jason alexander Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: Ira and Abby
Filed under: Comedy », Independent », Romance », Magnolia », Theatrical Reviews », Cinematical Indie »
There is something very dated about therapy in movies. Sure, millions of real people continue to see psychiatrists, psychologists, analysts and therapists, but the depiction of therapy on screen feels so, I don't know, yesterday. Or maybe it's neurotic characters that seem old hat, but either way therapy has at least become dated by association. Of course, as a genre, romantic comedy needs the occasional shrink, because it needs that convention of neurotic characters and those neurotic characters generally (and generically) need therapy. One day, perhaps, someone can rewrite the book on romantic comedy, which hasn't been adequately revised or updated since Woody Allen turned in his version thirty years ago. Until then, we are stuck with movies like Ira and Abby, which utilizes not one, not two, but at least eight therapists or analysts.
The movie even makes a distinction about the difference between therapists and analysts (therapists talk; analysts listen) and hardly features a character that isn't one or the other. There are personal analysts, group therapists and marriage counselors, doctors assigned to every stereotypically Jewish surname known to screenwriters (Rosenblum, check; Goldberg, check; Silverberg, check; etc.). While neither of the two title characters is technically in the profession, Ira (Chris Messina) is writing his dissertation in order to become a psychologist and Abby (Jennifer Westfeldt) is constantly told she should open her own practice, simply because she's so good with people.
Penguins Spoof Goes Straight to DVD
Filed under: Comedy », Distribution », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand »
If you were one of those people anxiously awaiting the theatrical release of Bob Sagat's March of the Penguins spoof, Farce of the Penguins, well you're crap out of the luck -- the flick will instead debut on DVD at the end of January. ThinkFilm was supposed to shovel the raunchy pic into theaters last Spring in order to take hold of the lingering buzz left by the popular documentary, but since production fell behind (to this day, it's still not done), they decided to just toss the thing onto DVD.
If you dig Sagat's warped and disgusting humor, then you should definitely enjoy Farce; a live-action comedy featuring shots of penguins mixed with narration from Samuel L. Jackson (I take it they were looking for the complete opposite of Morgan Freeman here) and a host of voiceovers from folks like Jason Alexander, Dane Cook, Whoopi Goldberg and Christina Applegate. Also, John Stamos and Dave Coulier will show up somewhere, however this Full House reunion should be kept far away from the little ones.
With the amount of talent involved here (I only listed a few names, but there are lots more), I'm surprised it's not getting a theatrical release. I wonder if ThinkFilm is pissed Sagat hasn't finished the film on time, and subsequently pulled this move in order to get back at the guy? Something feels fishy. Was anyone looking forward to seeing this in theaters, or are you just happy the film is being released at all?
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