Review of 2-20-1999 episode (MD-417; some spoilers; special bonus: "Office Space" review) Having found out several months ago that the new Mike Judge film, "Office Space," features Dave Herman in a supporting role, I couldn't resist going to see this movie and now as a bonus, I'm including a review of the movie here. But be warned, there are some spoilers. Review of "Office Space" (some spoilers) ================================================================ =============================== First, let me mention that Dave Herman is a former cast member of Mad TV (1995-97). I am saying this because if you tell someone "Dave Herman is in Office Space," you are very likely to get a response along the lines of, "who do you mean, the DJ on WNEW?" Yes, that's right: in New York City, Herman's hometown, there is a DJ called Dave Herman who has been local radio for over 25 years (he used to be on K-Rock for awhile; now he's on WNEW), and at least in the New York metro area, the DJ Dave Herman is probably more famous than Dave Herman of Mad TV fame. Perhaps this movie will begin to change this... I suppose the first observation I should make about "Office Space" is that to a certain extent it is formulatic and not that different from other 90-minute comedy movies I see from time to time. The characters are not developed with any great depth, we have essentially a happy ending, and most problems are solved within the span of the movie. We even have a variation of the love-conquers-all theme with the romance between Peter, the movie's central character, and Joanna, the waitress played by Jennifer Aniston. But all of this does not make "Office Space" any less enjoyable, and this was a worthy effort by Judge and crew. The main plot focuses on Peter (Ron Livingston), a software engineer at a fictional company called Initech. He's basically a geek, a grind, an office cubicle slave who gets castigated by eight different supervisors for not attaching the right kind of cover sheet on one of his reports. ("Did you SEE the memo?" asks his boss.) He is obsessed with a waitress (Jennifer Aniston) who works at a chain restaurant across the street from the Initech building, but is afraid to ask her out, even though he suspects his girlfriend is cheating on him. His two friends at work are Samir, the obligatory ethnic type often included in movies like these, and Michael Bolton (Dave Herman), another software engineer, and no, he is not related to the famous singer; it's just a coincidence, thank you very much. [Actually, one of the funniest exchanges in the movie takes place when Samir suggests that he go by the name "Mike" in order to discourage people from mentioning his famous namesake. "Why should I change my name?" Herman retorts. "He's the one who sucks."] Peter undergoes a catharsis of sorts during a visit to a therapist (which his girlfriend required him to attend), who puts him into a trance from which he never emerges (the therapist dies in the middle of the session). The new Peter sleeps in all day Saturday, even though his boss (Gary Cole) told him he had to work that day. He also hangs up on his girlfriend, who promptly dumps him, and starts a relationship with the Jennifer Aniston waitress character. He goes into work in a T-shirt and jeans, and in an interview with efficiency experts hired as consultants in order to aid Initech's downsizing efforts, he claims that he only does about 15 minutes of work a week. The efficiency experts' conclusion is that Peter does not find his job challenging enough and should be promoted, perhaps with some kind of bonus like stock options. His boss, while initially disagreeing, ultimately goes along with the proposal. Samir and Michael Bolton, on the other hand, are downsized. What happens next is perhaps the funniest part of the movie yet. Peter tells Samir and Bolton of their ultimate fate, and the three of them concoct a plan to rip off the company. This, they rationalize, is justice: they have slaved away at Initech for several years, and have very little to show for it. It is Herman who actually comes up with the idea: alter the accounting software so that it rounds down payments to the nearest penny, then deposit the balance in a bank account. The idea, he acknowledges, is not original: "They did it in Superman III. Also, some hackers did it in the 1970's. One of them went to jail." Nevertheless, Herman assures his co-conspirators that the plan is feasible because due to the company's preoccupation with the Y2K problem, they will not notice the discrepancy, and the plan can be executed successfully (and even if they get caught, he rationalizes, the worst that will happen is they will be sent to a minimum security country club prison). The trio execute this plan, and all is well. But not for long: Peter gets into a row with Joanna after he suspects she slept with his boss, and the next Monday, he discovers that over $300,000 have already been deposited in the account (the software modification was supposed to transfer the funds in smaller amounts over a much longer period of time). The three software engineers hole up in Peter's apartment, where there are recriminations ("I probably put the decimal point in the wrong place. I'm always screwing up small details," complains Herman). Rather amusingly, when one of the three suggests that they launder the money, they have to look up the definition of "launder" in the dictionary. Overall, I'd say this was a pretty entertaining movie; the story works pretty well, and the fact that Judge, in the words of some critics, treats his movie characters like cartoon characters isn't much of an impediment. In fact, one can have fun observing, for example, how most of the characters here can be divided into three categories: the bottom-feeders, working-class people who nonetheless seem to enjoy themselves a lot more than everyone else, the top-flight executives like Peter's boss who actually wield most of the power, and the white collar cubicle-dwellers, who in a sense are worse off than either of the previous two categories of people because they spend most of