part. Melissa Leo is convincing as Penny, which I did not fully realize until I started writing this sentence. Yeah, she's good; she's convincing and she sells the wacky, wacked-out role with her whole body, voice and performance. Perhaps the best contrast to her performance is that of Sarah Ramos as Chloe; Ramos is given an understated part and she seems like she tries to get by by delivering her lines and smiling (as opposed to actually embodying a character). To Ramos's defense, it does not seem like Chloe was given a truly substantive role in the film Why Stop Now?.

What makes Why Stop Now? at all watchable (when it is) is the patter between Sprinkles and Black. Tracy Morgan and Isiah Whitlock, Jr. have absolutely amazing comic timing between them with Whitlock nailing many of the best deliveries with his stern, focused, presentation. Morgan is not playing a ridiculous parody of himself and Whitlock is given the space to both deliver great lines and play off Morgan without simple being a comedic straightman. The result is a few moments of true comedic gold.

It is, however, not enough to justifying sitting through Why Stop Now?. The film is just too inconsistent and dark to be enlightening, entertaining, or evoke empathy.

For other works with Stephanie March, please visit my reviews of:
The Invention Of Lying
Mr. And Mrs. Smith

4.5/10

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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Hilarity Ensues Again And Again And Again: 30 Rock The Complete Series!

The Good: Character development, Very funny, Some great lines, Good serialization.
The Bad: As the show goes on, it becomes incredibly predictable and somewhat repetitive, Performances are largely unremarkable
The Basics: 30 Rock is a smart and funny serialized comedy that plays well to those who like great lines and interesting characters . . . though it does get a bit repetitive.


In the pantheon of half hour sitcoms, there are the groundbreaking, the memorable and pretty much everything else. That might seem like an oversimplification, but there is some truth to the idea that outside the groundbreaking and memorable, sitcoms are either terrible or shows one enjoys while watching, but does not give much thought to when they are not. The sitcom is often simple diversion programming; fun to watch, forgettable when it is not on. 30 Rock has some memorable lines, but over the course of seven seasons, the series became a much less distinctive and compelling program. That is not to say 30 Rock is at all unenjoyable, but it is not groundbreaking and there were long stretches of unmemorable episodes (even if they contained memorable or hilarious lines).

As a complete series set, 30 Rock is a collection of all seven seasons of 30 Rock, a Tina Fey vehicle that reignited the career of Alec Baldwin and kept Lorne Michael relevant for a while longer (ironically, as 30 Rock came to an end, all of the best recent talents on Saturday Night Live left the show, leading to another ebb in the sketch comedy series). The Complete Series of 30 Rock consists of:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
and Season 7

30 Rock has a fairly uncomplicated plot: Liz Lemon is the head writer and executive producer of The Girlie Show, a sketch comedy show that stars her best friend since college, Jenna Maroney. But when Lemon’s boss is replaced by Jack Donaghy, a fairly conservative businessman, Liz Lemon’s show quickly slips from her control. Donaghy has Liz hire the somewhat deranged celebrity Tracy Jordan and changes the name of the show to TGS With Tracy Jordan. The shift brings in the demographics The Girlie Show was lacking and revitalizes Liz Lemon’s show. Unfortunately for her, Tracy Jordan is notoriously difficult to work with and Jenna refuses to play nice with him, as she is used to being the celebrity on the show.

In addition to being a workaholic, Liz Lemon has no real libido or romantic life. Jack Donaghy takes it upon himself to professionally and personally mentor Lemon. In the process of trying to straighten out Lemon’s love life, Donaghy becomes deeply involved with the lives of the people who work for him, including Tracy, Jenna, and the weird television-loving hillbilly page, Kenneth. Jack finds love in unlikely sources (like a liberal Congresswoman) and struggles to find his place in a changing marketplace where businessmen like him are no longer as relevant or powerful as they once were, while Liz Lemon tries to keep Tracy at work, Jenna productive (and not breaking into showboating songs) and her director, Pete, alive (he has a dark, depressed side, stemming from his stress at home with his wife and children). As the series progresses, conflicts include Tracy running off in fear of his life, Jenna dating a Jenna Maroney impersonator, Jack’s new wife getting abducted by North Korea, and Liz dating a man that Jack does not approve of.

30 Rock is funny, but is a great example of a show that struggled after a period to find its place and rhythm. Tracy Jordan runs off multiple times in the series, Jenna Maroney’s hissy fits get old and the show stops doing smart cutaways (early in the show there are references to such brilliantly satirical things as Tracy Jordan’s novelty pop song “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” that are not attempted as the series goes on) and replaces them with more predictable and banal banter between Liz and Jack. That said, 30 Rock succeeds in that it only has one real obvious dud of an episode (a reality show based on Tracy Jordan’s wife is made and one episode is simply an episode of the awful reality show!), which is pretty astonishing for a series with over a hundred and thirty episodes. While it is on, 30 Rock is fun and engaging and well worth watching. It’s a bit tougher to invest in the complete series, though, because when it becomes tired, it is more average than extraordinary, but the show’s inertia is likely to make one sit through the episodes that are more stagnant than brilliant.

30 Rock had a good mix of characters and one of the more stable casts on television. For the seven seasons of 30 Rock, the essential characters are:

Liz Lemon – The hard-working Executive Producer and head writer of TGS With Tracy Jordan, she carved out a niche writing sketch comedy for her best friend, Jenna. In addition to having a loser ex-boyfriend (beeper salesman and sex offender Dennis Duffy), Liz is an idealist who believes in fairness and wants to see people treated well. Socially inept, she is unused to actually leading, so Jack takes her under his wing and grooms her to be a more authoritative presence who he can actually use for his own corporate gain. In exchange, Liz becomes a confidant for the powerful businessman and becomes more confident in her personal life,

Tracy Jordan – The high-maintenance star of TGS, he is unreliable, often blowing off rehersals to visit strip clubs. Accompanied by an entourage – mainly Grizz and Dot Com – he embodies an unfortunate number of stereotypes about the rich, young, black comedian. Chronically late and difficult to work with, he seldom follows his lines (which initially makes Liz and Pete wonder if he is illiterate), spends obscene amounts of money on worthless things, and avoids his wife and children whenever possible. As his popularity rises, he puts to rest old feuds in the black community and his wife asserts more control over him, his finances, and his career, which complicates both Jack and Liz lives more,

Jenna Maroney – The showboating, bratty star of The Girlie Show, she deals with the change of focus for her show very poorly. Always ready to burst into a song, she will do anything for attention. Despite Liz’s loyalty to her, she shows very little loyalty or friendship to Liz, though she does what she can to keep on Jack’s good side when she recognizes his wealth and power,

Pete Hornberger – The director of TGS With Tracy Jordan and Liz’s right hand man, he is an awkward middle-aged man who is fairly constantly berated. He has a wife and children, though he and his wife fight a lot and he is afraid of at least one of his kids. He helps Liz out, but mostly just shows up and keeps the writer’s room and Kenneth in line,

Kenneth Parcell – A page at NBC, he is incredibly naïve and physically awkward. Very much a product of his redneck upbringing, he has never really adapted to New York City. As a result, he becomes an object of curiosity to Jack. Kenneth has a very pure love of all things related to television and fights to get ridiculous programming on the air when Jack needs ideas. He often finds himself doing grunt work or odd tasks for Tracy, whom he idolizes for no other reason than his celebrity,

And Jack Donaghy – Occasionally an outcast in the business world, Jack is the new head of East Coast Microwave and Television Programming for General Electric (which owns NBC in the 30 Rock universe). He wants to make the programming as profitable as possible so he might be the natural successor to his hero at GE when the time comes. As a result, he is often at odds with Liz Lemon over on-air content on TGS With Tracy Jordan, though he quickly develops a personal affinity for Liz. He dates supermodels and businesswomen and in the course of the series even marries! He struggles, though, when NBC is sold to a television-focused company, Kabletown, and he has to re-evaluate his priorities and methods.

