Dir. David Silverman, 2007
Green Day performs a rendition of the cartoon’s theme song for opening scene of the much anticipated The Simpsons Movie. The band is an apropos choice for the film; in the early to mid 90’s, both Green Day and The Simpsons series had a lot in common—irreverence without pretence, youthfulness without juvenility, and energy without a lack of focus—they were proof of the vigor and relevance of America’s pop culture. But as much as I am loath to admit it (especially of The Simpsons), both have become dinosaurs, suffering as much from creative fatigue as from the impossibily high expectations set by their early excellence.
For years now, the quality of The Simpsons’ humor has been spotty and their movie proves no departure from this trend. The biggest problem with The Simpsons Movie is that it’s just not that funny. The feature film format only highlights and exacerbates the weakness of the later-era Simpsons, namely, a preponderance of contrived plot over jokes (which the show used to provide rapid fire, but now doles out a few scant chuckles at a time). At its best, The Simpsons’ humor was truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Combined, the jokes had a shining multivalence, by turns satirical, slapstick, erudite or numskull. The Simpsons Movie sacrifices this trade mark brilliance for an overblown plot in which Homer finds a pig, does something stupid, nearly destroys Springfield, does a few more stupid things, and then saves the day. Also, the movie gets a little too preachy for my tastes when handling its tacked on environmental theme. When it comes to The Simpsons, who cares about the story-- just keep the jokes coming, Mr. Groening.
For years now, the quality of The Simpsons’ humor has been spotty and their movie proves no departure from this trend. The biggest problem with The Simpsons Movie is that it’s just not that funny. The feature film format only highlights and exacerbates the weakness of the later-era Simpsons, namely, a preponderance of contrived plot over jokes (which the show used to provide rapid fire, but now doles out a few scant chuckles at a time). At its best, The Simpsons’ humor was truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Combined, the jokes had a shining multivalence, by turns satirical, slapstick, erudite or numskull. The Simpsons Movie sacrifices this trade mark brilliance for an overblown plot in which Homer finds a pig, does something stupid, nearly destroys Springfield, does a few more stupid things, and then saves the day. Also, the movie gets a little too preachy for my tastes when handling its tacked on environmental theme. When it comes to The Simpsons, who cares about the story-- just keep the jokes coming, Mr. Groening.
No comments:
Post a Comment