2 Responses

1. Leor says:

   August 27, 2009 at 11:24 pm

   Yeah, the “Stella” guys (David Wain, Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black) have a certain style of humor that doesn’t always quite work… I guess you could call it “post-comedy,” but sometimes it works out and is unbelievably funny, other times you feel like you’re watching an in-joke and don’t quite get what the big deal is…

   I think my biggest problem with this movie was I could see all the pieces fit and you feel like you could just reach in and put it all together to make some cohesive… well, plot, but you can’t!

   A film that really plays to Paul Rudd and the Stella folks’ highs is “Wet Hot American Summer”… it balances their distinct post-comedy with a healthy, ongoing heaping of accessible humor with an entertaining plot. Yes plot.

   But yeah, those Stella guys can be tough to wrangle with… it takes a little while, but you can certainly get what they’re going after if you give it a bit of a chance… they can certainly be overly-cerebral, but some of their stuff is on point… “Wet Hot” is a great place to start, but “The State,” which just came out on DVD is probably worth a peek as well (it was their sketch comedy show on MTV that was born out of stuff that they did at NYU… it’s got the Stella folks, part of the Reno 9-11 crew, and a few others that pop up in both the Stella/Reno 9-11 stuff). Then there is “Stella” the TV show (which is on Hulu), though that is really more of their out-of-your-mind post-comedy stuff… just don’t try “The Baxter” until a little later… that’s a movie most folks and even Stella fans don’t quite get… most of the movie feels like an in-joke, but it’s a great concept and a cute film to match… perhaps not quite funny. (also, has a cameo from Paul Rudd)

   And then there’s “Role Models,” which I haven’t seen but I hear is fantastic and includes the same gaggle of folks from the Wet Hot/Baxter/Ten/State/Stella crew and tends to be less focused on post-comedy ramblings… and the new show “Michael and Michael Have Issues” is pretty good too…

   Sorry for the long, rambling thing… I just find some of their stuff brilliant and oft frustrating, which makes it even more, well, interesting in my book!
2. aaron cohen says:

   August 29, 2009 at 7:47 pm

   I liked The State, and honestly, the only good parts of Ten were the State-like parts. Haven’t seen Wet Hot, but enjoyed Role Models more than I thought I would.