One of the weaknesses in 30 Rock is the acting, which is ironic considering how good Alec Baldwin (Jack Donaghy) and Tina Fey (Liz Lemon) are in their roles. Tracy Morgan (Tracy Jordan) plays a character remarkably similar to himself – or his public persona from his stand-up comedy routines and intervies – and Jane Krakowski (Jenna Maroney) is essentially reprising her needy character from Ally McBeal (reviewed here!). Other actors are stuck in types – Jack McBrayer performs a lot of physical comedy as Kenneth, Judah Friedlander hits the one-note of sarcasm constantly as Frank Rossitano, and Keith Powell’s “Toofer” is essentially Friedlander’s straightman for almost the entire series. None of the roles particularly stretch the talents of the performers in them.

Still, 30 Rock looks good on DVD and the featurettes included in the set are funny and discuss the genesis and conclusion of the show in enough detail to make them worthwhile. But 30 Rock peaks early and nowhere is that more clear than when one sits down and goes through the entire series. This is a set one is likely to enjoy, put on the shelf for years and forget about, then pick up, dust off, and binge on the entire thing again before forgetting about it again.

For other shows that air(ed) on NBC, please check out my reviews of:
Revolution - Season 1
Parenthood – Season 1
The West Wing
Heroes
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
Friends
Frasier
NewsRadio
Homicide: Life On The Streets
Cheers
V - The Television Series
Star Trek

7/10

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

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Ending With Evolution 30 Rock Season Seven!

The Good: Character development, Very funny
The Bad: Unremarkable plots and performances, Shortened season
The Basics: For 30 Rock’s final season, Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy evolving beyond their prior characters to end in an enjoyable, if understated, way.


As the year winds to an end, I find myself catching up on television shows that I missed over the last year. I actually have found myself watching and reviewing a number of shows that had series finales and the only one I actually caught when it aired was 30 Rock. Now out on DVD, 30 Rock Season Seven is the climax to the comedy by Tina Fey that was a satirical look at the behind-the-scenes life of a writer on a sketch comedy show. By the seventh season, as with virtually every television series that has longevity, the character development truly hinges on the understanding of who the characters have been in the prior seasons. In order to truly appreciate the final season of 30 Rock, one has to have seen some of the earlier seasons (though, ironically, given the character resets, Season Six – reviewed here! – is not vital to understanding who everyone is at the outset of Season Seven).

30 Rock returned for its final season knowing that it would be the end of the series and, as such, the entire season was moving toward the end. Lacking much in the way of network support, 30 Rock poked more fun at NBC and corporate America than it had in prior seasons. Seeming to realize how little the show was being promoted and how few people might be watching, Tina Fey and the other writers and executive producers quietly pushed the envelope of what kind of jokes they could make. The result is quite a bit more in the way of political humor and economic humor (poking fun at how networks make money off television) and while some of it is repetitive on the plot front, the characters do actually evolve. The thirteen episode season is good, but it lacks jokes that have a memorable quality (like “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah . . . spooky scary!”). Still it is well worth watching, if not picking up on its own.

Returning from their usual summer hiatus, Liz Lemon and the staff of TGS With Tracy Jordan are back to work. Liz Lemon quickly realizes that Jack is trying to tank NBC; he has loaded NBC up with terrible programming – like Thursday night being hotel menu night on the network – in order to devalue the company so he might buy NBC from Kabletown. Confronting Jack about his plan, Liz is soon distracted by Jenna, who ropes her into being her maid of honor, so Liz tries to tank as maid of honor. With Hazel using Kenneth to try to get onto TGS, Liz agrees to help Jack . . . until Paul Ryan drops out as Mitt Romey’s running mate. Ryan’s replacement is Alabama’s Governor Dunston. Dunston is a spitting image of Tracy Jordan and when Liz starts having Tracy do sketches as Dunston, TGS becomes hugely popular again.

With everyone’s lives suddenly turned around, Liz and Criss decide to push forward with having children and – failing that – adoption. Kenneth and Hazel break up, with Hazel suing NBC and bringing an abrupt end to TGS. At the same time, Jenna tries to arrange a surprise wedding, jealously getting revenge on Liz and Jack is surprised when his mother visits . . . only to tell him the least likely thing he could imagine. As TGS comes to an end, Liz and Jack try to find their work/life balance.

30 Rock Season Seven is a season of cycles; Liz revolves from obsessed with work to unsatisfied with a family back to happily working. Tracy evolves into Liz and Jack manages to live up to his mother’s challenge of being happy while finding success in a way that he did not predict. The season is truly about character evolutions and moving the characters to a final point; as such, the season gets rid of Hazel, allows a sense of closure for Jack and his family, and pushes Liz in a seemingly different direction.

The essential characters in season seven of 30 Rock are:

Liz Lemon – The hard-working Executive Producer and head writer of TGS With Tracy Jordan, she is frustrated by trying to have children with Criss. To push forward the adoption they settle on, they marry, which makes her best friend Jenna super-jealous. She puts the show ahead of her personal life when she has Tracy make a parody of Governor Dunston,

Tracy Jordan – The high-maintenance star of TGS, he is suddenly relied upon for advice and realizes he is the most stable person working at the show. As a result – and as a result of getting hit by a car and having a near-death experience – he realizes he needs to make responsible movie choices for his new production company. In working with Olivia Spencer, he has to transform into Liz Lemon order to get Toofer’s Harriet Tubman movie made,

Jenna Maroney – She is obsessed with making her wedding a surprise wedding. She, as always, is self-centered and loves performing. She has a big break when she makes an album (in the style of Jimmy Buffett) for slackers and she becomes the focal point for the 2012 Presidential Election when both Jack and Liz realize her fans in Northern Florida are the key to winning the election,

Pete Hornberger – In an attempt to escape his unsatisfying family life, he fakes his own death as TGS comes to an end,

Kenneth Parcell – Now a janitor at NBC, he is used by Hazel for information on NBC. When Jack uses him to help vet the new President of NBC, he is restored to being a page and then promoted beyond his wildest television dreams,

And Jack Donaghy – After all the years of scheming and politics, he helps the Republican Party try to win the election by having Tracy impersonate Governor Dunston. When he is visited by his mother, she challenges him to be happy and in trying to live up to that, he delivers the greatest eulogy of all time and struggles to find professional satisfaction. After defeating Hank Hooper’s granddaughter and Devin Banks to take over the corporate side of NBC (Kabletown), he wrestles with being actually happy.

The final season of 30 Rock has all of the main cast members perfectly attuned to their characters and the result is a show that has a wonderful sense of flow. The humor, while occasionally predictable, is delivered by each of the performers perfectly. Unfortunately, none of the performers are truly given much in the way of demands that push them to give viewers anything really new, but the refreshingly familiar nature of the characters is enjoyable to watch.

