As harrowing as it is – or more accurately was – to flirt with or ask someone out in person or in a phone call, at least we had the advantage of visual and audible cues of smiles, eye contact, and laughter (or the lack thereof) to encourage or discourage us in the process.
Today, with so much communication occurring via text or direct messaging, there aren't exactly any signs upon which you can gauge another person's reaction, nor are there – in the age of catfishing – any guarantees that the person with whom we think we're conversing is the real McCoy.
But even if we're gutsy enough to go off instinct, there's nothing scarier than the sight of those three dots appearing and vanishing as someone types and/or deletes their response to our message as well as the jump in our heart rate every time we hear the incoming ding informing us that a new text has arrived.
An unwitting catfisher, after Jamey (Noah Centineo), a handsome football player texts brainy marching band member Sierra's (Shannon Purser) phone by mistake and the two hit it off, she finds herself experiencing those exact same nervous butterflies which only intensify after she discovers that the girl with whom he thinks he's been chatting is the one that makes Sierra's life miserable on a daily basis.
Having pulled down the contact information half of one of Sierra's tutoring fliers, it seems that – worried that Jamey's “loser” friends mean he's a loser too – when the West Pasadena High School quarterback crosses a diner to speak to her, East Pasadena High School's pretty, popular cheerleader and Queen Bee, Veronica (Kristine Froseth) gives him Sierra's number in place of her own.
Figuring out a way to keep her text relationship with Jamey going before she'll inevitably have to tell him the truth (or he finds out via FaceTime) after Veronica's college freshman boyfriend decides she isn't smart enough to be with him anymore, Sierra offers to tutor Veronica in exchange for her assistance with Jamey.
More than just a new variation on the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac, which has been adapted as a big screen romance multiple times before including in Roxanne and The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Sierra screenwriter Lindsey Beer and first time feature filmmaker Ian Samuels cull from a classic decade for teen romcoms as well via the 1980s.
Built from, as the director describes in the Netflix production notes, the classic YA novel archetypes of "the cheerleader, the football player and the band nerd," Samuels' enthusiasm for the era is infectious. Wanting "the movie to lean into that, to feel like a YA fantasy, like a Beverly Cleary book cover, but with a more contemporary point of view," he infuses Sierra Burgess is a Loser with a sincerity befitting of John Hughes.
And while the relationship between Sierra and Veronica goes from the traditional antagonism of the clique based high school hierarchy to a Pygmalion, Born Yesterday, or My Fair Lady arrangement where Sierra gets to play Henry Higgins to Veronica's Eliza, the film manages to push past not only those boundaries but those of Cyrano simultaneously.
Perhaps taking a cue from The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Beer opts to make the evolving friendship between the two girls – who thought they had nothing in common only to find common ground – as important, if not more so than the film's love story, which is moreover what Samuels intended, going as far as to call Sierra and Jamey's romance "almost the B plot for me."
Likewise the film's message of understanding as well as the earnest, relatable portrayal of Sierra by Stranger Things breakout star Shannon Purser as a modern day spin on Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles makes the release of the film – timed to coincide with the traditional start of a new school year – even timelier.
Of course, the sheer likability of its cast including the internet's new collective boyfriend Noah Centineo aka To All the Boys I've Loved Before's Peter Kavinsky doesn't hurt. Additionally, look for sharp turns from Froseth who – like Lea Thompson in Some Kind of Wonderful – transcends what could've easily been a one dimensional role to make Veronica someone we care about too, as well as Me and Earl and the Dying Girl's delightful RJ Cyler as Dan, Sierra's contemporary answer to Pretty in Pink's Duckie who ensures that above all we're thoroughly entertained.
Celebrating the era that gave us those Hughes penned hits, the film casts not only the ageless, enchanting Thompson but also the always charming Ferris Bueller's Day Off sidekick Alan Ruck to play Sierra's overachieving parents.
Shot in just twenty days to a limited budget, Samuels admits that some of Beer's subplots were dropped and indeed – similar to Jon Cryer's Duckie in Pretty in Pink – there's something incomplete with the arc of Dan's character in particular.
Yet even though it's less polished than To All the Boys, Sierra's heart is just as big as Boys heroine Lara Jean (Lana Condor) as is her plight to navigate high school, discover more about who she is and what's important to her as well as see if those butterflies on the screen translate to real life in her love life equally relatable to viewers.