their time being pushed around by their bosses and are afraid to assert themselves because they are afraid of losing their jobs. Also notice that while the central character is a software engineer and much of the plot involves a plot to steal from the company that requires hacking skills, the movie does not go into technical details at all. This is perhaps where Judge's tendency to treat plot elements somewhat superficially without fleshing them out too much works to his advantage the most, since the average viewer most likely does not care about the technical aspects. [In any case, not much can be explained within the constraints of a 90-minute movie.] The performances are on the whole rather good: I liked Cole's character, and the way he went, "uh - yeah" all the time; Aniston competently carried off the role of the love interest in this film, and Herman shines as Michael Bolton: a geeky-looking guy who listens to gangsta rap and who has the misfortune of bearing the moniker of a rather lame pop singer. [Watch for the seen where Herman smashes a laser printer - this is extremely funny.] Not only is this a good movie, but considerably better, in my opinion, than "The Waterboy," the last comedy I saw at the movies. Also, since it's an "R"-rated movie, they can curse all they want. Let me conclude this review with some final observations: (1) What the lawyer said at the party about rape being common in minimum security prisons is probably not true, at least in the federal system. An article in "2600: The Hacker Quarterly" written by a current inmate (I think it was Agent Steal) averred as much. Basically it said that in the federal system, rape is almost unheard of in minimum and medium security prisons, and in maximum security, it is rare. It also quoted an inmate as having said that "[y]ou can't make no man suck cock if he don't want to." But I guess they put it in this movie basically so that the would-be criminals (Peter and company) would get scared. (2) Am I the only one who thought that "Working Man" by Rush would have made an excellent song for the soundtrack of this movie? Or perhaps that track sounds too dated, not in keeping with the modern look and feel of the movie. (3) Notice that whenever they showed a computer screen, it had the MacIntosh interface - this even though I would venture to guess that in the workplace as in the home, PCs (read, Intel-based systems) predominate! This shows the power of product placement in movies. (4) I was trying to figure out what the Judge-Herman connection was, and then I remembered that Herman did some of the voices for Judge's animated series "King of the Hill" in late 1997. Review of 2-20-1999 episode (some spoilers): ===================================================================== ======================== Opening segment: With Ms. Swan singing the Mad TV theme song. Maybe it's just me, but this one just didn't do it for me. Ally McMeal: If you want to be as thin as Calista Flockhart, then you want the Ally McMeal, which includes a strawberry-flavored laxative dessert and a gag finger. This was OK, but these sketches always seem to confuse anorexia, in which the subject does not eat, and bulimia, in which the subject induces vomiting after eating. Not the first parody to poke fun at people with eating disorders (one recalls "Lean Bulime" from last season, and looking at TV world somewhat more broadly, there was an excellent "Daria" episode last season where Daria makes a poster depicting a beautiful girl with the caption "She looks like she has it all/She looks like a winner/Now watch as she regurgitates her dinner"), but by invoking the name of the star of a popular Fox series, they at least made it topical. Also it was funny when the little kid collapses at the end. Spishak Nasal Spray (Turbohaler): It's the nasal spray that goes way, way, way, way up your nose. It looks like a super-soaker gun and it contains a pressurized cartridge. When the man (Andrew Bowen) uses it, he is propelled backwards with the force of someone taking a direct hit from a pneumatic nail gun (although he is only knocked unconscious, not killed). Then the Spishak spokesman (Pat Kilbane) gets into bed with the man's wife (Alex Borstein). This was moderately funny - we get some laughs from seeing Bowen somersault backwards over the bed. Disgusting Father: Boy (Andrew Bowen) and girl (Nicole Sullivan) return from a date, only to be disturbed by the girl's father (Michael McDonald), clad only in his underwear (and a yellowing pair of briefs at that), later joined by the girl's mother (Mo Collins) in a bra and panties. The McDonald character is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen, and that includes that PBS documentary on third world executions. This was pretty good, even though variations on boy-and-girl-trying- to-be-intimate-but-being-interrupted-by-embarrassing-parents have been done before. Notably amusing was the part where the boy and girl lean forward to kiss (they never do because they are interrupted by the father), and when Sullivan says, "Dad - your standing here in your underwear" as if he doesn't know. Patch Kevorkian: Robin Williams (Pat Kilbane) is a funny version of Doctor Kevorkian. This is actually funnier than I thought it would be. I like "you'll laugh one minute, and cry the next - and then laugh for eight more minutes, and cry another fourteen." Aries Spears is the terminally ill patient and Debra Wilson is his wife. Kilbane actually does a pretty good impression of Williams here, too. Still, in spite of all this, it still doesn't look like a movie parody. Spishak TurboPeep: It's a gun that looks suspiciously like the nasal spray gun, and it's supposed to shoot a laser beam into your retina that "probably" corrects your eye problem. When the husband (Andrew Bowen) shoots his eye with it, blood starts spurting out of it; in the meantime his wife (Alex Borstein) has fallen in love with the Spishak spokesman (Pat Kilbane); she's so fed up with her husband that now she calls him a "son of a bitch." This was OK; I liked when Bowen says "[g]ood God that