Gillian Jacobs

TV Review: Think Carefully Before Enrolling in ‘Community’

BrianTT — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:48:40 -0600

CHICAGO – The deadpan wit of Joel McHale works brilliantly on “The Soup” and he delivers excellent work in the “The Informant!,” but there’s something about it that doesn’t translate to sitcom television.

With the talent of McHale and Chevy Chase to drive it, one would think that “Community” would be one of the best new comedy classes of the season, but it struggles in the premiere and truly stumbles in the second episode. It’s not the blight on Thursday nights that “Kath and Kim” was last season, but it’s a definite disappointment.

Television Rating: 2.0/5.0

Helmed by the very talented Joe & Anthony Russo (“Arrested Development”), the premiere of “Community” sets up the characters and concept of the show. Naturally, with a large extended cast and the general timing and pacing issues that come with a premiere, flaws in a sitcom pilot can be forgiven, but the second episode hints at a series that could spin its wheels and never graduate to the comedy pantheon already occupied by its network-mates that evening like “30 Rock” and “The Office”. It’s going to take some serious turn-around for this student to be given a passing grade.

Community
Photo credit: Mitchell Haaseth/NBC

McHale stars as Jeff Winger, a fast-talking lawyer required to go back to community college and get his degree but who becomes instantly distracted by the prettiest girl on campus, Britta (Gillian Jacobs). In the premiere, he pretends to be a Spanish tutor to get closer to Britta and ends up forming a study group comprised of some of the most unwanted students Greendale Community College has ever seen.

Students in Jeff’s study group include the clueless Pierce (Chevy Chase), sassy Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), pop culture-obsessed and possibly-handicapped Abed (Danny Pudi), former high school star Troy (Donald Glover), and high-strung Annie (Alison Brie). Ken Jeong (“The Hangover,” “All About Steve”) debuts in the second episode as Spanish teacher Senor Chang.

The cast of “Community” is clearly talented but the writing never gives the audience a reason to care. They could have gone two ways with Jeff - make him a true fast-talking player stuck in a world of people he thinks are beneath him or make him a genuine, sweet guy who turns the losers into winners. But they never commit to make Jeff either edgy or lovable, leaving McHale caught in between as a straight man with no reason for the audience to care about him. McHale isn’t bad but his character is so blandly defined that there’s no center to “Community,” a fatal flaw in any sitcom.

Community
Photo credit: Chris Haston/NBC

The supporting cast of “Community” is pretty good but, once again, the writing lets them down. In particular, Annie and Shirley’s plotline in week two, in which they try to get behind a political cause and host protests and candlelight vigils on campus, is simply poorly written. Two episodes in and I don’t care at all about any of the characters on “Community”.

Comedy is all about timing and it’s off in the first episode of “Community” and downright bad in the second episode. Not only are the characters underwritten but on the occassion that they’re given something funny to say, it is pounded into the ground to the point that it’s not funny any more. The first appearance of Ken Jeong as Senor Chang could have made a subtle, quick joke about the perceived oddity of an Asian man teaching Spanish but instead of something brief, they allow Jeong an unbelievably long monologue that hits the ground with a thud.

Ultimately, the test of a TV comedy is simple - is it funny? The first episode of “Community” has a few definite chuckles (although you’ve seen most of them in the ads), but it is definitely the weak link in tonight’s chain of comedy premieres and it feels even more like the “one that doesn’t belong” in week two. We’ll call this one “incomplete” for now, but everything about “Community” is going to have to stay late and study hard if the show wants a passing grade.

‘Community,’ which airs on NBC, stars Joel McHale, Chevy Chase, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Ken Jeong, Alison Brie, and Donald Glover. The show was created by Dan Harmon. The series debuts on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 8:30PM CST.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Interview: Sam Rockwell Masters Addiction, Redemption in ‘Choke’

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:11:55 -0600

CHICAGO – Interviewing actor Sam Rockwell is like experiencing him in one of his many excellent characters. He has been Chuck Barris in “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” “Wild Bill” Wharton in “The Green Mile” and even Guy Fleegman in “Galaxy Quest”. He’s a true performer with a passion that bleeds through in “Choke,” which is his latest film.