And just like Boys, it's safe to say that Sierra Burgess will quickly amass a legion of well-deserved fans (not to mention new butterfly inducing Noah Centineo GIFs for you to text).
As Matthew Broderick's Ferris Bueller said in 1986-- he asked for a car and he got a computer. And for those of us who've been following his adventurous Day Off from the very beginning as it moved from format to format going from film to VHS to DVD-- finally like Ferris who became a wizard with said computer-- the technology geek in us can rejoice since he's made his way to Blu-ray.
While--like Ferris who still longed for a set of wheels (before, of course, fast-talking his neurotic friend Cameron into “borrowing” his father's Ferrari above)-- those of us who already owned the DVD in Paramount's previous Bueller...Bueller...Edition will be a bit disappointed that none of the extras have been upgraded to high definition. Likewise, it doesn't boast any new material that we didn't already have in the Bueller disc but aside from this, a main minus for me is that neither this edition nor its twin brother on DVD offered the reclusive John Hughes commentary track that had been available in its earlier DVD release.
Instead of listening to the man who defined not only the pop culture of my youth but arguably our entire generation, we're stuck with old footage of Hughes circa 1986-- often wearing sunglasses and seldom very revealing-- as we find ourselves once again wistfully wondering just what exactly happened to the man who still writes but hasn't been seen or photographed in public for ages. In short, he's basically the cinematic equivalent of J.D. Salinger... except Ferris Bueller was nothing like Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield.
Essentially the embodiment of joy-- Ferris epitomizes that invulnerable feeling of being seventeen and believing that anything is within his grasp. And moreover, the great thing about his Day Off after he tricks his caring but clueless parents (Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward and who actually married after filming) into "letting him stay home" from school is he has this magical way of achieving whatever lofty goal he imagines.
A motivational speaker without the tacky gimmicks, Ferris is always successful-- whether it's securing that Ferrari, lip-syncing in a German-American annual Chicago parade to showstopping numbers including “Twist and Shout,” catching a ball at Wrigley Field, or perhaps most impressively and with the aid of Cameron-- coming up with a “believable” dead grandmother hoax to ensure that his lovely, elegant girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara) could be excused from school as well.
While it would have been easy to play Ferris as self-satisfied, cocky, or smug as the casting directors note-- likewise pointing out that other than Matthew Broderick one of the only other actors who sprang to mind as someone capable of walking this line from the start was John Cusack-- Broderick manages to make him instantly lovable.
No doubt bolstered by his Broadway background where he'd been starring in Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues opposite Alan Ruck who would be cast as Cameron (making their friendship on film ring with authenticity), his triumphant Golden Globe nominated turn is elevated via his stage-like ability to break down the fourth wall.
Showing his great range and natural charisma-- Broderick manages to sell the hardest scenes in the work that go against traditional film set-ups of "ignoring the camera" by staring directly at it via several direct-to-audience monologues that invite us in to share the joke, be part of his ruse, and therefore make us feel that we have as much at stake as he does.
Therefore, instead of just thinking he's a privileged jerk, we're invested and feel equally daring as he risks being caught by the ridiculously persistent Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones). Taking Ferris' absence personally and only falling for the trap of releasing Sloane in an elaborate hoax of epic proportions involving numerous answering machines and Alan Ruck's killer impression of her father (helping instill in Cameron the confidence that Ferris tries to the entire time), Rooney takes the day off from work as well.
Although, whereas Ferris manages to live a near lifetime in a day of bliss, high-culture and fun, Rooney gets triple-kicked in the face, his car towed, stoops to more embarrassment and illegal activity and always-- predictably like Wile E. Coyote with Road Runner-- comes desperately close to catching the bold youth only for him to slip through his fingers each and every time.
Of course, he isn't alone in his anger-- Ferris' enraged twin sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey)-- tired of being the mistreated black-sheep of the family and always coming in second place to her Ferris worshiping parents finally ditches the school grounds herself, hoping to confirm the fact that he's faking firsthand and rat him out a.s.a.p. for the manipulative liar that he is.
And typical for the work of writer/director John Hughes-- while the adults and especially the authority figures are often times cartoonish and overly broad-- he always cuts right into the psyche of the American teenager or more specifically, usually those who are lower to middle class and especially outsiders as popular kids who are rich are typically the villains, save for the sole case of Ferris.