hurts." Honeymoon Suite: Newleyweds (Michael McDonald, Nicole Sullivan) are looking forward to their wedding night, but first the bellhop (Will Sasso) has to unlock the honeymoon suite. In the meantime, the groom already has lifted up the bride so he can carry her over the threshold. The bellhop is taking a long time to unlock the door, and the groom can't put the bride down because his arms have locked. The ensuing invective between groom and bride features the groom calling the bride a "fat bitch" and the bride calling the groom a "weak bastard." This works out pretty well, especially at the end where all the humor is physical, and McDonald struggles, unsuccessfully, to get Sullivan on the bed; then Sullivan finally storms out, leaving McDonald injured on the bed. So we get to see a marriage essentially ruined by the fact that the bellhop took a long time to find the key to the honeymoon suite, which is the type of scenario that suggests sketch comedy at its best. [Or was the marriage REALLY ruined? I can just see it now: they patch up there differences, and live in domestic bliss, until they start having problems with oral sex...and then her parents come over...] Spishak TurboWave: This time the super-soaker is a .44-caliber enema. Just insert the cartridge, shove the gun up your butt, and - fire away! A stream of water shoots out of the man's (Andrew Bowen) mouth. Admittedly this Spishak trilogy wasn't THAT funny, but at least they saved the best for last. Change of Heart: Hosted by Chris Jagger (Pat Kilbane). Michael Jackson (Phil LaMarr) [will they ever stop calling him the King of Pop?] and Debbie Roe (sic?) (Alex Borstein) are the guests. Roe and another man (Andrew Bowen) go out on a date, and it sounds really romantic, but she decides to stay with Jackson, mainly because he has loads of cash. Jackson also goes out on a date with a very strange woman (on their date, they do plastic surgery on each other), but rather than dump one of the two women, he decides to "have it all." [He can do that because he bought the TV show.] I thought this was rather good, especially when Jackson wears a glove when shaking hands with Bowen, and then two young boys arrive to take the glove. Also it helps to have Kilbane as the host in the sketch, since he seems to play the straight man pretty well. EEE!: Downtown Julie Brown (Debra Wilson) is on the set of the new Tom Hanks (Pat Kilbane)/Meg Ryan (Nicole Sullivan) movie (America's sugar substitute); it's based on the Jon Benet Ramsey tragedy and the screenplay is written by John and Patsy Ramsey; Hanks and Ryan play the Ramseys and it's called "Blameless in Boulder." On one level it's a parody of one of the most celebrated murder cases of the 1990's, and how many suspect it's the parents who killed Jon Benet Ramsey but for whatever reason (the evidence could not be found, the police botched up the investigation, etc.), they were never held liable for their actions, and how the story could easily be made into a movie featuring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, who are such a "cute" couple and so likeable that they COULD conceivably get away with murder. But this is also an excellent parody for everyone who's sick of hearing about how CUTE Meg Ryan looks (and we've been hearing this crap for the better part of a decade, no less), and Sullivan's parody is merciless, as she mugs the camera every two seconds, scrunches up her nose, and asks, "Am I still cute?" Also watch for the part where Ryan (Sullivan) says, "I mean, everyone knows that they're two people who killed - " then Ryan is cut off and a in a badly-spliced edit, she finishes the sentence with "are innocent people!" News Parody: What if you were a defendant (Debra Wilson) in a murder case, and your lawyer (Pat Kilbane) tells the press "The evidence is all circumstantial. They haven't even found the knife yet." What would you do? Would you assault him? This is the gist of this segment, and it's rather funny (I laughed, anyway). Is it my imagination or does Kilbane look like Dan Ackroyd in this sketch? StepMom 2: A father (Michael McDonald) tells his kids his wife (Alex Borstein) is dying but that he's already found a replacement (Debra Wilson). The problem is that his wife is clearly NOT dying, but that doesn't stop the replacement from moving in and discharging maternal duties (read: handing out Marylin Manson tickets and contraceptives to her stepchildren). This was OK; the concept seemed good but it falls somewhat short in execution. Mad TV Classic: This one's from last season, and it's about Lonnie Bell (Phil LaMarr), Attorney at Law, a shyster lawyer. This was OK, but how it became elevated to "classic" (actually they don't call it "Mad TV Classic" anymore, technically speaking) status is beyond me. Then again, maybe it's better that they show this than anything that'll remind us of how good the show was in the first two seasons. By the way, the credits at the end of the show said "Special Appearance By Mary Scheer," but I don't remember seeing her in this segment. ============================== ================================================================ This episode essentially keeps the show in a holding pattern. It didn't improve on the overall quality we've seen the last few weeks (or at least not by that much), but it didn't get any worse. In my opinion the most solid segments were the honeymoon suite sketch and the Jon Benet Ramsey parody, the rest ranged in quality from good to barely adequate, but no real bombs here either. Next week: Vancome hip-hop videos, Melina and Lida talk about celebrities, Sasso vs. Hart (again). If you are a Dave Herman fan, go see Office Space! He totally kicks ass! Also check out my Bret Hart sketch page at http://www.nic.com/~dzien/nicol esullivan/bret_hart.html ====================================================== =============== Number Six | http://www.nic.com/~dzien/nicolesullivan/ dzien@nic .com | (The Unofficial Nicole Sullivan Tribute Page) =========================== ========================================== ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