Just watched...

..."Sunlight," a comedy directed by and starring the brilliant Nina Conti who wrote it with her co-star (and real life partner) Shenoah Allen... and executive produced by "This Is Spinal Tap" creator/actor Christopher Guest, a lovely pedigree in the comedy world.

If you've caught glimpses of ventriloquist Nina Conti's amazing, pee-your-pants-funny improv shows on social media, you will have had a good introduction to the texture and utter uniqueness of this film. If you have not, here is a nutshell description: Conti is the voice of a small, sarcastic and very irreverent monkey puppet she uses in her act.

The pieces of this film feel familiar. A road movie? Seen it. A film where a character is on the run from a trauma in their life? Been there. A love story? A redemption story? Check, check. But somehow, when Conti and Allen throw all these into a blender, the resulting product feels like nothing I have ever seen. I never knew where the story was going or what either of them would say next, letting the surprise of peculiar, hilarious trains of thought or bizarre streams of consciousness propel it forward. They are both skilled live improv comedians so it is no wonder the came up with something so off-kilter and delightful. So here is the set-up: after Roy Belvedere (Shenoah Allen) attempts to commit suicide by hanging himself in a motel room and blacks out, he wakes in his RV to discover that it has been commandeered by someone (Nina Conti) in a monkey costume with an agenda of her own. What can I say from there? Just put your seatbelt on and enjoy the ride.

Recommend? YES. I loved this film, it made me laugh and feel the much-needed tender side of humanity.

https://www.ninaconti.net/

Word Of The Day

https://www.instagram.com/susiedent

Currently watching...

..."English Teacher" on FX.

I love Brian Jordan Alvarez. I have since his early days of creating content for his Youtube channel. I thought his webseries "30s" was utterly brilliant, along, of course with his series "The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo." He is a wildly talented actor and his instincts for writing comedy and drama are pitch perfect. (And I would be remiss if I did not mention his dancing, previously here.)

So when it was announced that his new project which he created and wrote would be premiering on FX, I was very excited. If anyone deserves success, it is Brian Jordan Alvarez.

And the first two episodes of "English Teacher" that just debuted delivered everything Brian Jordan Alvarez can do. He stars as Evan Marquez, an out gay high school teacher in Austin, Texas navigating not only his students who are, like most young people now, both too savvy and too clueless at the same time, but his fellow teachers. It has the makings of a classic sitcom that one would be forgiven for passing by but in Alvarez's hands, it becomes a fly-on-the wall study of life that is neither aiming to show how stupid or silly the players are (I have a dislike for shows that revel in potshots at characters we are supposed to laugh AT and not with) nor how angsty and torn their lives are. It already reminds me so much of his past work, and I am so glad to see his longtime collaborator Stephanie Koenig playing his friend and fellow teacher, Gwen Sanders (she wrote episode two, the hilarious "Powderpuff"!). The comedy is subtle, effective, and brilliantly connected to a meaningful sense of humanity and truthfulness.

I can't wait to watch every week and see where he will take us. "English Teacher" airs Monday nights on FX.

Congratulations, Brian!

https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/english-teacher

Just watched...

...the delightful "Everything Everywhere All At Once."

With a name like that, it could be a Charlie Kaufman film. Is it a fantasy, multiverse/alternate reality story? Yes. Is it a statement about existence and human connection? Yes. Is it a comedy or drama? Yes. It stars Michelle Yeoh, so is it a martial arts film? Of course. Is it a love story? Yes, on a few levels.

Poor Evelyn Wang (the funny, touching, incredibly talented Michelle Yeoh) is being audited by the IRS with her family laundry business vivisected in front of her by a grizzled, irritable IRS worker named Deirdre Beaubeirdre (the hilarious--and frightening!--Jamie Lee Curtis). Her husband has served her divorce papers. And she does not know how to handle introducing her daughter's girlfriend to her aged, very traditional and presumably homophobic father. So she does not have time for much of anything else, until figures from parallel universes convince her to save the entire multiverse from a dark, evil force bent on ending all space and time. It is a mindbender, it is a kooky zany silly romp, it is a comedy, it is a love story, and it is a fantastic action film with seamless fight sequences that never feel like they are inserted from some other kind of "kung fu" film. The special mix works well and is marvelously engaging. Look at the trailer below to get a hint of the energy and texture of this wonderful film. I loved every second of it from the supremely imaginative script to the acting to the sets to the choreographed fight scenes to the costumes!