The final season of 30 Rock is fun and good, but because the entire series is strong enough to pick up, it is hard to encourage viewers to invest in the single season set for just this final season.

For other shows from the 2012 – 2013 season, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Revolution Season 1
Parenthood - Season 4
Veep - Season 1
Game Of Thrones - Season 3
New Girl - Season 2
Happy Endings - Season 3
The Walking Dead - Season 3
Arrested Development - Season 4
House Of Cards - Season 1
True Blood - Season 5

6/10

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

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Middling Season, 30 Rock Season 6 Might Be The Least Memorable Collection Of Episodes.

The Good: Moments of humor, The characters do progress
The Bad: Nothing distinctive the whole season, Some plot elements seem very much for the convenience of the actors, Another “Queen Of Jordan” episode?!
The Basics: In its sixth season, 30 Rock shows its cracks and while it moves the characters forward, there is very little humor that the prior seasons did not already present.


One of the ways that I can tell that a show is on the downward slide is when it was a show that had memorable lines that I would quote and I no longer find myself quoting it. After seasons where I found myself humming “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” to the point my wife could not stand me or I would listen to her delightfully respond “I want to go to there!” whenever I would ask her if she wanted to go to a buffet, 30 Rock has become a listless shadow of what it once was. The fundamental problem I have with 30 Rock Season 6 is that the writing simply is not there; I can openly acknowledge that some of what the show is doing is what one hopes a show will do by its sixth season, which is to advance the characters.

Unfortunately, season six of 30 Rock blends the movement forward on Liz Lemon’s character front with particularly hackneyed plotlines for the other characters. One of the most obvious ways I find this to be true is that novelty bits usually overshadow the character elements for the main characters, for example, Denise Richards appearing as herself as an idiot when Tracy opens the season by taking a pro-idiot stance against NBC. Denise Richards completely steals the thunder from those scenes and the mini-arc becomes far less about Tracy Jordan (who has completely regressed from his respectable EGOT-winning persona of the early fifth season) than it does about basking in how brilliantly Denise Richards plays moronic.

In a similar vein, the capture of Avery Jessup, Jack’s wife, by the North Koreans seems more like a cheap plot excuse because Elizabeth Banks was off shooting movies most of the season than an organic story development. Avery’s disappearance gets muddied up by the appearance of Avery’s mother, played by Mary Steenburgen, which becomes a convoluted romance for Jack. Similarly, to give Kenneth any purpose at all, he is given a nemesis for the season in the form of Hazel, who takes over as head page when Kenneth moves to Standards and Practices temporarily.

And for as wacky as the plots sound, they are not backed up with significant humor and 30 Rock Season 6 sinks some. It falls even farther when, late in the season, 30 Rock is preempted by another witless episode of Queen Of Jordan the “reality” show featuring Tracy’s wife. It was no surprise when the producers admitted shooting the Queen Of Jordan episode was a costcutting measure. Were it not for my emotional investment in the show already and the declaration that season seven will be the final season of 30 Rock, Season 6 would probably have been enough for me to give up on the show.

In its sixth season, 30 Rock finds Liz in a relationship with Criss, who runs a hot dog truck. Jenna moonlights on a talent show where she is a mean judge, specializing in brutal critiques of children who appear on the show. Tracy goes on a rampage when Liz insults idiots, mounting a pro-idiot protest of NBC. Kelsey Grammar returns to work a scam with Jenna and Kenneth that involves making it look like Pete died in an act of autoerotic asphyxiation. As Jack works to get Avery back from North Korea, he finds himself desperately attracted to Avery’s mother, a problem which continues to grow the longer Avery is incarcerated.

On Leap Day, the cast tries to get into the spirit of using the extra day they are granted, while mirroring a movie about Leap Day. Jack goes up against Hank Hooper’s granddaughter again and Kenneth joins Standards and Practices. Kenneth fights with the new page, Hazel, who Liz tries to mentor. Jenna fights to get the role of Avery in a television movie based upon her abduction, which is part of Jack’s strategy to get Avery back.

The sixth season of 30 Rock finds the actors working well within their established roles. None of the performance change beyond where the actors have played the characters before. 30 Rock Season Six is notable on the acting front for how it became more dependent upon guest stars. Criss is played by James Marsden, but there are several one-shot guest stars also more familiar from films than television. In this season, Jim Carrey, Andie McDowell, John Cullum, Mary Steenburgen, and Elizabeth Banks all pop up.

Ultimately, the sixth season of 30 Rock is more average than audacious, putting it well-below the prior seasons.

For other shows from the 2011 – 2012 television season, please check out:
The Big Bang Theory - Season 5
Happy Endings - Season 2
New Girl - Season 1
Once Upon A Time - Season 1
Weeds - Season 7

5/10

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

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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30 Rock Season 5 Is An Odd Mix Of Reinvention And Familiarity!

The Good: Some truly great lines, Very funny, Decent acting, Good DVD bonus features.
The Bad: Plots and character elements tend to be more familiar than audacious.
The Basics: 30 Rock has a somewhat tumultuous fifth season that works hard to restore the characters to pretty much who we know them to be.


I have been told that I am overly hard on 30 Rock. It has taken me quite a while to get in the fifth season DVD set of 30 Rock, but once I managed to get it in, I truly did rocket through the entire season. In its fifth season, 30 Rock struck me as a very odd conundrum. Characters that I liked before, I no longer care about (most notably Kenneth) and some of the funniest performers on the show seemed bored with the work themselves (Tracy Morgan seems “done” with Tracy Jordan for portions of the season and in the later arc where Jordan is off “in Africa,” I discovered I did not miss his presence). Conversely, I found myself quoting and sharing more lines from the fifth season of 30 Rock than I had shared from most of the prior seasons.

The result is that on DVD, the fifth season of 30 Rock is worthwhile and possibly more interesting to those who have had it with some of the prior seasons. 30 Rock sees both a continuation and a rebirth of the show, though the serialized elements ultimately work very hard to restore more familiar patterns for the characters, than actually allow them to grow. So, for example, it does not take long to restore Kenneth to the NBC Page Program or for Liz Lemon to find herself single, though Jack helps her get through some serious psychological issues that have been holding her relationships back.

In its fifth season, the fictionalized version of NBC on 30 Rock is in the process of being bought out by the family-friendly KableTown. This sets off a series of personal and professional crises for most of the members of the show T.G.S. With Tracy Jordan. In the fifth season of 30 Rock, the main arcs include: Liz and the pilot Carol having a relationship, Jack negotiating his new relationship with Avery whom he has gotten pregnant, Kenneth working his way back into the NBC Page Program, and Tracy Jordan discovering life with actual critical acclaim when his film Hard To Watch makes him an Indie movie star.

The problem is, too many of the plot arcs get resolved easily and leave the characters essentially lost. For example, Kenneth makes it back into the NBC Page Program and after that is a virtual nonentity for the remainder of the season. In fact, between Kenneth acting as a sidekick to Jenna when she grifts the local Carvel and him acting as a sidekick to Liz Lemon to try to find Tracy at the end of the season, it is virtually impossible to recall anything Kenneth does in the fifth season of 30 Rock. He references Hill People attacks and that’s a joke that has been done to death on the show by now.

