Alex Liu worries about his taboo fantasies — which had my attention! (Image via Herra Productions)
I had a wonderful time watching the cheerful doc A Sexplanation, which is not the one about Britney Spears, but which probably helps us to understand why she was mocked back in the day: America, in particular, has a passionate love and hate for all things sexual. We crave anything that turns us on, but tend to resent or fear anything that turns us on a little too much.
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, is an unapologetically campy, absurdist romp that reminded me of something like a technicolor Young Frankenstein.
In the case of the Mel Brooks classic, though, the well-worn clichés of the classic horror genre provided the language of the comedy, whereas Barb & Star lampoons self-actualizing, woman-centric comedies, movies like Muriel's Wedding, and adds a healthy dose of the kinds of ridiculous comedies that were in theaters when the women were kids — Airplane! comes to mind, though the jokes are less dependent on one-liners than on Wiig's signature character-driven work.
Wiig (Star) and her comedy partner Mumolo (Barb) — the duo behind one of the funniest films of the past 10 years, Bridesmaids — here indulge themselves at every turn, and it's up to you whether to go with it or pick it apart as their Nebraskan superhick characters impulsively go on vacation to the mythical Florida island of Vista Del Mar, unwittingly stumbling into the murderous plan of a Dr. Evil-esque super villain, also played by Wiig.
The film, directed by Josh Greenbaum, gives Jamie Dornan a chance to be goofy (while still doffing his shirt), and features committed, over-the-top appearances by the likes of Damon Wayans and Andy Garcia.
But does any of it make sense? Does that matter when it's not even trying to? It's got talking crustaceans, out-of-nowhere musical numbers, an unexpected embrace of libido, sound-effect gags, pratfalls and dad humor reminiscent of Steve Martin and Carl Reiner at their most Steve Martin and Carl Reiner.
It runs long and is its own biggest fan, but if Barb & Star is not for you, it's probably on you. I suspect most viewers — especially where we are, in February 2021, will be satisfied to be presented with something that not only doesn't demand to be taken seriously, but that refuses to provide more than some guilt-free guffaws.
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar is on VOD.
ABOVE: All your fave Saturday-morning classics.
Boy in the band (Image via Amazon)
This has been a strange year for film, with few flicks spending so much as a week in a proper cinema. If you were wondering whether this exploding of the traditional rollout might lead to more arthouse films being just as strongly considered for year-end acclaim as Hollywood star vehicles, my own list wound up reflecting both.
Here, in reverse order, are my Top 20 films of 2020:
ABOVE: I guess this is what they mean by good light?
Through a glass, darkly (Image via Netflix)
I wonder if any play has ever been adapted to film with better intentions than Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band (1968) was for Netflix by director Joe Mantello and über producer Ryan Murphy.
The chief creatives and the entire cast are gay and, as demonstrated in interviews since their take on the controversial classic became a Broadway smash in 2018 — as well as during a press-only Zoom Q&A two nights ago — possess clear-eyed appreciation for both the source material and its recently deceased author, with whom the men became close in the last years of his life.
And yet, while this newest Boys isn't exactly a stain on the play's legacy, it is a surprising and clear swing and miss.
A kiss before dying (Image via Zgreen/Outfest)
Make time to watch Ali LeRoi's The Obituary of Tunde Johnson at Outfest (it is viewable there through August 30) not only to support Outfest, to support independent film and to support LGBTQ film, but because it is likely to be one of the finest films you see all year.
Written by Stanley Kalu when he was a 19-year-old film student at USC, the film — about a gay Nigerian-American high school student killed by white police — could not be more of the moment, yet it was finished over a year ago, proving that its theme of pervasive racial inequality in the U.S. is sadly evergreen.
A former queen cried when she saw this pic — and you will, too ... (Image via Outfest)
Available for viewing on the Outfest site (the subscription is worth it) is the new drag doc P.S. Burn This Letter Please, a revelatory look at drag in NYC in the '50s and '60s, informed by the discovery of a cache of letters from the period.