Recommend? YES, it is a great colorful explosion of a film, not too arty and not pandering. It's juuuuuust right with a stellar cast and direction from Daniels.

https://a24films.com/films/everything-everywhere-all-at-once

Happy Birthday "Bringing Up Baby"!

Eighty-three years ago today, the delightful, classic Screwball Comedy "Bringing Up Baby" was released. Starring the incomparable Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant (previously here)--and they made an incomparable duo indeed (they are sublime together in "Holiday" as well as working together beautifully in "The Philadelphia Story" previously here)--"Bringing Up Baby" is often held up as the epitome of its genre. A hallmark of Screwball Comedies is the pratfall, and there are many in this film, as seen in the images below. And despite its age, it still feels as fresh and energetic as ever. If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and find it somehow...it really is a must-see for anyone serious about film and film history. Or if you just want a good laugh.

Currently watching...

...and enjoying the hell out of the second season of the wonderful "Ted Lasso."

Season one of this truly charming series was something very special. And I am delighted to be able to visit these characters again and spend time with each of them. My husband and I initially resisted this show because it presents itself as a series about soccer, and we are not sports fans. In fact, I would rather chew broken glass than watch any film or series about sports. But after some cajoling from some English ex-pat friends who assured us that the show is resolutely not about soccer (football), but about personalities and a fun culture clash between English and American sensibilities, we decided to give it a try and we are so glad we did.

We were rewarded with a series not about soccer/football but a sweet comedy with a serious message at its heart: kindness. I know it may sound very Pollyanna-ish, but this is a show that holds up the value of kindness as something to strive for, something that will make us whole, something that has the power to change the world if only we let it. And it feels like there is so little kindness in the world right now, I find that my exposure to this show has acted as some kind of antidote. I find my mood actually uplifted after watching such vulnerable, caring people genuinely relating to each other and supporting each other despite apparent flaws and mistakes. There is no manufactured drama here, no irreversible trauma, just people looking out for one another...and if someone makes a mistake, they apologize and because the others know the essence of that person, they forgive.

And the attitude comes from Ted Lasso himself, masterfully played by Jason Sudeikis. Lasso is an American football coach hired by an English soccer club to move to London and lead the team. Unbeknownst to him, he is actually there at the behest of the ex-wife of the owner of the club in order to run it into the ground and destroy it in a plot of revenge. But Lasso has winning ways that are irresistible. And soon, everyone's life is the better for his presence, his wit, and his heart.

It sounds simplistic but it's actually a nuanced show with equal parts heart and true wit. Mixed in with the message of kindness, each character gets a chance to play with some screamingly funny lines and dialogue, mostly done in an understated way. And the relationships and character studies are refreshing as well: men can talk with each other in a profound way and share intimate thoughts, women can be friends without resorting to clichéd catty behaviour, and angry athletes can express great love for children.

Recommend? Yes, if you want to feel like there is some goodness in the world, please do spend some time with Coach Lasso and the team.

https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy

Life by Dagsson

Blink of an eye...

https://dagsson.com/

"One day you're seventeen and planning for someday, and then quietly, without you ever really noticing, someday is today, and that someday is yesterday and this is your life."
--Mark Schwahn, "One Tree Hill"

"The Philadelphia Story" Turns 80!

The Philadelphia Story: How an 80-year-old comedy resonates

By Gregory Wakeman | BBC Culture

20th January 2021

The Philadelphia Story was released 80 years ago this month. Gregory Wakeman explores how the comedy deals with sensitive modern issues through the prism of quips, barbs – and sexual tension.

