Good On Paper (2021), L to R: Iliza Shlesinger as Andrea Margaret Cho as Margot, and Ryan Hansen as Dennis
Photo Cr. Alex Lombardi / NETFLIX
Iliza Shlesinger is one of the funniest comedians on the planet. I’ve watched her comedy special multiple times on Netflix and she is without a doubt a LAUGH RIOT!! Listen to her thoughts about single and married life in your 20’s and 30’s.
Shlesinger has a film debuting on Netflix on June 23rd called GOOD ON PAPER. Check out the trailer.
Andrea Singer always put her stand-up career first, and while dating came easy, love wasn’t a priority… that is until she meets Dennis, a quirky nerd with disarming charm who coaxes her into letting her guard down. Her best friend Margot isn’t convinced he’s all he seems and she urges Andrea to embark on a wild goose chase to uncover who Dennis really is. Based on a mostly true story, GOOD ON PAPER is written by and stars the hilariously sharp-witted Iliza Shlesinger. Also starring Ryan Hansen, Margaret Cho, and Rebecca Rittenhouse.
THE RIGHT ONE starring Nick Thune, Cleopatra Coleman, Iliza Shlesinger and David Koechner will be available On Demand and Digital Worldwide February 5th. Here’s the Trailer:
In this heartfelt and hilarious rom-com, Sara, a novelist struggling with writer’s block, needs inspiration — and finds it when she serendipitously meets Godfrey, a down-on-his-luck oddball who constantly changes personas and alter egos in order to cope with his past and avoid reality. Just as Godfrey begins to open up to Sara, he discovers that she’s been using him as inspiration for her next novel, and he vanishes from her life. Did Sara just lose the man of her dreams, or will she be able to find him and make things right?
As the headlines get darker and darker with almost every day, many are finding comfort in looking back on the TV shows and characters they enjoyed as kids (there are several “over-the-air’ stations that provide just that, 24-7). One of the most celebrated of those shows is the focus of this new feature documentary, which begins streaming just a few days after the big announcement of a revival (or reboot, or…etc.). It’s deserving of the doc treatment because it was a landmark, becoming a real turning point for the medium. Historians often point to “touchstones” in cinema often making note of the first “talkie”, the first color film, and so on. The same can be done with theatrical animation via a timeline: 1928 first sound cartoon short, 1937 first feature-length cartoon, and into the rise of Pixar. And the same can be done for it’s “lowly cousin”, TV animation. This doc’s focus was neatly squeezed in, between the return of prime-time animation with “The Simpsons” in 1989 and the “dark deco” drama of “Batman: The Animated Series” in 1992. I recall flipping over to a basic-cable mainstay channel on that Sunday morning 29 years and three days ago. Like Bart S’s papa Matt Groening I was curious about the duo seen in the promotional ad art (“What are those? Aliens? Nightmare monsters?”). I popped in a blank VHS tape and gazed in wonder. And laughed a lot. Perhaps you’ll have a similar flashback as you watch HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY: THE REN & STIMPY STORY.
After a brief clip-filled overview of the series, the filmmakers begin a twisted “origin” story. Bursting through the “talking heads” is the show’s creator and main director John Kricfalusi. In the early 1980’s he had traveled from the Canadian tundra to golden LA to pursue his love of animation (he says that as a child he thought animated cartoons were proof of “real magic”). But TV cartoons were dismal rehashes of old “properties” or merely half-hour commercials for the “hot” new toys. He worked up sample art (“pitch boards”) to show the four broadcast networks, but he was quickly dismissed (one meet earned him a “security escort” out of the building). Then he saw an ad in the “trade papers”. Upstart basic cable channel Nickelodeon wanted original “creator-driven” cartoon shows. John K dashed over for a meeting with the exec in charge of the project, Vanessa Coffey. She wasn’t impressed with a pitch for something called “Your Gang”, but her eyes kept drifting back to the drawing of the two pets; Ren, a bug-eyed Asthma Hound Chihuahua and Stimpy, a plump tail-less Manx cat. Could something be done with them? John K ran with it, gathering together some old art pals along with animator contacts who were frustrated with the sorry state of “TV toons”. The resulting effort, “The Ren & Stimpy Show” was unlike anything on the tube. The characters had strong personalities (short-fused, screeching Ren was based on Peter Lorre and voiced by John K himself, while the sweet-natured affable Stimpy was voice actor Billy West’s spot-on impression of Larry Fine of the Three Stooges, but pitched a bit higher) which popped off the screen. The same for the exquisitely detailed art with the characters truly “acting”, their bodies contorting to convey emotion. This was no “illustrated radio” (Looney Tunes vet Chuck Jones’ derisive term for limited TV cartoons). Soon the show and its creators were the darling of the media with lots of “ink” and TV profiles. Then the “unthinkable”, with the show smashing the “ratings ceiling” to get an unheard of 4.0 (a first for a cable show). But the original “six ep” order had been rerun countless times. New product was needed. How about a second season order of twenty? John K had concerns, as he plunged ahead. But his perfectionism and personality quirks would soon torpedo the network’s plans. Almost as quickly as the show skyrocketed into the heavens, everything came crashing back to Earth. But his eventual “sacking” was not the darkest day of John K’s future career.