While as a child, it was easy to label Jeanie as a kill-joy or a jerk-- as an adult, it becomes far more apparent just how unequal the balance between the siblings was in that fictitious Illinois household. And indeed, while some would argue she got the better half of the bargain with the car verses the computer-- in a way, her parents gave her a vehicle to get the hell out of their sight whereas for the baby boy they coddle and still converse with in baby talk-- they gave him something guaranteed to keep him more indoors for all the good that does.
It's ironic plot devices and seemingly throwaway inconsequential lines such as this that completely flew over my head as a child. And this time around, really analyzing it more than two decades later I could still truly feel her pain and greatly admired the way that Hughes allows her a few great moments of glory to cut down what could've easily been Jeanie's bitchy exterior that instead adds to her three-dimensionality.
This is equally evident first and foremost in the delicious scene opposite Charlie Sheen at the police department when she flirts with the impossibly young star she'd brought to the attention of Hughes--having worked opposite him in his debut in Red Dawn. And secondly, inevitably it's a nice payoff when she becomes the one to save the day for Ferris in a generous act that displays that her brother wasn't the only one who received the great ability to think quickly on their feet in their shared gene pool.
While the conclusion in the rivalry between the siblings seems a bit too easily concluded (admittedly one of the filmmakers' Achilles heels is extraordinarily complicated situations that are quickly banished with fast fixes such as in his other masterworks like Planes, Trains and Automobiles and The Breakfast Club), but the one character who still troubles me to this day is Alan Ruck's Cameron.
While Ferris only pretends to be ill to enable him the freedom to go experience life-- Cameron's actual home life is so miserable with an overbearing father that he actually prefers to be ill. Although Ferris is convinced it's all psychosomatic and just in his uptight friend's head-- after Cameron suffers an extreme panic attack, becomes catatonic, and then makes a suicidal gesture in a sequence that feels like it goes on a little too long for comfort in changing the tone of the film to one of melancholy-- we're left deeply saddened by the contrast between the easygoing lifestyle of Ferris for whom everything seems to happen in a happy-go-lucky fashion (despite all the planning involved), when we glimpse him side-by-side with Cameron.
And despite his Breakfast Club style speech that he will stand up to his father-- we're not entirely convinced that he's going to be okay or this will be the ultimate fix for his major problems that dangle just below the surface from the beginning of the work once the final credits roll.
And indeed, Hughes has never one to shy away from taboo topics from suicide to domestic abuse to homelessness to bullying to class warfare even in what on the surface appear to be lighthearted comedies like Curly Sue or Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
Furthermore, although Hughes' oeuvre has been ridiculed and/or shortchanged by critics, scholars, and film fans as just simply consisting of teen comedies-- when you view a few of his works back to back-- you begin to realize there's some worthwhile messages being laced throughout the seemingly silly universes where adults and snobs are always outsmarted by precocious kids.
A strong sense of blue-collar pride pervades his films from scripts like Mr. Mom to Pretty in Pink as well as his uncanny ability to tap right into what it means to be a child of the baby-boomers by analyzing how much things have both changed and stayed the same (to the benefit of both teens and parents alike).
In my opinion, John Hughes is that rare breed of deeply underrated filmmaker whose work manages to transcend demographics as I honestly feel I spent the better part of my youth watching the works of John Hughes and always marvel when I catch one today and see the way that positivity, true heart, warmth, and the desire to be true to yourself, be just, be fair, and be considerate of others weaves its way throughout each and every one.
While today there are countless studies illustrating the detrimental effects that entertainment can have on the young from desensitizing them or leading to violence-- I feel incredibly fortunate that I came of age in an era where the entertainment as offered up by Mr. Hughes helped shape who I am in the most positive of ways, opening up an ongoing dialogue both with my parents and my peers, and above all leading me into studying film with a keen humanistic eye.
As, once we're faced with the humanity of the films of Hughes-- we realize just how much it's missing today in popular culture, therefore it's no wonder that when a few films manage to break through the mold of dumbed down expectations-- whether it's Almost Famous, Juno, Mean Girls or Clueless-- we latch onto them immediately.
Likewise, despite the fact that while as an adolescent, I simply soaked up the euphoric sense offered by Ferris and repeated every line by heart, I'm now slightly preoccupied with analyzing the psychology involved and how it fits in with the rest of the films of Hughes.
Additionally, I'm amazed by the way that a film which on the surface seems to be entirely all about joy manages to balance that out with some authentic pain (even if a few shortcuts are taken in their resolution to ensure it stays on track plot-wise) and felt it was a definite treat indeed to see the film in the highest definition possible.