It didn't take long for the film world to fall in love with The Philadelphia Story. Soon after its New York City premiere on 26 December, 1940, the romantic comedy was met with superlative reviews that only multiplied once it was released across the rest of the US in January 1941.

Audiences quickly grew to adore it, too. It soon broke a box office record at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City and went on to become the fifth highest-grossing film of 1941. Its place in cinematic history was firmly secured just a month after its wide release, when Jimmy Stewart picked up his first and only best actor Academy Award statuette for his performance as reporter Macaulay "Mike" Connor.

He is just one of Katharine Hepburn's suitors in The Philadelphia Story. Her socialite character Tracy Lord is due to marry the wealthy George Kittredge (John Howard), nuptials that Stewart's Connor and Tracy's ex-husband CK Dexter Haven, played by Cary Grant, look to disrupt.

Stewart believed that he only won the prize for The Philadelphia Story because his performance in Mr Smith Goes to Washington lost out to Goodbye, Mr Chips' Robert Donat a year earlier. That argument loses weight, though, when you consider that Donald Ogden Stewart's deliciously charming script for The Philadelphia Story won best writing at the same ceremony, it was nominated for best picture, best director, best actress, and best supporting actress gongs, and Katharine Hepburn was given the 1940 New York Film Critics Circle award for her portrayal.

Over the subsequent decades, its reputation has only grown, too. By 1956, The Philadelphia Story had already been remade into the smash hit musical High Society, starring Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly, in her final film role. In 2008 the American Film Institute named it the fifth best romantic comedy in Hollywood history, while it has proven to be so critic-proof that it still holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Eighty years after its release, The Philadelphia Story's grace, wit, and sheer romanticism doesn't just mean it stands out as one of the best films to emerge from the classic Hollywood era, but that it also might be the definitive romantic comedy, too. That's if it's even a romantic comedy in the first place.

As Dr Tamar Jeffers McDonald, the author of Romantic Comedy: Boy Meets Girl Meets Genre, explains, some people believe that The Philadelphia Story is a screwball comedy, rather than romantic comedy, as it uses various tropes of the sub-genre, including "warring lovers" and has some elements of overlapping dialogue. Even that's up for debate, though. By the start of 1941 the screwball genre was already in decline, as the tastes of audiences were changing thanks to World War Two. At the same time, The Philadelphia Story's dialogue is much less quickfire, and it has a sentimentality, sincerity – and, some might even say, sophistication – that sets it apart from other screwball films.

There’s another sub-genre that The Philadelphia Story has often been aligned with. The comedy of remarriage was an extension of the screwball comedy that became prominent throughout the 1930s and early 1940s as the Production Code banned any reference to sex out of marriage or adultery in movies. In order to get around this, filmmakers simply had their leading romantic characters divorce at the start of the film, then they could flirt and even kiss other characters, all without it being censored.

Theodora Gets Wild, His Girl Friday, and My Favorite Wife followed this structure, but no film did so with the subtlety of The Philadelphia Story, which genuinely leaves you wondering whether Lord is going to end up with Connor or Haven. Jeffers McDonald believes the "palatable" manner with which The Philadelphia Story explores themes like "identity, love as play or fight, divorce, adultery, and frustration" are why it has endured over the decades.

Patrick McGilligan, who wrote the biopic George Cukor: A Double Life about The Philadelphia Story's director, says it has had "a lasting impact as an adult exemplar of the genre", especially when compared to its peers from the same period.

"There is more realism in the acknowledgement of divorce and differences between a married couple. The audience is allowed to see that Hepburn and Grant both have faults. It's a 'happy ending,' but not really, because so much pain has gone before. In this day and age, it seems more adult, modern, sophisticated than most others of the era."

Of course, the entirety of The Philadelphia Story is "elevated by its classy cast", which just so happens to include arguably the most beguiling trio of actors in cinematic history. But while Stewart and Grant excel, it is Hepburn that pre-eminently shines throughout The Philadelphia Story.

