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Saturday Night Live Goes Commercial (1991)
SNL's Best Moments! Buy it Today! Now! That Means You, Sally!
In the beginning, there was sketch comedy. And it was good. And the comedy Gods, distrustful of those poll-taking, focus-group-loving marketing God/punks said, "let there be parodies of vaunted super brands." And it was better.
Even in years when Saturday Night Live lost some of its punch - its flair for biting the hand that fed it, and waiting for that hand to come back for more - one thing has remained consistently funny: SNL's commercial parodies. Seemingly, these parodies have managed to lampoon every aspect of the advertising world. From Dan Aykroyd's bungling delivery of the `Bass-O-Matic,' burlesquing the Ronco / Ron Popeil line of products, to that refreshing after-work all-natural domestic water `Swill' resembling something more akin to slime than Evian. But wouldn't you know it, SNL's Bill Murray just loves it.
Many will remember these sketches as old friends: Phil Hartman atop the ever-growing pyramid of bran as he narrates the exact number of bowls of his `regular' cereal would take to equal just one bowl of `Colon Blow,' (and now *NEW* `Super Colon Blow'. Roseanne (Barr? Arnold?) deadpanning her concern for a credit card customer's plight: Roseanne `I told him he could take out a check, roll it real tight, and cram it!' Hartman `She gave me a lot of options.' Others are more obscure, but nevertheless timeless: `The Network Battle of the 'T's and 'A's. The biggest T s and the hottest A s.' An SNL commercial parody from the 70s era, which may have inspired FOX's current lineup of `television.'
Whatever you're memories of SNL, chances are, the sketches have made you giggle, but the parodies have made you laugh so hard, it made you take a look at the real commercials, and wonder Which is more amusing? The parody, or the fact that Madison Avenue hasn't figured out the punch line?
Do yourself a favor, and add this to your home video/DVD collection. It'll make you feel like you just discovered SNL again.
The Cable Guy (1996)
An excellent dark comedy, universally underappreciated. See this film.
Why did people watch The Cable Guy and almost universally condemn it? Because people, as a whole, are ignorant. In my many conversations with people I have met across this continent, maybe nine of them have said, `Yes, I loved The Cable Guy too.' This movie is Carrey's breakout performance, topped, in this reviewer's opinion, only by his Truman Burbank, in The Truman Show.
What The Cable Guy did was opine anew that the society in which we live is controlled by the luxuries created by the very same society. Sure, this is not an original idea to Ben Stiller or writer Lou Holtz, Jr., or the filmmaking world in general. Writers and filmmakers have commented on the uncontrollable nature of our society, and in far darker visions of the future than this. But Stiller and company add a dark element to the familiar social commentary that removes the dystopian vision from a future setting, as so many movies have done before it, and points the commentary-finger directly at contemporary culture (note the thinly veiled reference to the Menendez trial sprinkled throughout the film).
At once reminiscent of Bill Murray's Frank X. Cross in Scrooged, and as psychologically needy as Murray's performance in What About Bob, Carrey combines the best of both those characters, and adds his own over-the-top black humor to the mix, creating `Chip Douglas', the multi-monikered cable guy. The vast landscape of Carrey's thespian creativity is on display, as he turns in a performance unexpected by fans of his anemically thin character, the ass-talking Ace Ventura. Carrey proves not only that he has a dark sense of humor, but also that he can create a character with an array of television experience upon which to draw. Carrey's cable guy gives us an absurd anti-hero as the product of T.V. culture. His every thought and word, controlled by the sights and sounds of television, a.k.a. `the babysitter,' we find the cable guy as he yearns desperately a friend. As a societal outcast, he is relegated to learning about culture from the television shows he watches, a surreal Desmond Morris-like experiment. Oddly, while Carrey's advice to Matthew Broderick on winning back his estranged love is so accurate, the cable guy is unable to replicate relationship-building skills in his own life.
While on the subject, Broderick turns in a fine, if somewhat uninspired performance as the object of Carrey's obsession. As usual, it is a pleasure to see Broderick in familiar territory, placed in a situation over which he has no control, a role for which it seems his acting abilities are uniquely attuned. Watching him in this film, however, one wonders if he has become unsatisfied with the everyman character he has brought to life so many times before. Nevertheless, his contribution to this film adds to the overall experience the film provides the audience, and brings a welcome levity to the anarchy into which his character is thrust.
The Cable Guy may not be `the best film ever made,' but it hardly deserves the vilification heaped on it by an unappreciative public. This reviewer for one, has enjoyed each viewing of this film, and recommends it to all people who appreciate a good, dark comedy.