This superb look back at a highpoint in TV cartoons has been expertly assembled by directors Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood. There are fascinating montages of archival news footage, home video (with warbly audio and video), and still sparkling artwork, some not seen by the public, from the show’s production ( I second the interviewee who said that Bill Wray’s backgrounds are deserving of a “coffee table” book). But it’s the “spoken word” history from those involved that gives the film its strong structure. Yes, there are a trio of ‘celeb” fans (Jack Black, Iliza Shlesinger, and a very mellow Bobby Lee), but the most compelling commentator is the creator (or co-creator as some in the film believe) John Kricfaluci, who I was truly surprised to see in new interviews, considering his recent headlines (we’ll get to the very dark last act). The camera slowly glides through his home, pausing on the many bookshelves filled to the brim with mostly retro cartoon toys and plush dolls. We see photos of his young years in Canada looking much like any baby boomer lad with clip-on bowties and tiny felt fedoras. He regales us with tales of his rage-filled father who helped form John’s sense of humor and inspired the furious Ren (no stories of Mom though). We can understand those who thought his company was almost a cult formed around the charismatic Mr. K. This may have been fueled by the media who latched on to him as the “toon savior” and splashed his face on a myriad of magazines. And he was happy to oblige as we view countless publicity stills of the animator posing for pics as though he was the new “boy band’ heartthrob, shirt open and giving a full “soulful pout”. But the success led to his downfall as he became a “micro-manager”, obsessing over each detail, screaming at staff for not being up to his standards, and delaying the shows. His “pranks” on the studio suits (hiding an offensive image beneath a post-it note on the storyboard) chipped away at his rebel “bad boy” charm. His comment to Nick execs that “I can no longer be responsible for budgets and deadlines” was like waving a red cape in the bull’s face in one of his favorite classic shorts. He was soon out of the picture save for an ill-conceived new “adult party” version of his duo that aired for three weeks in 2003 on another Viacom cable channel Spike TV. But he would be back…
…almost 15 years later. The Buzz Feed website ran a story on John K’s “hiring ” of young women who had been approached via their fan letters. Robin Byrd is interviewed in the doc (no silhouette or altered sound) and tells of her interest in the show and its creator when she was 13. They quickly began a correspondence with him visiting her parents and bringing her to LA to be his live-in aide at 14 (John says 16). Another woman, Katie Rice, also came forward (we only see her in a video from John’s website), but the statute of limitations prevented an arrest. And Mr. K does answer questions on the scandals, seeming most annoyed and somewhat embarrassed. He tries to elicit sympathy from the interviewers (“You should see the videotape she sent…so sophisticated”), but silence is their response. The “air” around him changed considerably. An earlier sequence had home video footage of John K and his staff’s appearance at an LA comic shop in 1992, with lines stretching several blocks (and getting the adulation usually given “rock gods”). Cut to now, as we see John K at a comics show or an animation expo, sitting at a table, all by himself sketching for no one. Well, he does have someone, a very youthful-looking woman, behind the table managing the “money box”. The big announcement of a “reboot” of R&S on Comedy Central made sure to state that John K would not be involved nor would he profit from this new show. This speaks to the current cries of “cancel culture”. Should the duo join the scrap heap along with another TV toon (that one from Cosby’s childhood)? Social media was on fire with those that thought this revival was completely tone-deaf. In the film, one artist laments that these characters are now “painted in s*#t”. Ms. Byrd actually has a great response. She understands if you can’t separate them from JK, but she’s sad to think that some folks have lost a childhood love. If you can erase him, she finished, perhaps you can still enjoy the show for all the other great talent that crafted it.
