Greg Araki’s films (Mysterious Skin, The Doom Generation, The Living End) are usually muscular and intense affairs, so when I heard Anna Faris was starring in his latest, I knew I had to go if only out of curiosity. Greg Araki making a comedy with the perky chick from the Scary Movies? Of course, Anna Faris is much more than that, as her small roles and bit parts in films such as Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain proved. And this turned out to be not just your average comedy, but one of the ultimate stoner comedies yet made. (Since the genre is “stoner comedy,” there can be more than one, in case you were about to ask.) Essentially one long flashback (funny, wasn’t the last comedy I saw structured like that?), it’s a relentless trip down a disastrous day in the life of this not-so-cute loser. Take Larry David and Alan Partridge, feed them a tray of hash brownies, mix in a serving of Sarah Silverman, and you have her character. Self-centered to nth degree, but she means well; she’s just really dumb and really, really stoned. The script, by Dylan Haggerty, who tellingly has credits ranging from the TV show 24 to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, is a funny and interesting ride, and even though we see each series of calamities and mishaps coming from a mile away, there are many laugh out loud moments. Of course, it’s all laughing at the main character, not with, and the most interesting choice this film makes, aside from the casting, is that there is no narrative arc; she makes absolutely no progress during the journey. It makes for an unsettling movie experience, and gives a hollow ring to the laughs that just came before it, but with a so-called comedy from Greg Araki, could anyone expect anything different?
No comments:
Post a Comment