Return to stardom

At this point it should be pointed out just how vital The Philadelphia Story was to Hepburn's career. By the end of 1938, Hepburn had been labelled "box office poison". Some of the Hepburn films to perform poorly during this period included Mary Of Scotland, A Woman Rebels, Quality Street, Stage Door, and, despite its legacy as a stone-cold classic now, even Bringing Up Baby. With her career in freefall, Hepburn, who by this point had already won her first best actress Academy Award for 1934's Morning Glory and been nominated in 1936 for Alice Adams, decided to buy herself out of her contract with RKO.

Hepburn retreated to the theatre. Her close friend, the playwright Philip Barry, already had the idea for a play and a character that he knew she’d be perfect for. Tracy Lord was inspired by the Philadelphia socialite Helen Hope Montgomery Scott, once labelled by Vanity Fair magazine "the unofficial queen of Philadelphia's WASP oligarchy". Barry had become close friends with her through Edgar Scott, the heir to the Pennsylvania Railroad fortune, his former classmate at Harvard and her husband.

Barry recognised similarities between Hepburn and Scott, whose exuberance was the stuff of legend even by the end of the 1930s. Not only were there rumours that she had been proposed to four times on the night she made her entrance as a debutante at the 1922 Philadelphia Assemblies Ball, but she also reportedly danced the foxtrot with the Duke Of Windsor at New York City’s legendary El Morocco nightclub, and the Charleston with Josephine Baker in Paris.

At the same time, Barry had become fascinated by speculation that wealthy families were being blackmailed by increasingly prominent and Machiavellian tabloid newspapers, so that salacious gossip about them would be kept secret. Premiering in March 1939, The Philadelphia Story play quickly became a smash hit on Broadway, where it grossed more than $1 million in sales before making another $750,000 when it toured nationally. Hepburn starred in and backed the play financially, giving up a salary and taking a cut of its profits instead.

So it was little surprise, then, that she saw it as the perfect piece of material to launch her back to Hollywood stardom. Hepburn even got a helping hand from Howard Hughes, her ex-lover, who helped her pay for the film rights so that she could have more creative control. Her deal with MGM for the film meant she could veto any potential producer, director, or co-star.

This decision proved to be a masterstroke. Hepburn's complex portrayal of Lord, who is as aggressive as she is vulnerable, nervous, charming, and hilarious, immediately made audiences more sympathetic to her. "When the film was released, most critics and audience members believed Tracy was a portrayal of the 'real' Hepburn," says Jeffers McDonald. "She had spent most of the 1930s being seen by the press, especially the movie fan magazines, as pretentious and awful."

"Playing a character like Tracy, who was similarly rich, privileged and annoying, Hepburn can be seen enacting a public apology for past bad behaviour. Having Tracy knocked off her pedestal by her dealings with men, becoming more humble and pliant, Hepburn could remake her own image and it is very noticeable that she started becoming popular with audiences after this."

In A Scott Berg's biography on the actress, Hepburn recalls not wanting to "make a grand entrance" in The Philadelphia Story for this very reason, explaining, "Moviegoers haven't seen me in over a year, and they already made it clear that they think I'm too la-di-da or something. A lot of people want to see me fall flat on my face." Thus, the opening scene of The Philadelphia Story, which sees Grant push Hepburn on to the floor, was born.

When it came to her co-stars, Hepburn dilly-dallied over whether Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy should play Dexter and Mike, before rightfully deciding on Grant and Stewart. George Cukor was always going to be one of her first choices as director, though. He was the one who "discovered her for Hollywood from the stage", says McGilligan, leading to Hepburn's first role in 1932's A Bill of Divorcement.

They remained close friends until his death in 1983, with Cukor directing Hepburn in eight films and two TV movies. "He had a feminine sympathy or consciousness, he deeply understood Hepburn on and off the screen, and was her most frequent director over time – because he was her favourite," says McGilligan. "He had the same deep communion with Barry and Stewart. What they all believed in was performance above cinematic tricks, humanity in characterisation, and the integrity of the play transferred to the screen."