In a similar fashion, Liz Lemon’s relationship with Carol predictably deteriorates. This seems far more a function of plot than actual character. In addition to having a great sense of compatibility, while Liz is dating Carol, Jack helps her discover the root causes of some of her most severe dysfunctions, most significantly, the root cause of her distaste for sexuality. So, when the relationship collapses, it feels much more like the function of having brought on a guest star for whom television is not where he wants to be (in this case, Matt Damon) and the need to get Liz back to a single status. As a viewer who actually cares about the characters, this becomes incredibly disheartening to watch.

In a similar way, Jack’s relationship with Avery has remarkably few consequences for the character. Jack has one issue with negotiating with the nanny, but the presence of Liddy in his life does not really impact him otherwise. Some of Jack’s most time-consuming issues actually come up after Liddy is born and Jack and Avery are married, like the pre-taped Disaster Relief Special and the massive contrivance he orchestrates to get Liz to have a one night stand! So, the characters in 30 Rock Season 5 tend to be changing back to the familiar, far more than growing this season.

Many of the secondary characters in the fifth season of 30 Rock feel truly secondary. The only memorable contribution Cerie has in the entire season is mentioning to Liz how she gets rid of creepy men at nightclubs! “Toofer” might get a first and last name, but his peak is early as part of a conflict Jack Donaghy has with a Congresswoman who is fighting the KableTown merger. Even Frank is given astonishingly little.

That said, 30 Rock Season 5 uses Scott Adsit pretty well. As Pete Hornberger, the beleaguered producer on T.G.S, Adsit is able to portray a much more quiet zany quality than Tracy Morgan’s Tracy Jordan. Adsit plays Pete as earnest and gets away with some of the creepiest lines of the series in season five simply through the remarkably way he presents them.

But not all of the attempts that 30 Rock makes in its fifth season actually work. Sure, the live episode (and the DVD features both the East and West Coast versions of the episode that originally aired live on NBC) is clever and fun, but after Tracy Jordan disappears, his wife Angie gets her own reality television show. A whole episode of 30 Rock is mired in presenting the Queen Of Jordan reality show and it just falls flat.

On DVD, 30 Rock season five is loaded with a decent number of bonus features. In addition to the West Coast Version of “Live Show,” the fifth season DVD set of 30 Rock has decent commentary tracks, deleted scenes, a featurette on the making of “Live Show,” a standalone version of Jenna’s obituary song and the animated Jack Donaghy spots. These add up to enough value to make it worth picking up the boxed set, as opposed to just waiting for these 22 episodes to hit regular rounds in syndication.

For other seasons of 30 Rock, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4

7/10

For other television reviews, be sure to visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the television shows I have reviewed!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Joke Is On The Audience . . . But We Wanted It! Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back

The Good: Funny, Allusions, Character progression
The Bad: Predictable, So much was cut!
The Basics: Funny and enjoyable for movie buffs and people who enjoy Kevin Smith's movies, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back ages well.


Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is one of those films that people tend to take or leave and they take it if they enjoy Kevin Smith's prior works (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma) and leave if they haven't seen or didn't enjoy Smith's previous works, this one is certainly not going to get people to watch his films. The 2-DVD set is pretty much the best argument ever for DVD short of The Criterion Collection DVD set of Brazil. The magic of the DVD is that there's a whole second film of Kevin Smith et al. introducing cut scenes from Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.

Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is a hard sell, so I won't try to sell it to those of you who haven't seen Kevin Smith's prior works. If you haven't seen Clerks, Chasing Amy, or Dogma, go see at least one of them and then come back to this. This film is appreciable if you know the players involved.

Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back follows the exploits of Jay and Silent Bob from New Jersey through Hollywood. The plot is simple; the pair has a comic book based upon them and when they learn there is a film being made of their characters, they discover the internet and criticism there. So, the pair heads to Hollywood under the logic that if the movie isn't made, no one can badmouth them. It's solid logic from stoners. Once you accept that, you're fine. The rest of the film is the caper of Jay and Silent Bob falling in with a group of diamond thieves, losing them, and getting to Hollywood.

Criticizing Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is as stupid as those two yo-yos that went and sued the makers of Duce Bigalow, Male Gigolo (or was it The Animal?) because there was a faux reviewer who recommended the film. If you go to see a Rob Schneider flick, you're not expecting high brow or, if you are, you're an idiot. Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is a stupid film making fun of stupid films being made. It's stupid, but it doesn't have the pretense of being anything more. So, why should the audience?

My theory is, we shouldn't. Accept the premise and you'll enjoy it. The film makes hilarious pokes as sequels and how lame they usually are, they mock themselves and other works expertly.

The real gem of the DVD is watching the film and then going through the bonus disk for all of the additional stuff that is packed on there. The whole commentary on the cuts scenes was easily more funny than the actual film and worth the price of the DVD alone. The different clips are great.

Here Kevin Smith makes a satire of the people he has worked with and it's amusing to see Ben Affleck and Matt Damon make fun of themselves while also playing other characters they have played in Smith's earlier films.

One of the surprises here is the quality of the acting. Ben Affleck convincingly plays Holden from Chasing Amy in a cameo early in the film as well as creating a very different character in the parody of himself. Similarly, Jason Lee's presence in the film as both Banky Edwards and Brody is strangely unconfusing; his physical appearance is not significantly altered between the two roles, but he actively portrays them as different people and he successfully sells them.

While many would applaud Will Farrell as Marshal Willenholly, I think he's simply being Farrell as a Federal Wildlife Marshal and if you've seen Farrell in a few roles, you've seen his range. He does nothing extraordinary here. However, Shannon Elizabeth is great as Jay's love interest, Justice. She is more than simply a pretty face and a body here; she's actualized enough to keep our interest for the film.

The acting talent that dominates Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is Jason Mewes. Most of the airtime is his and here he recreates the quirky, angry, foul-mouthed drug dealer we've known from the other films.

This is not a film for the young. It's hilarious, but it uses a lot of harsh language and foul sexual references. It's not a terribly intellectual film, but it is one that those who despise pop culture will appreciate a lot: many recognizable faces from today's popular culture appear to do parodies of their more serious work.

If you want a treat and you've enjoyed Kevin Smith's other works, there's no better way to cap off the adventures of Jay and Silent Bob than this. And as a hint, stay through the end of the credits. :)

For other movies by Kevin Smith, please visit my reviews of:
Clerks
Chasing Amy
Dogma
Clerks II
Cop Out
Red State

6.5/10

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

© 2011, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Rio Is Fun, But Not Overly Substantial.

The Good: Decent voice acting, Great animation, Cute, DVD bonus features
The Bad: Utterly predictable plot and character arcs.
The Basics: Rio is a fun animated film that is diverting, but not superlative in any way but the animation.


My wife frequently accuses me of having an unhealthy attachment to actress Anne Hathaway. Actually, she smiles wickedly and says "You loooooove her!" in an obnoxious voice. My argument was weakened when she found Rio on my library interlibrary loan list. The reason this was an anomaly was that I seldom watch animated movies and even less frequently watch movies that are rated G. I tried to pass off my interest in Rio as a result of the Angry Birds game we first played together - Angry Birds Rio - and my appreciation of Jesse Eisenberg's talents, but if the movie had not had Anne Hathaway providing the lead character's voice, I probably would have just waited until chance put Rio in front of me, as opposed to requesting it from the library.