With enhanced depth perception and sharper clarity to further showcase-- as Broderick notes in just one of many excellent special features-- what a great job was done in the way the film was edited together, the picture is improved considerably. While the Chicago scenes were always quite impressive to begin with, now you're struck by the better contrast between the softer, muted colors of the school sets as observed in the sequence with the hysterical Ben Stein and the bright Kristy Swanson whose character Simone now nearly pops off the screen like another girl's bubble gum.
And staying true to the source material by ensuring that we can now hear every single effect from the video game noise that indicates a failure by Rooney etc., the sound as a whole is especially heightened. Providing a fine balance between the music on the soundtrack with that of the dialogue which has been a problem on some of the Blu-ray transfers of older work-- you're also able to go as retro as you'd like in your selection on the audio menu from mono to 2.0 to 5.1 Dolby True HD.
Although I'd normally say avoid the extras until after you've caught the film to avoid spoilers-- for die hard fans, they make a worthwhile place to begin the Blu-ray as you're let in on some great discussions of ad-libs, improvised lines, and changes that only enrich the viewing experience of a film we've come to love on each and every format since its theatrical release in '86.
2021 Update: Paramount has rereleased the film to celebrate its 35th anniversary as a collectible Steelbook (alongside new editions of Some Kind of Wonderful and Pretty in Pink in the same format). While the new edition of Ferris contains all of the same special features included in this one, it does now boast a free digital copy of the film as well.
In what should have been the crossover romantic comedy smash that would introduce British funny man Ricky Gervais to U.S. audiences who haven't yet had the pleasure of catching him in various BBC shows such as the original version of The Office and HBO's Extras, Gervais elevates a screwball inspired romantic comedy fantasy to hilarious effect.
Opposite two of the most genuinely likable and underrated versatile talents-- the unique comedienne Tea Leoni (a master at the art of a good old fashioned pratfall) and our classy and handsome contemporary American version of Cary and Hugh Grant, Mr. Greg Kinnear-- the trio charm their way into our hearts in one of the sharpest, most surprisingly creative and intelligent films in the tired Rom-Com genre since the early 2008 winner Definitely, Maybe.
Now available on both DVD and Blu-ray from Paramount and DreamWorks Home Entertainment, Ghost Town is not only the sleeper comedy of the year but is ironically being released on disc during a week when I think it would've garnered a happy and willing audience ready to turn their back on both the influx of doom and gloom Oscar bait and a depressing economy.
Simply put, America is in dire need of a laugh as we learned last month when Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn stole Twilight's thunder with Four Christmases and those who move in the direction of Spiderman and Panic Room scribe David Koepp's Town will find themselves rewarded time and time again.
But, before I critique the aspects of the Blu-ray disc itself and visit the disc's Special Features, I'll serve up a second helping of my first theatrical review of the film.
Ghost Town
Director: David Koepp
Ricky Gervais as a romantic leading man? "Are you having a laugh?" Surprisingly no, but Gervais makes us laugh throughout.
Several years back and shortly after the initial hedonistic pleasurable rush I felt upon the installation of our family's DirecTV wore off, I realized how very overwhelming it was to suddenly have hundreds of channels at our disposal. Whether you were into knitting or cooking or knitting while you were cooking, there seemed to be something for everyone and I distinctly remember the one fateful evening when my remote landed on the face of British comedian Ricky Gervais on BBC America. Of course, I didn't know it was Gervais at the time— I was so completely sucked into the mockumentary that was the British version of The Office, I felt that Gervais and his character, David Brent were one and the same. I set the remote down and there it stayed as I was fascinated, appalled, and utterly riveted by the absurdly hilarious utterances coming out of the mouth of Brent/Gervais.
While Garry Shandling's self-centeredness on The Larry Sanders Show fit his character's showbiz lifestyle to a "T" and Larry David's curmudgeon shtick on Curb Your Enthusiasm is the perfect extension of Seinfeld's George Costanza, there was something that hit harder about Gervais' characterization. Namely that he felt more realistic, painful, and heartrending than his overly animated American counterpart Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) on the funny but thematically different version of NBC'sThe Office. We empathize with Brent on a level we don't connect to with Scott and the brilliance of that lies in the talent of the show's co-creator and star, Ricky Gervais.