With The Philadelphia Story, according to McGilligan, Cukor obtained a "humanity that would have not come from a lesser director". It also helped that he had previously paired Hepburn up with Grant in both 1938's Holiday, another adaptation of a Philip Barry play, and 1935's Sylvia Scarlett. Two more rom-coms that were deemed box-office flops, despite some impressive reviews.

The Philadelphia Story gave Cukor, Grant and Hepburn, with the help of Stewart, another chance to correct this trend. "There is a looseness, a naturalness to the comedic repartee," says McGilligan. "And the film becomes – as I think it must have been also on the stage – a kind of auto-critique of Hepburn's hauteur that she joins in while also taking stock of Grant's character in a way that is more critical than other screwball comedies. So Cukor also brings out the mistakes in their relationship, the bitterness in their characters, in a way that is more adult than other screwball comedies."

Cukor also allowed Hepburn's character to have sexual tension with both those played by Grant and Stewart. "It's a double love story," says McGilligan. "There is the one between Hepburn and Grant, which is over with but simmering beneath the surface, and the one between Hepburn and Stewart, which makes headway in the story." This meant that audiences didn't know who Hepburn's character would end up with. "The viewer is probably torn between who should get Hepburn, just as she is torn. As Cary Grant is probably Hollywood's all-time romantic icon – Stewart less so – he is the odds-on favourite. But his devious means of winning her back keeps the audience guessing until the surprise end."

This element of intrigue and surprise would be replicated over many other romantic comedies for decades to come. From Casablanca to Sabrina, as well as Broadcast News, Clueless, 500 Days Of Summer, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, and especially Nancy Meyers' It's Complicated and Something's Gotta Give.

But Cukor and The Philadelphia Story's influence doesn't stop there. He set the standards of "taste and intelligence," says McGilligan, who believes Cukor subverted the genre and its tropes, especially when it came to how male and female characters were depicted. "Cukor himself was gay. So what makes his films unique is that he is depicting his own ideas about romance and love through the prism of this genre, using strong women (like Hepburn) as his alter ego, and making the men (like Cary Grant) less absurdly masculine, in various ways." So while The Philadelphia Story's genre might be up for debate, what's for certain is that it was decades ahead of its time.

Link to original article:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210120-the-philadelphia-story-how-an-80-year-old-comedy-resonates

"The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"--A New Film by Wes Anderson!

It is always a glorious day when I discover there is a new Wes Anderson film on the way! This trailer looks charming as usual--I love Anderson's color palette, and it appears that he is using his established repertory of players along with some great new faces like Elizabeth Moss, Geoffrey Wright, Timothée Chalamet, and Henry Winkler (!). I just can't wait for the release date of July 24, 2020...but I suppose I will have to.

https://www.searchlightpictures.com/thefrenchdispatch/

Just watched...

..."Transparent: Musicale Finale," the end of the 4 season series "Transparent" on Amazon Prime. After binge watching the entire series two years ago (read my review here), the fate of the show was a bit up in the air. Jeffrey Tambor, the actor who played the lead character Maura Pfefferman, was accused of sexual misconduct on the set and was subsequently fired. Which is a shame since not only is Tambor a spectacularly talented actor, the show itself was amazing, winning 8 Emmys, 2 Golden Globes, an AFI award, a British Academy Television award, a Directors Guild of America award, a Screen Actors Guild award, a Producers Guild of America award, 3 Critic's Choice awards, and a Peabody award. Tambor has since apologized for bad behavior and temperamental outbursts but has denied any sexual misconduct. Whatever the truth, I am glad the creators of the show, Jill and Faith Soloway, decided to give the remaining characters and story lines a chance for some closure.

I recently came across a trailer for the series finale and I was quite surprised to see that it is a musical. And I was a bit put off..."Oh, I'm not going to watch that," said I with an inner eye roll. But I should not have been so quick to write it off. My husband was intrigued and took a peek without me. He came back and reported that the first five minutes had knocked him to the floor. So we hunkered down to catch up with the Pfefferman clan.