Rio is superlative in no ways, but is a fun film. It looks good and makes a strong argument against bothering to invest in 3-D, but Rio is utterly predictable in its plot progression and character development. Usually with animated films, there are catch phrases that resonate or moments that pleasantly surprise me. Rio had nothing that was distinctive, though it was not unenjoyable. Instead, Rio was simply fun.

Blu is a blue macaw who is separated from his captors en route to being sold. He grows up domesticated with Linda, who grows up herself to own a bookstore that she runs with Blu. Blu does not fly, but he is very happy with Linda. One day, Tulio arrives and begs Linda to bring Blu to Rio de Janero to mate him with the last female blue macaw in captivity. Against their better judgment, Blu and Linda go down to Rio. There, Blu meets Jewel, who is not as interested in him as she is in escaping from her habitat.

Unfortunately, Blu and Jewel are captured by poachers. Chained together at the ankles, Jewel must put up with Blu's inability to fly and Blu does his best to teach her how to run. Advised by Rafael, the pair works to get to Luiz to try to get their chains cut. Blu works to get back to Linda while Linda and Tulio get closer as well while searching for the birds. Pursued by smugglers and the vicious bird Nigel, Blu and Jewel overcome obstacles and grow closer.

On DVD, Rio looks incredible. More than any other film in recent memory, Rio is animated in such a way as to make a 3-D version of it almost pointless. The film looks three-dimensional already and it looks good. Like a hyperactive game of Angry Birds, Rio is filled with lush colors, fluid movement and a raucous sense of depth. Rio's character design is fun and cool, at the very least.

Unfortunately, outside the style, Rio has very little going for it. The songs are infrequent, so they come up surprisingly abruptly and stand out more than present a fluid storytelling experience. Nigel's song is amusing when he is tormenting Blu and Jewel, but outside that one song, the music is unmemorable.

Sadly, Rio is so formulaic only the youngest children will be surprised by it. The chase narrative has been done ad nauseam and Rio offers no real variations on the theme. Blu and Jewel are thrown together, overcome obstacles and grow closer as a result. But the way the movie does it is almost insulting in its simplicity, especially in regard to Blu, whose big initial character element comes from the fact that he never learned to fly as a baby. Because that is repeated so very much, viewers come to expect that to be defied before the end.

As for the voice acting, Rio is fine, but also not superlative. Anne Hathaway is fine, but Jesse Eisenberg as Blu and Jemaine Clement as Nigel steal the show. They are funny and emote exceptionally well.

On DVD, Rio comes loaded with bonus features. There are several Angry Birds featurettes, which are cute and sell the game very well. There is a single animatic scene that did not make it into the movie. There are a couple of featurettes that are interesting. But ultimately, Rio looks good but is otherwise strikingly average.

For works featuring Anne Hathaway, please check out my reviews of:
Anne Hathaway For Wonder Woman!
One Day
Love And Other Drugs
Family Guy Presents: It's A Trap!
Alice In Wonderland
Valentine's Day
Twelfth Night Soundtrack
Bride Wars
Rachel Getting Married
Passengers
Get Smart
The Devil Wears Prada
Hoodwinked!
Brokeback Mountain
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Ella Enchanted
Nicholas Nickleby
The Princess Diaries

5.5/10

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

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

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Cop Out: Kevin Smith's Directoral Strike-Out.

The Good: Moments of chemistry and dialogue
The Bad: Predictable, Juvenile humor, Mediocre acting, Bland directing, No real character development.
The Basics: A disappointing violent comedy, Cop Out falls flat, especially for a film Kevin Smith is involved with.


There are very few directors whose works I actually get excited about going out to see. Come to think of it, I've missed the last three Terry Gilliam films while they were in theaters as well as P.T. Anderson's last work (which, fortunately, will not be his last!). In fact, since I became a fan of Kevin Smith’s works, I think his cinematic outings are the only ones I've managed to hit consistently in the theaters, including Zack And Miri Make A Porno. So, despite the fact that Cop Out was directed, but not written by, Kevin Smith, I still was thrilled to be able to get into an advanced screening of the movie. Unfortunately for Kevin Smith fans, this is not his best work and not even a passably good effort. Ironically, part of this is because the film is very muted in its cinematic presentation for an action-comedy. This is ironic because the “look” of the film does not carry the energy of most action or comedy films, yet Smith is still using David Klein, his long-time Director Of Photography. I write “ironically” also because Cop Out actually has a budget, which means Smith wasn't scraping quarters out of the couch to pay for every shot.

Unfortunately, Cop Out reminds those who have not seen Rush Hour of the previews of Rush Hour as a mismatch cop comedy that seems to hinge on an “Odd Couple” type relationship. Kevin Smith excels at comedies about just such characters, but that is often because they develop, they have endearing qualities, they grow - or, through their stagnation, the audience becomes sympathetic or empathetic to their condition. This, however, is not the case with Cop Out. Instead, this seems like just another Hollywood comedy, the type Smith has been known to satirize in many of his other works.

Jimmy Monroe loathes his ex-wife's new husband, Roy, who is rich and has no problem throwing that in the cop's face. So, when Jimmy's daughter, Ava, announces her engagement, Jimmy sees the chance to upstage Roy and pay for the wedding, by selling off an extremely rare baseball card he has. But, before he can sell the card, it is stolen from him and he, reluctantly, has to get help in getting it back. That help takes the form of Paul, his wisecracking partner who lacks a sense of professionalism that Jimmy tries to bring to the job.

In hunting down the baseball card, Jimmy and Paul rescue Gabriela from the Mexican mob and find themselves in the crosshairs of various trigger-happy mobsters.

First off, people after the screening I attended seemed to be impressed that Bruce Willis was funny and he was, in a dry way (costar Tracy Morgan goes for more of the laughs with physical humor and over-the-top antics, while Willis plays off that as a frequent straightman). The thing is, anyone who has seen Moonlighting or the sixth season of Friends (reviewed here!) when Willis had a recurring guest star role know that Willis has the capacity to be funny. Laugh-out-loud funny. And, in Cop Out, he is. He has some of the better lines and his more subtle delivery works well for him and for the film.

Second, Tracy Morgan is funny, but in a far less enduring way. In fact, Morgan's Paul becomes quickly droll. The spasmodic, over-the-top deliveries of Morgan quickly leave one feeling like they are watching a 1930s cinematic representation of the antics of black folks. In other words, Paul doesn't seem like a viable or vital character, he seems like the parody of the minstrel show character, bugging out his eyes, failing wildly and making educated people of any color squirm. Morgan's character of Paul is not bad for who he is, but he is uncomfortable for what he represents. Sadly, Cop Out seems to utilize an awful lot of negative ethnic stereotypes to create the characters and the lack of subtlety and emotion control in Paul represents some of the more negative stereotypes.

Conversely, Morgan does a surprisingly good job with the dramatic moments he is given. While his hammy moments are cringeworthy, his action moments are surprisingly good. Morgan carries himself in those scenes with a body language that makes him a plausible action hero and they work. In fact, Morgan seems to have all the characteristics in the action scenes to play a hero or a truly menacing villain. More often than not, though, he is used to deliver ridiculous lines in Cop Out and he soon becomes boring to watch.