The hilarious mastermind and co-creator of not just The Office but HBO's Extras has had bit parts in American films over the past few years such as opposite Robert De Niro in Stardust and with Christopher Guest's talented improvisational crew in For Your Consideration. Yet writer/director David Koepp—the man who penned such contemporary classics as Jurassic Park, Carlito's Way, Panic Room, Mission: Impossible, and Spiderman—gave Gervais the chance to be a full-fledged leading man in this month's surprisingly freshest and most entertaining new comedy, Ghost Town.
Yes, that's right-- you don't need an eye exam-- Ricky Gervais was cast as a romantic hero. And no, I'm not, as his Extras character would say, "having a laugh." While no doubt half of you are asking "Who's Ricky Gervais?" and those familiar with his work may even be having doubts despite their admiration for him, fear not—when it comes to second thoughts, Koepp is the first one to admit that he perhaps regrets the casting decision. And his reservations aren't because Gervais isn't great in the part and hilarious, but because as opposed to in England where the man has become their country's Robin Williams, here in the states he isn't quite as well known.
While I'm no Miss Manners, it does seem sort of disloyal for Koepp to admit this publicly especially during the same week the film from Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks, and Spyglass Entertainment opens, but Koepp hopes that his winning performance in the film will change this reality and make Gervais not just a full-fledged leading man but a full-fledged American star. I'm predicting he's right and word-of-mouth will not only propel this film to a bigger audience with each passing week but that Gervais will also be considered in Robin Williams' company on our own soil as well. He almost certainly still has his work cut out for him. I still remember the evening of The Golden Globes a few years back when The Office won two awards and the chilly reception and deer-in-the-headlights look given to him by such A-list stars as Billy Bob Thornton as he and the cast bounded towards the stage, no doubt wondering what was with the latest British invasion. Indeed, Gervais is the reason why Ghost Town's hokey premise works and he's so completely "on" in every scene that it's a wonder any other actor could keep a straight face.
As Bertam Pincus, a misanthropic dentist who seems to have chosen his profession for its endless opportunities to force chatty patients into shutting up with various tools, plasters, and tricks of the trade, Gervais plays yet another jerk to incredible perfection. Whether he's avoiding his fellow dentist's impromptu office party by sneaking out the door or forcing the elevator doors closed when his neighbor Gwen (Tea Leoni) yells for him to hold it open, Pincus is a man without friends or conversation. He frankly prefers to keep it that way. This all changes when he goes in for a routine colonoscopy and makes the request to be completely anesthetized for the procedure.
Hospital Check-In
The Medical Staff
After he's released from the hospital a day later, he discovers that he's being followed by a large number of pushy New Yorkers with unfinished business. No, they aren't people whom he's wronged in the past, but people who find hope in Pincus due to his ability to see and converse with them as they're all, save Pincus, dead. Rushing back to the hospital to find out why he's experiencing what he fears are hallucinations, his inept surgeon (a hilarious Kristen Wiig) explains that the reason he's seeing ghosts is because, well, he actually died "for a little bit" himself.
"You Died."
Pincus' hopes of avoiding others are dashed as the films tagline promises that "he sees dead people… and they annoy him." This is especially the case when the self-centered and unofficial leader of the ghosts famous for his knack of talking people into things, Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) promises that he'll help Gervais get back to his old life if he does Herlihy one favor.
"I Need Your Help."
"New York is Lousy with Ghosts."
With his dashing classic movie star looks and easy charm, Kinnear is the natural choice for the role, playing off the wicked Gervais in the same way he interacted the misanthropic character played by the Oscar winning Jack Nicholson in Kinnear's award nominated role in As Good As It Gets. Unwilling to let Pincus off the hook, the two finally reach an arrangement to solve Frank's problem, namely that his widow Gwen (Tea Leoni) is about to marry a man whom Frank fears is no good.
Even though he shouldn't be one to talk as—upon the film's opening—we realize that Frank had been two-timing his wife with a Yoga hottie, once Pincus sees Gwen delivering a lecture on a mummy for her archaeological work, he finds himself instantly attracted. While to Frank, all Pincus needs to do is distract Gwen enough to make her have second thoughts about marrying a picture perfect human rights lawyer, Pincus takes the assignment literally, falling for the beautiful, brainy, and delightfully odd Gwen. Happily for Pincus, as evidence by her work with mummies, Gwen shares an enthusiasm for people who don't talk and also has a bizarre interest in dentistry.
