Michael Margetis
'Strangers with Candy' based off the deliciously neurotic Comedy Central original series by the same name, is filled with such ingeniously funny moments. Too bad that's all they are -- moments. 'Strangers with Candy' had so much potential, but it just isn't consistently funny enough. 'Strangers with Candy' is a mixed bag in many respects.First off, Amy Sedaris is absolutely hysterical! Just her body language as the 40-year-old reformed drug addict who goes back to high school, is enough to make you roll on the floor laughing. The rest of the cast including the wide array of cameos from Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman to Sex and the City's Sarah Jessica Parker as the school's unsympathetic grief counselor who charges the students in tips, is decent to say the least. The real scene-stealer is Stephen Colbert as the closet-gay creationist science teacher who is just flat-out strange.The real problem with 'Strangers with Candy' lies in the screenplay. It has some incredibly funny moments like I've previously mentioned, but it has such long stretches of time where nothing funny happens. Calling 'Strangers with Candy' off-beat is like calling the bombing of Hiroshima violent, it's an understatement of gigantic proportions. If you are into that sort of off-beat comedy films, chances are you'll love 'Strangers with Candy.' But for someone like me expecting something with a bit more substance and guffaws, I was pretty damn disappointed. Grade: C+
Jim Whitehead
If Jon Stewart and David Letterman spanked their monkeys with steel wool, it would be funnier than this vile train wreck of a movie. If they put down their joints, even many fans of the TV show its based on would be offended at the messages of the movie.After 32 years in a coma, on the lam and in the joint as a "boozer, user and loser," ex-prostitute/junkie Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) decides to start again "right where I left off" -- as a high school student. She's almost three times the age of her classmates and daddy (Dan Hedaya) is in a coma, and "mommy" is his hostile second wife (Deborah Rush) who has a moronic jock son (Joseph Cross) and a butcher boyfriend (David Pasquesi).The jokes are indescribably overacted, moronic and venal. To say they were obvious as an exploding cigar in the face of a clown, would to be complimentary. This is, in my opinion one of the worst movies ever made. They tried to squeeze one last million out of a TV franchise that had long run out of gas and brains. We see a perversely grotesque vision of all-American suburban high school life acted with incongruous good cheer and ersatz schmaltzy "uplift," while the incessantly voiced racist and gay-bashing remarks are so pointedly ludicrous that they parody prejudice itself. If you want to see a "good bad movie" look up Ed Wood's work. If you want to just see a bad movie, this one is for you. It makes the old test pattern look good.Without giving away the ending, it even manages to call the whole audience racist. (Note to show writer Jon Stewart: If everyone is a racist, then the concept has no meaning, and becomes the standard of behavior and therefore must be deemed acceptable by you).Was this movie deliberately written to offend everyone and lose money (think of the Producer's imaginary play "Springtime for Hitler")?
Ronia Segerberg
When I saw the title I thought it would be a hilarious movie. However, when I watched the fist 10 minutes, I was deeply disappointed.For starters, Sarah Jessica Parker had a shameful role, and why she accepted the role is beyond me.Also, I wondered why no one thought it was strange that a 47-year-old was in high school. If she turned up at my high school, I would think she had a mental problem.We also didn't find out why she went to jail. On the plot summary, it said she was an "ex con-junkie whore" yet that is not explained in the movie.If anyone asked me about this movie, I would tell the not to hire it.Awful movie
Z Train
This movie failed for me on a major level. I love the TV show, and was looking forward to seeing this flick. But it was no good. If you are going to have a crazy character like Gerri, the REST of the characters in the school need to be very normal! The reason why Gerri is funny on the TV show is because she's acting like a lunatic while the rest of society are being mostly normal. The writers and directors made the unfortunate choice of having every single actor ham it up, and instead of having believable scenes, I felt stuck in a burdensome, long SNL skit that refused to end. Comedy is mixing the real with the strange. None of the things that took place in that high school looked remotely like anything anybody has experienced in a school. I'll repeat - for something like that to be funny, the rest has to be played straight. The plot is completely absurd and unfunny - yet the movie spends a maddeningly long amount of time nursing and building it. Everyone associated with this movie should be ashamed of this product.
AD
