Thursday, February 22, 2007

Desert Island DVDs - Comedy, Continued


#2 Bowfinger (1999). Directed by Frank Oz. This tale of desperate filmmaking on a shoestring budget, showcases an over-the-top performance by Eddie Murphy in a dual role as a paranoid movie star, who thinks he is being chased by aliens, and his brother, whose greatest dream is to run errands from Starbucks. Steve Martin, who also penned the screenplay, stars as the producer who will go to any lengths to get his movie made, even if that means never informing the star of the movie that he is being filmed. Replete with a dead-on parody of Scientology.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Desert Island DVDs - Comedy


#1: The Great Race (1965). Directed by Blake Edwards; Very loosely based on the historic 1908 Auto Race from New York to Paris; Tony Curtis is the Great Leslie - the hero of the piece complete with gleaming white teeth that sparkle in the camera's eye; matching wits with Jack Lemmon as the dastardly Professor Fate, who is determined to stop at nothing in order to win the race; Natalie Wood is the damsel-not-so-in-distress. This comedy may not have the cachet of that other Lemmon-Curtis pairing, Some Like it Hot; but it more than holds its own with brilliant bits of farce that would make it ideal for desert island viewing! My favorite bit is when the leads and their respective entourages get stuck in a snowstorm overnight and wake up to find they are on a melting iceberg. With scene-stealing side turns by Keenan Wynn and Peter Falk.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

"They Call Me Naughty Lola"


A compendium of Personal Ads from the London Review of Books make up this funny little book, edited by David Rose and put out by Scribner. Apparently, they must put something in the water over there. Forthwith, a sampling:

This is the first time in my life I've appeared in any font other than Courier New. That's because my best work is still in my head, as are my years of financial stability, my buff physique, the respect of my peers, and my ability to trim sea bass. What were you expecting - Saul Bellow? Man, 34. Takes what he can get, as will you. Box no. 1763.

I like my women the way I like my kebab. Found by surprise after a drunken night out and covered in too much tahini. Before long I'll have discarded you on the pavement of life, but until then you're the perfect complement to a perfect evening. Man, 32. Rarely produces winning metaphors. Box no. 5632.

Your place or your other place? Woman, 32, needful of the finer things in life seeks stinking-rich bloke, 80 to 100. Must be willing to fibrillate his ventricles when he becomes tiresome or bankrupt or both. Also interesting thirty-somethings for illicit and immoral affair to be conducted concurrently with the above. Box no. 1597.

Reply to this advert, then together we can face the harsh realities of my second mortgage. M, 38, WLTM woman to 70 with active credit cards. Box no. 8624.

Friday, February 09, 2007

What I'm Reading Now


There is something to be said for putting down the TV remote control and picking up a book to read...about television. What that something is, though, I really couldn't tell you, however I did vastly enjoy Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as told by its Stars, Writers and Guests, edited by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. For those of us whose seminal years were formed by watching Saturday Night Live and whose attention span has been worn down to a nub by watching MTV, this oral biography is a gem, giving tidbits of gossip and intelligent observations in bite-sized nuggets which you can digest at length, or, as I did, in bite sizes over the course of the better part of a year. Almost everyone still living, having anything of significance to do with the show, short of Eddie Murphy, weighs in with an opinion of what it was like to work in its chaotic atmosphere, with particular attention given to the show's creator, Lorne Michaels, variously described as father figure, best friend, egomaniac, namedropper, demagogue, and/or demigod. What is made clear is that he is the principal figure responsible for the considerable success of the show, as well as its various players.