Although Gwen hesitates to give him the time of day, they live in the same building and he has ignored her on numerous occasions in the past, Pincus keeps trying in one of the film's funniest scenes as he tries to engage her in conversation following her lecture. At one point his ramblings become so ridiculously hysterical, I couldn't even hear Gervais due to the audience's laughter. He and Leoni work very well-together. As I wrote about Leoni in my review of You Kill Me, her characterization here made me, "again appreciate the delightful screwball-inspired nuances that Tea Leoni always brings to her characters and wish that she was given far more cinematic opportunities." Equally adept at pratfalls as she is with verbal gymnastics and improvisations, I began to wonder how much Gervais came up with on the fly. It's a pleasure to watch, even in tiny scenes like this one.
Gwen's Dog
A bright and sophisticatedly witty romantic comedy, I'm expecting Ghost Town will be the ultimate sleeper that could, if enough people take a chance on a film with a man they don't recognize on the poster. Admittedly, while the plot setup is a bit generic and we don't really need yet another ghost movie, the three leads (not to mention the supporting players like Wiig) are all in perfect form.
Several years ago, director Brett Ratner said in a newspaper interview that he hoped his Christmas comedy The Family Man starring Nicolas Cage and Don Cheadle would help America realize what a talent Tea Leoni truly was. And while his film didn't quite reach the level that he aspired in the way that Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally launched Meg Ryan (as he is after all Ratner and not Reiner), here's to hoping Koepp's film does double duty.
Ghost Town should help reestablish the gifted comedienne Tea Leoni (who in my book often recalls Carole Lombard and Jean Arthur) and should also successfully introduce the unconverted to the comic mastermind that is Ricky Gervais… even if we're never buying the fact that he's a real life dentist with those less-than-perfect teeth. Still, who cares about teeth when it's the things coming out of his mouth that are the most memorable? So in the end, we're "having a laugh" indeed... over and over and over again.
The Blu-ray
Eager to leave the big-budget special effects films he'd worked on in the past behind him for the welcome change of pace to sit back and try to "stay out of the actors' way," writer/director David Koepp happened upon the idea for Ghost Town when he himself longed to stay out of everyone's way.
Having what he described as a really bad day on a film set, Koepp wandered around until he was struck by the sight of a wooden tooth hanging outside a building and thought how great it would be to craft a character who loves dentistry because he can shove cotton into people's mouths and avoid conversation.
In the film's entertaining twenty-two minute making-of featurette, Koepp describes his creative approach including his wish to only offer a few simple effects as opposed to the CGI prevalent in his bigger films he'd penned for directors like Spielberg. Instead, he preferred to opt for "romantic comedy effects" with entertaining new ghostly quirks such as having characters wear simply what they died in (naturally giving Kinnear a tuxedo so that he's the "host" for the film and immediately stands out) and modeling Leoni's character after Cary Grant's brainy and bright yet often distractedly dizzy Bringing Up Baby paleontologist.
Of course, the main star of the extras is Gervais who crafts a hilarious false anecdote about meeting his director for the first time and chats up the camera along with his dog Gia. And, to be expected, the other actors and Koepp describe how hard it was to keep from laughing when they shared the same scene as Gervais.
Proof of this can be found in the genuinely hysterical outtakes called "Some People Can Do It," (the second of three special features all offered in Blu-ray High Definition) as the actors crack each other up and Leoni scolds Gervais to keep filming and redo a scene when he rambles an alternate version of a line to ridiculous effect. Providing further humorous fodder-- Koepp and Gervais take part in a feature length commentary and those curious about the movie magic side of Town can take in the "Ghostly Effects" extra as well.
Crisp color and excellent flesh tones in a superb transfer with zero artifacting and Dolby TrueHD English 5.1 Surround (as well as French and Spanish Dolby Digital), Ghost Town's Blu-ray quality is another solid offering from Paramount and DreamWorks which seems to have the format down to a science. Likewise, the studios also thankfully provide subtitles in not just French, Spanish and Portuguese but English as well so that way you can read the jokes you find you've missed from laughing so much the first time around. And luckily for us, now that it's available on disc, we can replay our favorite scenes-- including the awkward romantic evening and Gervais' scenes with Wiig-- again and again, managing to go about "having a laugh" as loud as we want in the privacy of our own homes without worrying about anyone shoving cotton into our mouths.
Much like the equally creatively lauded hit Sports Night-- Spin City was one of those '90s sitcoms I completely missed out on during their initial run. Never one to jump into a series without knowing the complete back-story, including the pilot-- just like I can't watch a film if even a second has played before I walk in-- I was thrilled to learn that the good folks at Shout! Factory were premiering the first entire season of Spin on DVD this November.