This brings us to Robb and Mark Cullen, the writers of Cop Out. One can see in their references to other movies and works a clear appreciation of pop culture. One realizes almost as quickly, though, that the brothers Cullen do not have anything definitive to add to pop culture, the comedy or cop movie genres. In fact, after hearing catchphrases from a dozen movies, Cop Out seems to want to emphasize that it has nothing so memorable. Indeed, the most disappointing aspect of the writing is that the best lines are in the trailers, most of them are unintelligible and those moments in the film are entirely juvenile.

Moreover, the point of Cop Out is not to tell an engaging story; Jimmy's motivation is originally aggrivatingly churlish. One-upping Roy brings out the worst in Jimmy and his search for "justice" becomes more of a way for him to express his frustration violently than do anything remotely redeeming. The Mexican gangsters add a whole new level of violence to the movie and the film ekes closer to the uncomfortable line crossed in recent years by movies like Observe And Report and Pineapple Express (reviewed here!). That line, where violence is used to make jokes and garner laughs - but when crossed becomes disturbing - is approached, but not run over in Cop Out. Though, there is a disturbing "calling card" from the villain of the film, Smith and the Cullens manage not to make it overly gross.

Like most Kevin Smith movies - whether or not he wrote this one - Cop Out contains adult (meaning foul) language at frequent intervals, as well as several mentions of explicit activities. But more often than not, the movie sounds like a junior high locker room interpretation of what sex must be and the whole thing seems largely childish.

And, unfortunately, that saps the enduring interest for the adult audience. Ultimately, Cop Out is not as funny as it could be and is problematic in the way its ridiculousness is more childish than actually funny.

For other movies by Kevin Smith, please visit my reviews of:
Clerks
Chasing Amy
Dogma

3.5/10

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

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Jack Juggles, Liz Returns To Doing Her Thing And 30 Rock Season 4 Moseys On.

The Good: Moments of real humor, Guest performances are convincing and good, Jack's character growth.
The Bad: Not as memorable as earlier seasons, No impressive, Most of the characters do not grow.
The Basics: After watching 30 Rock Season 4, I find I have shockingly little to say about it. The season is amusing once, but lacks a resonance that makes me want to watch it repeatedly.


Last year, after much initial resistance from me, my wife and I started watching the DVD sets of 30 Rock. My resistance was an old grudge and a silly one at that. The year 30 Rock made its debut, there was a similar show also on NBC, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (reviewed here!) and I fell in love with that. When it was canceled, I blamed, in part, 30 Rock for filling the same niche, but with more of a pandering to the half-hour sitcom crowd than the thinking person's dramedy audience, which Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip was geared for (yea Aaron Sorkin!). But last year, I came around and my wife and I watched the first three seasons of 30 Rock and I found there was a lot to enjoy. So, it was with a great amount of enthusiasm that my wife and I devoted a whole weekend during my recent government training to watching 30 Rock Season 4 on DVD.

And I wish I could say it was worth it.

I cannot, though. In its fourth season, 30 Rock is not superlative in any recognizable way and the death knell for the show from this reviewer's perspective is this: I watched the final six episodes of the season four times each and I had been real excited about watching this DVD set and yet, nothing sticks out in my mind about the season. In fact, when I thought about a gag I particularly enjoyed, I realized that it was not from one of the episodes in 30 Rock Season 4, but rather from the episode my wife and I randomly caught on television last Thursday night. My point here is sadly obvious: 30 Rock may have lost its mojo in the fourth season. More precisely, while I enjoyed watching the episodes once, they left me with no lasting impressions and less desire to watch them a second time than with prior seasons of the show. In fact, the episodes I did watch multiple times did not make me laugh the second (or more) time.

In its fourth season, 30 Rock embodies part of the worst of network, ratings-driven sitcoms. While the show is fairly heavily serialized, it is not building a larger motif or a more meaningful net product or story. Instead, with 30 Rock Season 4, NBC seems obsessed with keeping the ratings high with celebrity guest stars whose appearances are less about creating a meaningful narrative and more about generating Nielsen ratings and thus advertising revenue. After the initial humor of a joke or episode passes, there is nothing that encourages viewers to return to these episodes and ultimately, that is why it continues its downslide into mediocrity.

The exception to all this is in the character of Jack, the head of NBC in 30 Rock, though notably not in Alec Baldwin. But I get ahead of myself.

With Liz Lemon riding high on her new television show based upon her bestselling book Dealbreaker, everything seems to be going well for the executive producer of T.G.S. With Tracy Jordan. But Liz's ineptitude in front of the camera quickly lands her back at her writing and management desk, running the writer's room and marshaling the celebrity stars of her weekly sketch comedy show. While Liz returns to her normal rut, dreaming of a romance with Astronaut Mike Dexter, her subordinates and manager go on their own adventures.

For Tracy, it means trying to make good with his wife, especially when it becomes public knowledge that he has never cheated on her. He begins his dimwitted quest for an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) based upon a necklace while Jack finds himself in a relationship with a girl from his hometown. But when she is hesitant to end her marriage and run off with Jack, Jack turns to Avery Jessup, a whip-smart financial reporter who delights him and stimulates his ambitions. When Jack's mentor, Don Geiss, dies, Jack is left crippled by an inability to make the hard choices, most notably between Nancy and Avery.

30 Rock Season 4 seems incredibly familiar for a sitcom and most of the surprises - both in physical and verbal comedy - fall short, becoming less than what one might expect. There is a lack of originality to much of the season, so those in tune with the show are less likely to laugh. Take, for example, a gag when Liz and Kenneth attempt to get Jack out of his funk following his mentor's death. Kenneth tells Jack that the peacock Jack was bequeathed made a sound much like the nicknames Jack and Don used to have for one another. When he leaves Jack's company, he calls Liz and speaks in code, referring to all of the subjects (Kenneth, Liz, Jack and the peacock) all as "badger," making for an almost incoherent message. When Liz calls him on this, Kenneth says he thought Liz told him to use "badger," but she flippantly admits "I said I didn't care." What was once fast wordplay on the show has devolved into a strangely obvious series of exchanges. In this case, viewers who "get" Liz figure she is indifferent and when Kenneth begins to confuse her, she has an antipathy toward him and his plans, even if she was in on them at the beginning.

Unfortunately, while I usually love serialized shows, 30 Rock Season 4 does not add up to anything extraordinary. From early in the season, Liz learns her ex-boyfriend will be getting married and she will be reading at his wedding, but because he is a peripheral character, the impending wedding is a non-event and as Liz gets roped into other weddings on the same day, the viewer cares less about her struggles and more about those of the characters around her, most notably Jack.

This is, arguably, Jack's season as he wrestles with dating two different women, one who represents his past, another that represents a potential future to him. Other main characters seem to work in his orbit. Kenneth works as his lackey, from breaking into Nancy's house for him to trying to help him get out of his funk. He also continues to be a part of Tracy's entourage, but he does not have any memorable moments of his own. Instead, he is relegated to a support character, though he is given more airtime and one-liners than Pete or Frank. Jenna is also downgraded for much of the season, though she enters into a bizarre romance near the end of the season that gives her a few good moments. Even Tracy in his quest for the EGOT is not nearly as vital or crazy as he was in earlier seasons.

