Tag Archives: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

My Thoughts On It’s Always Sunny Premiere…

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” has been my second favorite TV show for quite some time, second only to the glorious “Simpsons.” A full list of my top TV shows can be seen here:  https://klyam.com/2011/01/10/chriss-top-tv-shows/  , though there have been some differences in their order since the time I published it.  Anyway, as some of you may or may not know last night was the seventh season premiere of Sunny and unfortunately I was unaware of this, initially.  So, when I read on Facebook  that Alvin (from “The Cosby Show!”) made a second appearance on Sunny, I went bonkers! Seeing that it was 11:10  P.M. I rushed to my TV set and tried to catch the following 2/3 of last night’s premiere. Now, I know I said I was (am) a gigantic Sunny fan, but I must say I felt let down about last season. In fact, I will not purchase it on DVD as I consistently have for every other season, but to each his own, I know folks that adore Season Six. So, going into this premiere- missing the first ten minutes to boot, I was not sure how I would feel twenty minutes later. As I watched with my eyes glued to the boob tube, with the utmost fascination, all I could think about  was how more fucked up, dirty (figuratively and literally), and deranged can these characters get? Seriously, we have watched these people sink to the lowest of the lows, and I realized as this puke, crack, and has been-micro TV celeb drenched episode came smashing to its conclusion that that is specifically what every doe eyed sunny fan loves about this show. The fact that seemingly nowhere else will you ever see such high quality, live action sitcoms involving characters that are unabashedly immoral, to say the very least. It’s cathartic. Honestly as a viewer, there’s nothing greater than sitting back with an icy cold beer  (or several) after a long, tiring day and just watching four people fuck over everyone they encounter, including themselves. Every other show people are either acting nice or searching for a moral (even “South Park,” obviously). Sunny doesn’t give a fuck, it serves as a mirror for our own fucked up society, but in the form of a comedy, so we don’t have to take it too seriously. But, when I saw that dead hooker, just left abandoned, lying on the floor of Frank and Charlie’s shady, seedy apartment buidling to the tune of “Oh, Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison I had to applaud the creators for reigniting the spark that I missed last year and that kept me invested in the series in the first place. If this level of dark and savage comedy is any harbinger of what we can expect from the rest of  the season then I am totally excited and relieved from last year’s dissapointment.  It’s just that over the top satire that makes the show what it is. Dead hookers, crackheads, the whole nine. If you were channel surfing last night from 10-11:30 P.M. you may have came across a similar nasty scene on the news. In this horrible (yet hilarious) world, there is nothing much left you can do, but point, laugh, and make a pop culture reference. 

P.S. I dig fat Mac!

Film Review: Going the Distance

Full Title: Going the Distance
Director: Nanette Burstein
Year: 2010
Comments: Typically, I am not a fan of “Romantic Comedies,” with very few exceptions and this is one of them. Though, I did not love this film, I think it is respectable and worthy of some accolades. It certainly has its own little charm in a mixture of affectionate, gentle raunchiness with a practical love story. In brief, the plot concerns Garett (Justin Long), a young idealist/worker for a record label, who has just ended a long relationship, finding himself falling into another relationship with Erin (Drew Barrymore), the (Summer) girl of his dreams. Just one problem Summer ends… and this means Erin must leave New York and return to San Francisco for work. The remainder of the film centers around the two struggling to maintain this long distance relationship while also feeling conflicted between choosing love or following their careers. Overall, this movie is quite funny, but it drags on and does not really bring anything new to the table; it is quite typical and even a bit cliched: young, off-beat, idealist couple cannot decide between what’s best for each other or what’s best for themselves. And having the guy work at a label and complain about how young, cool, bands are not getting noticed is pretty standard and/or expected. The dialouge is overly cheesy at times to boot. But, there is plenty of quality aspects to this flick to save it from being an average Romantic Comedy. As I stated before, the humor is fairly strong here, not the funniest by any means, but definitely offered me plenty of laugh out loud moments, particularly from Dan (Charlie Day), the wacky best friend of the main character, Garrett, who unto himself is a cliched character, but I’ll forgive it because the performance of Charlie Day is so hilarious that it works. Essentially, he plays a toned down version of his character Charlie on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Being a huge fan of that show and that character specifically, this gave me a little personal reason for liking this film more than perhaps I normally would. So, will this be a movie we remember years down the line? Highly doubt it, it is far from the brilliance of (500) Days of Summer (2009), but it is in a league higher than most “chick flicks” and certainly worthy of a KLYAM recommendation. If this is your kind of a bag, then why not?


Grade
: B-, I kind of feel like I am being too easy here, but I think I will stay with this grade for now.

Coming Next a review of Machete

Classic Film Review: Small Town Ecstasy

Full Title: Small Town Ecstasy
Year: 2002
Director: Jay Blumenfield
Comments: Small Town Ecstasy is a documentary that offers us an up close and personal look at the perils of a modern suburban family: divorce and the resulting custody issues, generation gaps between kids and their parents, oh and a father that attends raves and does ecstasy with his children and other young people. Whattttttttt?! you must be thinking. But, it’s true. This man is cuckoo for E and we watch as it tears him apart from his beloved ones. His son, an experienced drug user, questions why his father is acting the way he is and why he does not feel the need to intefere with the well being of his children (i.e. them experimenting with E and other drugs). Despite what you have just read (and yes it is nauseating and uncomfortably laughable) this man in many ways is a good father and clearly loves his children, but because of his increasing drug use and resulting loss of custody, he sees them less and less. That’s one thing I dig about this doc, the fact that he has redeeming qualities; in most of such videos, the parent steals their little babies’ lemonade money and buys crack with it on their birthday or slaps them senseless in the midst of a vicious meth binge… Here, instead we see a different kind of dysfunctional family. Overall, this is a good doc, highly entertaining and fascinating, but at the same time, I always asked myself, “where is this going?” It didn’t move that much, but it was a nice slice of life, which is exactly what this kind of documentary should do. A spin on the mid-life crisis hoopla! If you want to find out what happens to the man and his family, then see the film, part one can be seen below.

P.S. All seriousness aside for a moment, wouldn’t this premise of your clean cut, forty something, dad suddenly dropping E and attending raves make for one helluva of It’s Always Sunny style sitcom?! It could be called “XTC Dad!” as Glen referred to the leading man. Producers reading, take notice, I think I have something up my sleeves!

Grade: B

Chris

Direct to Video Release Review: It’s A Very Sunny Christmas

Title: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia in A Very Sunny Christmas
Length: 43 minutes (about 2 episodes worth)
Grade: A-
Here’s Why: We join the demented gang for a no holds barred, fun, wacky Christmas in the Sunny style of unpredictable mayhem. This time around, Dennis and Dee devise a scheme in which they can show their Scrooge of a father, Frank the Christmas Past, Present, and Future, to show him how much misery he has put his children through. Meanwhile, Mac and Charlie discover their Christmas traditions and memories are not as wholesome as they seemed; so this year they try their darnedest to make things right. Prostitution, burglary, and constant deception make this Christmas special very sunny and definitely a must see for all fans of the series.

P.S. if you want to learn more behind the meaning of this line, “Did you FUCK my mom Santa Claus?!” then you’ll just have to see the video yourself!

Chris