Appropriately debuting on election day, Spin City reunites America's beloved Alex P. Keaton-- er, I mean Michael J. Fox-- with his Family Ties creator and executive producer Gary David Goldberg. This time we find him playing a character that seems much looser, fresh and quintessentially Michael J. Fox-like. In other words, instead of a young man masquerading as a grown up, Fox takes on the role of a grown up, whom, due to his career in the realm of politics, must often masquerade as a young man.
Hilarious and sharply written by its talented writers including co-creator Bill Lawrence who in the '00s would craft his own brand of workplace humor with the Peabody award winning hit Scrubs (moving curiously from NBC this year to ABC which also housed Spin), Fox is matched by his many verbal sparring partners in the form of season one cast-mates Carla Gugino, Barry Bostwick, Richard Kind, Alan Ruck, Michael Boatman, Connie Britton, and Alexander Chaplin.
Fittingly starring as Mike, Fox plays the New York City Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty, who, truth be told, seems to be the one running everything-- the mayor behind the mayor, if you will-- pulling the strings and trying to avoid disaster at every turn. Although on the surface Barry Bostwick's Randall Winston is the guy with the title and his face on the evening news, Fox's Mike-- a "human handshake" as one city councilwoman memorably refers to him-- is his constant filter as the well-intentioned but often hopelessly clueless Winston makes faux pas after faux pas, leaving others offended in his wake of unintentional mixed messages and gaffes.
After he replies to an invitation to join in the gay pride parade with the retort, "Are you drunk?" in the pilot, gay activists are rightfully up in arms but Mike cleverly recruits one of its leaders, the successful and brilliant, gay African-American Carter Heywood (Michael Boatman) as head of minority affairs.
While his life at the office leaves little time for his girlfriend Ashley (Carla Gugino), given an instantly unlikable role as the toughest adversarial reporter in the press room who sends the mayor's Press Secretary and frequent scene stealer Paul Lassiter (Richard Kind) into a panicked frenzy, midway through the first season the clunky writing of that subplot was fixed when the otherwise incredibly talented Gugino parted ways with the show.
An overwhelming boys club with one sole major female cast member-- the hilarious, tough talking Nikki (Connie Britton) who unknowingly drives every male coworker around her wild-- the show thrives at its best when it deals with the inter-workings of the office and the countless hurdles the staff needs to jump in any given day.
A terrific example of the show firing on all creative cylinders can be witnessed in this clip in one of the season's funniest offerings "Dog Day Afternoon" which finds Mike scrambling to make up for the mayor's accidental insult towards the law enforcement community by staging a funeral for a heroic police dog... only to have his two staffers, Carter and the sexist Assistant Deputy Mayor Stuart (Alan Ruck) lose the animal on the way.
And while-- much like News Radio and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, we're quick to realize that the dysfunctional group, which also includes the sweet-natured, optimistic speechwriter James (Alexander Chaplin) who's hopelessly in love with Nikki serve as a terrific alternate "family" to the tired slew of endless dysfunctional family programs like the mean-spirited hits Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens, we also realize that, unlike those shows, just how loyal these characters are to one another.
Especially apparent in another season one standout, "Kiss Me, Stupid," which finds everyone's Valentine's Day plans going horribly, horribly wrong as Mike is forced to pretend to be Carter's new boyfriend, Paul sends his girlfriend to the emergency room, and James can't figure out how to make Nikki see him in another light--Spin City offers proof of comedy at its most sophisticated. Likewise, it's no wonder that two of the most successful sitcoms running right now are workplace situation comedies with The Office and 30 Rock, which perhaps tried to sprinkle some of Spin and Radio's fairy dust left over from the heyday of Mary Tyler Moore.
Whatever it is-- if it is some secret recipe-- this Thanksgiving week, I'm thankful to Shout! Factory for preserving the comedic legacy of Michael J. Fox with this superb four disc set that will definitely be getting repeat play in my DVD player. Likewise, I also want to dish out thanks to the one and only, Fox, who I grew up watching and was thrilled to revisit once again over the course of this first installment of Spin City.
Walking Movie Encyclopedia at Film Intuition; 3-Time National Award Winning Scribe; Film Reviewer; "Watch With Jen" Podcast Host; Screenwriter; Movie Discussion Host; BA in Film Studies & Communication.