Tina Fey does fine as Liz Lemon, but "fine" is not a strong, defining performance. With this season, the viewer has the sense that she just stayed in her role from Date Night (reviewed here!) and isn't even stretching for more versatility now. Similarly, Alec Baldwin plays the dry humor of the first three seasons exclusively and his performance does not give the audience anything new.

On DVD, 30 Rock Season 4 has minimal extras, including a few commentary tracks and featurettes on the season. Like the primary programming, they are stiflingly average.

For other seasons of 30 Rock, please visit my reviews of:
30 Rock Season 1
30 Rock Season 2
30 Rock Season 3

5.5/10

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

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



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Even If You Haven't Seen The Preview Trailer, You've Seen G-Force. (We All Have)

The Good: Moments of performance by the live-action actors
The Bad: Not funny, Not clever, Predictable plot, 3-D effects are unimpressive.
The Basics: Predictable, boring, lacking in humor and with erratic special effects, "G-Force" is a Disney failure not worth seeing (especially in overpriced 3-D)!


Back when I first saw G-Force, I thought there was some irony to it appearing in 3-D; that same week was thw week the masterful Coraline was released on DVD. Coraline was an amazing use of the three-dimensional technology and the spectacle of the film was thrilling and added to the story by making the fantastic seem even more real. Unfortunately, G-Force does not make nearly as good a use of the 3-D technology as Coraline did. In fact, it is hard to see how G-Force got greenlit.

Right upfront, though, it is worth noting that given the choice between catching G-Force in standard theatrical presentation or shelling out the additional money for the 3-D showings, this is one not worth paying the extra bucks for. The 3-D effects are not impressive and they tend to be wasted on gags that have little change in resonance with the standard 2-D version of the film. The story and humor are not enhanced in any significant way by the 3-D effects and the lack of overall quality to the movie is not redeemed by the effects either.

Part of an elite group of government agents, the G-Force, a squad of small mammals who have been specially trained to get into areas humans either cannot get into or the government needs deniability in. The project is seen as a pariah by most of the intelligence community. Despite the goofy antics of the guinea pigs Darwin, Juarez, and Blaster and their technical supports Mooch (a fly) and Speckles (a literal mole), the team trains remarkably well and the group is given an assignment, which is to stop Leonard Saber. Saber's plan is to destroy the world using common household appliances which will run amok and kill everyone.

Despite Saber's plan coming to the attention of the G-Force, the government shuts the project down and the guinea pigs are sent to a pet store. There they meet Hurley and Buckey and find themselves limited. Mooch and the human handler, Ben, work to get the G-Force back in action as Saber launches his plan.

Lately, it seems like perhaps a writer's strike might be a good thing, or perhaps a cleaning of the WGA to allow some fresh new talent in. Disney, frequently creatively stifled, dies a little bit more with this live-action/CG-effect blend movie which is so unoriginal even children are unlikely to be surprised or interested in it. The characters are entirely types - leader (Darwin), muscle (Juarez), hapless geek for comic relief (Blaster) - and none of them come to life with any realism that makes the audience care even a whiff about them.

The computer-generated effects, which dominate the movie given that the film focuses on the CG-animals, primarily the guinea pigs, are average at best. Like many CG-driven movies, the film loses a lot of credibility with the simple act of lighting. Many of the moments in the film that could be harrowing are gutted of emotional resonance - in addition to the viewer not caring about the characters - by the fact that the animals are obviously computer generated. The most frequent tell is that the characters are lit as if from all angles in scenes with an obvious light source. The attention to detail surrounding realism of light and movement is not something that can be suspended in a live-action/CG-effect blend. The whole point of the live action portions - mostly revolving around the G-Force animals interacting with Ben or Leonard Saber - is to create an alternate reality where talking, high-functioning animals are real. We can suspend our disbelief for the basic premise, but when the ridiculous dancing gets old (isn't there an internet site where we can see hamsters dancing for free?!) and the wisecracks fall flat, the fact that the supposedly real animals that the humans are working with or against pull the viewer out of the movie.

That said, there are no real good wisecracks in the movie and the prevalence of everything predictable is problematic. There are the obvious romantic subplots, both between the G-Force members and their handlers and they distract from any real sense of menace in the movie. Sure, it is hard to say there is real menace when the villain wants to take over the world using appliances, but when the movie loses focus on that, it becomes a cheap receptacle for animal humor bathrooming jokes that will not entertain any audiences, save the most unenlightened children.

The plot is similarly predictable and in true Disney tradition, the film both ends without any sense of consequence or ramification and neatly sets up a potential sequel or franchise. Disney yet-again reinforces the idea that no matter how harrowing the circumstances might be, teamwork will get everyone through the crisis and everyone will emerge on the other side unscathed, save the villain. Director Hoyt Yeatman drew the short straw for a directoral debut and given that the script was weak to begin with, the poor execution of special effects does not bode well for Yeatman's career.

Strangely, though, this dismal project attracted some real talent. Tracy Morgan, Steve Buscemi, Will Arnett, and Bill Nighy all lend their talents to G-Force and in most cases they are wasted. Morgan's voicework as Blaster makes him seem like an over-the-top parody of himself and as impolitic as it might seem, his role seems designed to keep the urban flavor of some of the G-Force wisecracks from appearing to simply be the work of Caucasian poseurs. Similarly, Penelope Cruz's voicework as Juarez does little other than perpetrate the stereotype of the saucy Latina.

By contrast, the live action performers, primarily Arnett, Nighy, and Zach Galifianakis are surprisingly good. Nighy is stuck in a monolithic role of the over-the-top villain and Arnett's sense of comic timing is wasted as Kip. Galifianakis creates the perception that his presence in this film is more inspired casting than great acting. Galifianakis, who shone brightly in The Hangover plays essentially the same character in G-Force. As Ben, Galifianakis plays the quiet, hapless genius as opposed to the hapless idiot, but he hits many of the same beats as he did in the adult film in this one. But what all three live-action principle actors do well is work opposite their virtual counterparts. Arnett especially seems to have mastered eyelines and acting opposite nothing.

This is not enough to recommend sitting through G-Force or subjecting one's children to it. Now on DVD, one suspects it is one that Disney will either leave on the shelves in perpetuity or stick back in the vault in hopes that people forget they ever created such a cinematic travesty. Stay in and watch Coraline instead. That's what I'm going to do to clean my palate after this cagedropping.

For other Disney films, please check out my reviews of:
Tangled
Oceans
Toy Story 3

2.5/10

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

© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Very Funny, But Starting To Crack, 30 Rock Season Three Is A Good DVD Set.

The Good: Funny, Decent enough character development, Good bonus features.
The Bad: Reliance on guest stars, Lighter on bonus features than I'd like.
The Basics: Arguably one of the great workplace comedies of the last few years, 30 Rock begins to feel strangely repetitive in the third season, especially in its reliance on guest actors.



My wife has fallen in love with 30 Rock. That means in very short order the last few weeks, we have watched 30 Rock Season 1 (click here for my review!) and 30 Rock Season 2 (and if you click here, it will take you to my review!) on DVD and it is of little surprise to anyone that I went out of my way to make sure I got in 30 Rock Season 3 as soon as we could. We made it through the three-disc set in the course of two days, so that can tell you the push we had to watch new (to us) episodes. And while she absolutely loves the show and the season, in the third season of 30 Rock, I began to feel too often that I was seeing something I had seen before. Don't get me wrong: 30 Rock is still truly wonderful serialized comedy, but in the third season, some of the more intriguing characters are minimized (the potential of Twofer from the first season has been completely lost by this one) and the leads have begun to settle into more familiar ruts, er, roles.