And indeed, the show does open with a very emotionally effective and arresting song, while each of the characters are introduced by a montage, showing where they are and what they are doing since we saw them last. But each of them are isolated, in their sheltered corners. It's one of the best, most touching opening sequences I've seen in a long time. And at the end of this sequence, we discover that Maura (Tambor's character) has died in her sleep. What transpires is the journey everyone must make when they have lost a loved one and are in a state of grief, but also the extra journey these characters must make to get out of their own ways.

Recommend? If you've seen the first four seasons, it is a must-see. It's moving and dramatic but also as awkwardly funny as it is always was. And it includes a final musical number that will surely push a lot of buttons for some...but if you step back and look, truly see, you will agree with the sentiment.

https://www.amazon.com/Transparent-Musicale-Finale/dp/B07SM1B1SP

"Simply Delicious Shower Thoughts with Cookie Monster"

This video has been around a while now, but it never fails to entertain me. "Simply Delicious Shower Thoughts with Cookie Monster" are hilarious. And so true. You can't argue with any of them!

https://www.sesamestreet.org/
https://mashable.com/

Currently watching...

...Alan Ball's new show "Here and Now" for HBO.

I like Alan Ball. How can I not? He wrote the glorious film "American Beauty." He created one of the most profound television series of all time, "Six Feet Under" (and he wrote and directed many of the episodes). And he turned a campy horror series of novels into the delightful "True Blood" (although it did stray a bit too far from the original books in the last seasons but he was no longer show runner at that point which might be a bit of an explanation).

So when I heard that he has a new series on HBO called "Here and Now," I was curious. It is another unlikely blend of genres, exploring an ethnically diverse family in Portland, which serves as a springboard for studying the state of our current sociological and political climate in the Unites States. But this drama/comedy also inexplicably weaves in elements of the surreal and supernatural, and, dare I say it, spiritual (Ball IS a Buddhist after all).

I have seen the first four episodes, and I am eager to see where this goes and how Ball intends to get us all there. I am intrigued...

If you have not seen it yet, it might not be too late. Try to see if you can find the already-aired episodes to catch up. It stars the masterful Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins as the parents of the family. It might intrigue you too.

https://www.hbo.com/here-and-now

Just finished binge watching...

...all four seasons of "Transparent," the award-winning (8 Emmys, 2 Golden Globes, an AFI award, a British Academy Television award, a Directors Guild of America award, a Screen Actors Guild award, a Producers Guild of America award, 3 Critic's Choice awards, and a Peabody award) Amazon Prime original series. I'd been meaning to see this for a while and I am so glad I did.

If you don't know anything about this series, the story concerns itself with a family whose patriarch (played with stunning restraint and skill by Jeffrey Tambor) decides to live his truth of being transgendered, hence the title "Transparent." But the story arc over the four seasons concerns itself with much more than this single story line. As Shelley the mother (played exquisitely by Judith Light) wisely notes in season three, "When one person in a family transitions, everyone transitions." Billed as a comedy, there are certainly some very amusing and yes, funny moments in it, but taken altogether, it is absolutely a drama. And a sensitive, moving one at that.

In addition to the mother and father (mother and mother) there are three grown children in this family (Gaby Hoffman, Jay Duplass, and Amy Landecker) as well as their associated spouses, lovers, and friends. Over all four seasons, and via multiple story lines and flash backs that move through generations, we get a sweeping story arc that is quite literary at its core. It has fascinating things to say about sexuality, culture, religion, discrimination, psychology, genetic memory, and just generally what it means to be a human being.

The entire cast is beyond talented, and the story, as I just mentioned, is impressive. My only small quibble, and it is a small one, is that there were some things about the fourth season that felt rushed...some of the story lines were given quick answers. Now, I could be imagining this since, as I stop to think of it, the answers were a long time coming, and once an answer to a question arrives, there is an end to that question, that wonder, that probing. Like I said, it is a small quibble and one others may not have even noticed. In no way does it diminish the series or the story as a whole.

The True Meaning of Christmas

Karen tells Grace all about it.

https://www.nbc.com/will-and-grace

They're Back!

OK, call me silly but this made me tear up a little bit. It harkens back to the second Golden Age of Television with wonderful variety shows like Carol Burnett...and of course even farther back to the first Golden Age of Television with Lucy...

