Letters to the Editor
-
Yes, but...
Great meta-analysis of Will Ferrell's career. But how was "Semi Pro"? You never say.
-
He's serious
Yeah, he does seem to be cranking out these formulaic movies. They do make me laugh, though. What lots of people say about Will Ferrell, why his formulaic characters can keep amusing us film after film, is that he fully commits to them.
One of the things that a teacher will exhort an actors to do is to "commit" to the character they play. What the teacher is saying is that the actor should do what is necessary to fully embody the character. It's a particularly relevant concept when the actor finds the character's behavior embarrassing or immoral.
If you think a bit about the selection of buffoons that Ferrell plays, you can see that this is an actor who brings commitment to his roles. Look at his films and go a degree or two out and you'll that he inhabits an orbit of actors who commit. Steve Carrell. David Koechner. Jane Lynch. Gary Cole. John C. Reilly. All actors who are unfraid to play the silliest, most unperceptive, buffoonish roles. And then there's his recent co-star, Sasha Baron Cohen. When it comes to commitment, he is off the scale.
Don't forget Ferrell's work on Saturday Night Live. Consider his recurring characters. You probably remember a lot of them, because so many recurred so frequently - clueless anodyne lounge singer Marty Culp, awkward Spartan cheerleader Craig, Roxbury guy Steve Butabi, a beleaguered alternative-universe Alex Trebek. Janet Reno as the host of a TV dance-party show. It was never hard to find another cast member breaking character in the middle of a sketch - think Horatio Sanz, or Jimmy Fallon - but never Ferrell. The man is a serious actor.
-
Like I said...
...Stephanie Zacharek and Matt Singer have gotten so much better at this, my work is long since done.
This was a nice, concise little summary of Will Ferrell's career, his appeal, his limitations. I am glad that Zacharek's praise was faint, because after all, Ferrell is working with a sort of arrested-development, man-child style of comedy that can only go so far. Or as Singer said, he's stuck in a sort of comfort zone. How many sports are left for Ferrell to make fun of? (When is he going to do a badminton movie? How about a movie based on Parcheesi? Actually, come to think of it, he should do a movie making fun of a self-important chess master...)
Zacharek talks about how Ferrell seems generous to his fellow stars, and I think that's worth pointing out. I can think of two other comedians who really do seem to "suck the air out of the room" as Zacharek puts it: Jim Carrey and Mike Myers. When Carrey dominates a comedy it almost becomes unwatchable. Myers' Austin Powers shtick allows for a few other people to shine, but he mostly dominates the films and leaves them with an annoying edge that doesn't make me want to rush out and join the "groovy, baby" catchphrase bandwagon.
When Zachrek was talking about Ferrell's generosity to his costars I was waiting for her to mention Christina Applegate. I thought that movie was a real boost for Applegate, letting us see how funny she could be in a grown-up role, where she gets to explain that San Diego does not in fact mean "whale's vagina" but Saint Diego, as well as riding a unicorn over a rainbow in a depiction of sexual ecstasy.
P.S. "Elf" is funny but the sappy ending goes on way too long. I'd watch the movie again anyway just to see Zooey Deschanel sing in the shower. Plus anything with James Caan in it is automatically half-good.
-
MAESTRO OF BUFFOONERY?
MAESTRO of BUFFOONERY? WHY THAT WOULD BE George W. Bush, the King of Fools, Emperor of Idiots, Tyrant of Imbeciles, Potentate of Goniffs! CHIMPya has a killer blend of mincing sissy macho swagger and CONSTANT befuddlement at his own STUPIDITY!