That said, there is no good reason I can find not to pick up 30 Rock Season Three (unless one is waiting for it to go off the air and for the inevitable “Complete Series” pack that will come then). The show is still the funniest thing on television and it is often the most clever, despite having some annoyingly melodramatic moments or times when the characters develop more into caricatures of themselves. In fact, one of the most disturbing aspects of the DVD presentation of 30 Rock Season 3 comes when it shows one of the actors to be close to one of his character's less positive traits. And in that, the bonus feature (in this case, a table read of one of the episodes) is more painful to watch than anything. Because the show is serialized, it helps to have seen “Season 2” because the finale to the second season sets up important character conflicts that are otherwise baffling to the new viewers.

In the third season of 30 Rock, Jack returns to NBC confident and energized, having gotten out of his government job through means he refuses to speak of. At NBC, Jack begins to work his way back up the corporate ladder though quick promotions from the mailroom on up. But when he realizes that Devon is going to sink GE, he has to make a power play to replace Don Geiss’s heir-apparent. Several floors up from Jack’s job in the mail room, Liz Lemon pushes for the chance to adopt children. Unfortunately, her attempt to woo the woman from the adoption agency goes poorly, until she is knocked on the head and Liz has the chance for a do-over!

The season progresses with Jenna and Tracy conducting an experiment to see who has it tougher: a black man or a white woman. When Don Geiss awakens from his coma, Jack has his chance to ascend once more and Liz Lemon learns that she was actually the school bully by attending her class reunion. Unfortunately, Jack’s problems soon multiply when he inadvertently (or was it? . .. ) runs over his mother and he begins to fall for his Puerto Rican home healthcare worker. As Tracy becomes obsessed with becoming an astronaut, Liz Lemon’s past as a phone chatline worker is exposed and she takes a big step to avoid cutbacks at T.G.S. Sadly for her, Liz’s attempts to help everyone on the show keep their jobs gets her landed in sexual harassment counseling!

In the third season of 30 Rock, the show relies less upon cutaway gags and stays almost ridiculously focused on Jack and Liz, with Tracy and then Jenna picking up the slack. Pete is an almost complete nonentity this season and outside two b-plots, Frank seldom gets airtime or the great one-liners he had in the prior two years. Moreover, the show is becoming increasingly concerned with the romantic relationships of Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy and less on the workplace antics of the "T.G.S. With Tracy Jordan." This has the effect of transforming the show into a much more standard sitcom.

As well, because the relationships of Jack and Elysia and Liz Lemon and the men she dates (including Gavin Couture, a suave recluse), are becoming more and more the focus of the show, the series takes on a more melodramatic quality than it possessed before. But because the romantic entanglements are all with guest stars or recurring guest stars, the question is far more often "how will they break up?" as opposed to "How long is this likely to last?" Liz Lemon dates a sophisticated guy whom she basically stalks and goes through a nightmarish time with his angry young daughter. Jack, surprisingly, is more monogamous with Elysia, though late in the season we learn a shocking fact about their relationship.

Like most of the best shows, 30 Rock is about characters and in the third season, the primary characters are:

Liz Lemon - Thrilled to see Jack back at the building, she tries to support most of his machinations which will put him back in power. She falls for a recluse and then accidentally roofies the man she is interested in after stealing his mail. She has a chance meeting with Oprah (or does she?) whom she tries to use to use to mediate between Tracy and Jenna and she begins to see her own shot at real stardom when she comes up with a character for Jenna that has a memorable catchphrase ("That's a dealbreaker"),

Tracy Jordan - Having made three hundred million dollars off his new porn video game, he is crazier than ever. His contract comes up and Jack fears how he might renegotiate it, but everyone is surprised when he tries to become an astronaut instead. When Dr. Spaceman worries he might have adult onset diabetes, Kenneth tries to scare him into taking better care of himself,

Jenna - Irked at Tracy for not giving her a cut of the video game money (considering she did voice acting for it), she falls into Liz's attempt to use "Oprah" to fix their problems. She has a bad hair day, sleeps with Frank and tries to get into the Night Court reunion as her prior werewolf lawyer character. She tries to nab Liz's star with the "Dealbreaker" sketch, but discovers she does not think as fast on her feet as Liz Lemon does,

Kenneth - The page is given a chance to shoot a Night Court finale when Tracy splurges on him. He once more helps Jack with his machinations involving Devin and he tries to scare Tracy with the Hill Witch when it looks like Tracy might have diabetes,

Frank - After a night of male bonding with Jack, he cleans up, decides to go back to school to become a lawyer and is thrust back into the writer's room when his mother sabotages his attempt with Jack,

Pete - He shows up to deliver a line or two. He is relegated to a supporting character this season with no major plotlines,

and Jack Donaghy - He rapidly works his way out of the mailroom to save GE again, but the recession hits the company hard when the Asian financial market collapses and Tracy Jordan gives panic advice on Larry King Live. As a result, cutbacks need to be made and he hires a hatchet man to do it. Meanwhile, he develops a love for his mother's home healthcare worker and discovers that his father who abandoned his mother probably wasn't his father at all!

By this point, the characters on 30 Rock are pretty well-established and there is little truly surprising that comes from them except in the form of dialogue. The actors, notably Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, now are perfectly comfortable in their roles and they tend to play them without any new spark or zest. So, for example, Tina Fey plumbs no new emotional or comedic depths as Liz Lemon this season and Alec Baldwin had nowhere to truly refine the deadpan deliveries which make Jack one of the most wonderful coots on television. In fact, the only superlative acting in the third season by a regular cast member comes when Alec Baldwin plays opposite himself as a Mexican soap opera star who plays a villainous character.

As a result of the actors and characters being so well-established, the solution 30 Rock has gone with to keep things fresh in the third season is a bevy of guest stars. In fact, each new episode in the third season is pretty much a vehicle for the guest star and the show tends to be much more focused on the guest star interacting with the primary cast than developing the characters beyond where they have been. Still, it is a pleasure to see Megan Mullaley, Oprah, Steve Martin, Alan Alda, three members of the Night Court cast and the bevy of musical artists who show up for the finale to perform "Kidney Now!"

On DVD, there is little extra that viewers get beyond what they get seeing 30 Rock on television. There are a few commentary tracks, which are funny and/or informative. There is a table read for an episode which is alarming in that Tracy Morgan seems to be having real difficulty getting around his lines. Still, the table read is pretty wonderful to hear what jokes didn't make the final episode. There are two whole featurettes on the making of the song "Kidney Now" and they are informative and impressive for the behind-the-scenes information they contain, as well as candid shots of some of the most impressive names in music today. There are a few deleted scenes as well, though none of them seem indispensable.

Ultimately, 30 Rock Season Three is funny, but it doesn't pop the way earlier seasons did and it seems far too much like a vehicle for guest talents than actually highlighting the powers of the cast and characters on the show. Even so, it's still better than most television these days and worth picking up for those who love comedy that can actually make one laugh out loud.

For other comedies, please check out my reviews of:
Sports Night
Family Guy Presents: Partial Terms Of Endearment
Bowfinger
7/10

For other television reviews, please go to the index page!

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


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