I'm so excited for their return!

http://www.nbc.com/will-and-grace?nbc=1

Currently watching...

..."Better Things" on FX.

Created by series star Pamela Adlon and Louis C.K., "Better Things" feels like an extension of C.K.'s marvelous FX show, "Louie"--in fact, Adlon was a series regular on "Louie." They both share the same awkward, sometimes bizarre, engrossing-yet-anxious style of comedy, and they both feature stories, scripts, and performances that are at once comedy, black comedy, and poignant, penetrating moments of reality. It's a hard balancing act and C.K. achieved it brilliantly on his own show, and the pair do it here effortlessly. There have only been two shows broadcast so far, and one can feel the quality and import in every second. Although the show is rooted in a "situation" and comes in a thirty-minute format, it feels light years away from a typical "situation comedy."

Adlon is Sam Fox, a divorced mother of three girls and a struggling actress who was once, apparently, a child/teen star. Her life in Los Angeles is fraught with all the same things the rest of us suffer, but she must wade through the ignominies of the entertainment industry as well (and I can say that from experience, having waded--and continue to wade--through the business myself, a little worse for the wear). The rest of the cast, especially the young girls, seem extremely capable and talented, but it's Adlon's show. And she is marvelous. Funny yes, but also so touching and tender.

Recommend? YES! Especially if you liked "Louie"--hurry and catch the third episode!

http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/better-things/episodes

Just watched...

...the long-anticipated film version of "Absolutely Fabulous."

If you, like me, have been a fan of the cult British television show "Absolutely Fabulous" (previously here) starring the talented, hilarious Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, you won't want to miss this theatrical outing written by Saunders. She created the character of Edina Monsoon and her daughter Saffron with fellow comedienne Dawn French over 25 years ago. And through all that time, Edina and her best friend Patsy Stone (Lumley) have been chugging along.

Some of the criticism leveled at this film adaptation says there is nothing new here, that it's just a longer version of the television show. Well, yeah, that's exactly what fans want and expect. Why would we want something different? Saunders gives us classic Edi, and her chaotic, clueless, boozey mess of a life. It is who Edina is. Patsy here is classic Patsy as well. In fact nearly every series regular makes an appearance in the film and we delight in seeing everyone including Julia Sawalha as Edi's daughter, June Whitfield as Edi's mother, and the masterfully quirky Jane Horrocks as Edi's assistant Bubble. Oh, and a million cameos from the entertainment and fashion worlds ("Game of Thrones" Gwendoline Chrisite and fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier are just two!). But if you do not have any prior knowledge or exposure to the series, like many critics who have savaged the film, I can see how you would not understand what is happening. It's almost like speaking another language...if you don't speak AbFabese, you won't understand anything at all.

Yes, this is a longer version of an episode of "Absolutely Fabulous" but something that occurred to me after I left the theater is: it was nice to have a full 90 minutes with the gals, and for a story arc to unfold rather than the 30 minute (or less) skits from the television series. The pacing was great and a longer format works quite well for Edi and Patsy.

As far as the story goes, that is classic "Ab Fab" as well. Edina is accused of murdering Kate Moss at a fashion event (she accidentally pushes her into the Thames) and she and Patsy must go on the run from the law. Hijinks, as they say, ensue. And all in Westwood heels! And the ending is a wonderful, deliberate homage to the classic Tony Curtis/ Jack Lemmon/ Marilyn Monroe film "Some Like It Hot."

The series was known for its over-the-top, almost cartoony atmosphere, with whip smart comedy but I found that the film version actually softened Edi in a few spots, and especially at the culmination of the film. It often does not work when a comedy decides to align itself with reality but in this case, it works perfectly. It did not feel incongruous or out of place at all. Well done, Jennifer!

Take a look at the trailer below.

Recommend? Like I said, if you are familiar with the show and these two characters, yes, of course. But if you are not, it might feel a bit like stepping into some kind of alternate universe...

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/absolutelyfabulous/