I will admit to chuckling at many of the early snippets. At one point they have side by side comparisons with their “acting inspiration” the late great Kirk Douglas. There are a few omissions in this history that bewildered me. Aside from a former director, there’s no mention of 1987’s “Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures” which was John K’s big showcase and proof that the networks could still make funny cartoons, as they allowed the artists to gleefully go “off-model”. And no mention of John’s follow-up misfire the next year with ABC’s revival of his hero Bob Clampett’s “Beany and Cecil”. Also nothing of his music videos for the likes of Tenacious D, Bjork, Weird Al, and the Rolling Stones. And it would have been great to illustrate his Spumco studio split with some footage of John’s strained reunion with Billy West On Howard Stern’s E! show from 1995. Still, this is a most compelling portrait of a troubled creative soul, reminding me of Terry Zwigoff’s masterful look at the brothers CRUMB in 1995, and also somehow of the political profile WEINER in 2016. Though Robert Crumb’s journey is hopeful, the others are troubled tales giving over to dark impulses It’s a shame because, like Anthony W, John K is full of passion, something lacking in most TV work (and for AW, in politics). In its unflinching look at a talent who can’t “get out of his own way” (or as one subject said “Nobody could f*#k it up like John”), HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY: THE REN & STIMPY STORY is one of the year’s best films.
4 Out of 4
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY: THE REN & STIMPY STORY is available as a Digital Download through most app and platforms including iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play
So the family’s all together for the big holiday, well why not head over to the multiplex to enjoy a family film? And hey, “family” is even in the title. That’s what the studios are counting on, hoping audiences will go for a breezy all-ages comedy in between those somber awards contenders. Most of the time, the studios will go a couple of different ways with a “family” comedy/drama. Either it’s a multi-generational gathering of uncles and cousins like PARENTHOOD and more recently, the reviled LOVE THE COOPERS, or it’s about a family with lots and lots of kids like CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN (original and remake) along with blended families like YOURS, MINE, AND OURS (ditto), which begat that iconic TV show and its feature film THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE. But this new flick has fewer kids and a message. The filmmakers want to give us a look at the foster parenting system (which often leads to adoption), and perhaps inspire viewers to get involved. The movies have tackled the subject, usually in “tearjerkers”, notably in 1941’s PENNY SERENADE. The kids here aren’t the typical movie kids looking for parents. They’re not plucky orphans like ANNIE, because, well, they’re not technically orphans. Lots of heart-tugging and comic complications occur when they join a couple and become an INSTANT FAMILY.
Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) are a fun-loving married couple in their thirties (can we still call them “yuppies”) who work together as “house flippers” (buying run-down homes, fixing them up, and selling them for profit). As they’re showing off their newest property to Ellie’s pregnant sister and her hubby, a causal comment gets them pondering. Ellie and Pete think that maybe they should start a family. Or maybe not, as Pete wonders if he could keep up with a newborn. This prompts Ellie to consider fostering a child. After scanning and viewing countless adorable tykes online, they call the local fostering center. There the duo meets another duo, social workers Karen (Octavia Spenser) and Sharon (Tig Notaro), who welcome them into a class for prospective foster parents. After several sessions with the other couples, it’s time to meet the kids at a big foster parenting picnic, sort of a mix and match. Pete notices that the tots and pre-teens are getting all the attention while the teenagers are left to mingle amongst themselves (as Pete crudely comments, “People are avoiding them like they’re dipped in s#*t!”). One of the teens, Lizzy (Isabela Moner) overhears this and fires back with a snarky retort. That seals it for Ellie and Pete, they want to foster her. Ah, but there’s a hitch! Lizzy doesn’t want to be separated from her two younger siblings. A “package deal”. No problem as the couple takes in Lizzy, her twelve-year-old shy, insecure brother Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and high-spirited six-year-old sister Lita (Julianna Gamiz). This “instant family” endures many highs and lows as Ellie and Pete hone their parenting skills. The main challenge is Lizzy who pushes back against the duo. Then things get really complicated when the kids’ birth mother is released from a court-ordered drug rehab program. Will the kids go back to live with her? And will Pete and Ellie be able to let go and do what’s best for the trio?