Standing and pacing during the Q&A with HollywoodChicago.com, Rockwell made a hilarious theatrical moment out of his frustration while lighting a cigarette. In between all that, he talked about his latest characterization, which is a challenging and exceptional performance channeling an Oedipal and compulsive personality.

“Choke” star Sam Rockwell in Chicago on Sept. 3, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

Anjelica Huston in “Choke”.
Photo credit: Jessica Miglio

“Choke,” which is based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name (he also authored “Fight Club” and “Rant”), involves a sex addict named Victor (Rockwell).

His formerly free-spirited mother (Anjelica Huston) is dying in a local care center.

Between his 12-step sex addiction programs (where he engages in carnal knowledge in the restroom with a female participant) and his job as a character in a colonial theme park, Victor must try to reach a mother who essentially never cared for him.

“I relate to Victor because – like him – early on certain boundaries were broken in my life,” Rockwell said. “I saw things at an early age because my mom was a theater actress. I did a play with her when I was 10 years old. I was backstage with all these naked people and went to bars afterward. Like Victor, I was exposed to things early on.”

Left to right: Gillian Jacobs, Sam Rockwell and Brad William Henke in “Choke”.
Photo credit: Jessica Miglio

Rating: 4.5/5.0

To acquire money for his mother’s care, Victor has devised an attention-getting scam that involves choking on food so people will “save” him and in that heroism also take care of him. Rockwell offered: “The choking and the sex addiction are all related to trying to obtain intimacy. It’s the same goal.”

Victor’s life gets rearranged by a mysterious doctor in his mother’s care facility named Paige (Kelly MacDonald). She reveals a secret that could lead him on the road to redemption.

“Anjelica Huston and Kelly MacDonald are both really special,” Rockwell said. “Anjelica has such a fresh point of view about acting and doesn’t seem jaded at all. She seems more like a student and yet she is veteran actor who really brings it.”

“You fall in love with Kelly,” he added. “She is really unique because she is cast against type in this film.” Rockwell also talked about his preparation for the film and described how he attended sex addiction meetings in real life.

“Choke” star Sam Rockwell.
Photo credit: Jessica Miglio

Brad William Henke (left) and Sam Rockwell in “Choke”.
Photo credit: Jessica Miglio

“The sex addict stuff was required research to get inside the head of the guy,” Rockwell said. “All I had to do in the meetings during my research was say: ‘Hi. I am Sam. I’m questioning things.’ I stayed ambiguous without getting too personal. It’s a personal place.”

He also learned something in this analysis. Rockwell said: “Sex addiction is a pretty serious disorder. Anything compulsive can turn into an addiction.”

In working with Clark Gregg – who was directing his first film (and also wrote the screenplay) – Rockwell talked about the particulars in dealing with such a situation.

“Clark Gregg and I are around the same age. He has been an actor and is a writer,” Rockwell related. “But with a first-time director, there is a way to talk about things they might not know. Because Clark was an actor, though, he knew more about the process than most first-time directors.”

When asked about his penchant for playing odd and dark characters, Rockwell recounted a theory he has about general film character types.

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “Choke” image gallery.

RELATED READING
More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

“Once you accept that everything in film portrayal has been done already, you kind of think: ‘Well, they’ve done this character already. That is the best version,’” he said. “My question is always how I can improve upon that or make it different.”

Expounding upon that, Rockwell also said: “I like darker characters. I like playing bad guys. I think I’m drawn to them because those were the characters I liked from the movies when I was growing up. I liked ‘Taxi Driver,’ ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘The Deer Hunter’.”

Sam Rockwell absorbs this redemption-from-hell character in “Choke” with all the sickness and beauty it requires. The sympathy he evokes for Victor is indicative of the high level of actor he has become. He could almost be describing the character when he related his methodology in approaching all his roles.

“I always do drama,” Rockwell said. “It’s just that some people laugh at it and some people cry.”

“Choke,” which opened on Sept. 26, 2008, is directed by Clark Gregg and stars Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald, Brian William Henke and Bijou Phillips.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com