Wahlberg and Byrne have an effortless chemistry, making you wonder why these two talented actors haven’t been paired up before. As the energetic, firmly focused Pete, Wahlberg has smoothed out some of the rougher edges of his usual screen comedy persona, as in the often coarse TED and DADDY’S HOME, film to give us an affable everyman, a “good Joe” eager to accommodate though his enthusiasm often gets the better of him. The same can frequently be said for Byrne’s Ellie who’s just as smitten with these new additions to her life. And she can “go off the deep end” at times adding a little bit of zany spice to the couple’s partnership (they each know just when the other is losing focus). The duo has a formidable sparring partner in Moner as the strong-willed teen Lizzy. She’s not as easily won over as her siblings and rankles when the “pretend parents” doubt her method of dealing with the wee ones (Lizzy’s been their protector for seemingly quite a while). But Moner also shows us the vulnerable side of Lizzy, as she starts to let her guard down and embrace this home before “catching herself’ and “shutting that door”. It’s a complex role that this impressive young actress handles with great skill. There’s another great duo in addition to Pete and Ellie, and that’s Spenser and Notaro as the Oscar and Felix of social workers, Karen and Sharon. Spenser “shoots from the hip” with a boisterous “no B.S.” attitude while Notaro is the quieter, “by the books” guide to fostering challenges. Though their methods differ, both are committed to the same goal and provide some of the film’s best laughs. Speaking of inspired match-ups, kudos for casting the stars of the two biggest comedy hits of 1980 as Ellie’s parents, Julie (AIRPLANE!) Hagerty and Michael (CADDYSHACK) O’Keefe. Hagerty has an ethereal child-like, loopy air as Jan in stark contrast to Margo Martindale as Pete’s “steamroller” mother, Sandy. This “force of nature” provides another source of comic conflict as she tries to get everything and everyone back on track. Quiroz is endearing as the jittery Juan who over-apologizes as he frets over any misstep, while Gamiz is adorable and often exasperating as “I only eat chips” Lita. Aside from Notaro, several other stand-up comedy stars pop up in supporting roles, such as Tom Segura as trouble-maker Russ and particularly Iliza Shlesinger as the single parent foster candidate October, who has a very specific list of requirements for his desired child.
Comedy film veteran Sean Anders (HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 and the DADDY’S HOME flicks) gets the most of the slapstick situations and keeps the pacing fast and frantic for funny “throw-downs” and verbal fights. But he handles most of the dramatic scenes with equal ease. making a simple scene of Ellie gently brushing Lizzy’s hair very moving and warm. The film’s main flaws seem to come from the script he co-wrote with John Morris. As we many comedies, especially domestic life sagas, the story feels like several episodes of a TV situation comedy crammed together, though with the fostering classes and at home adjustments and problems, it could be two separate sitcoms thrown in a mixer. There are the wacky potential parents butting up against Ellie and Peters’ challenges and triumphs. Big conflicts are brought in (Lizzy is “sexting”), then quickly dismissed with a gag and forgotten. The birth mother is introduced for the climactic final act, but she has little to do other than acting uncomfortable and staring listlessly. The biggest misfire is the film’s big emotional finale. As the principals are pleading and pouring their hearts out, the wacky down-the-street neighbor wanders in, almost as if from another movie, to sabotage the pathos with some awkward (I really enjoy this comic actress, but her annoying role baffled me) asides. This scene is immediately followed by an uplifting epilogue that brings in almost the entire cast for a feel-good finale that would’ve seen cloying and contrived in a 60’s sitcom. I will give them points for discussing the “white savior” aspect of this and even name-checking THE BLIND SIDE, but this doesn’t excuse the many loopy bits of whimsy (who tries to douse a fire with ketchup when several glasses of water are within reach). This movie is full of good intentions as it encourages childless couples to consider the foster system, but it doesn’t make for a consistent comedy or drama. INSTANT FAMILY isn’t instantly forgettable, but it’s not the movie that the noble subject deserves.
