Reviews
Ronna & Beverly (2009)
Inspired.
The brilliant comedic team of Chaffin and Denbo gets a long-overdue TV vehicle, in collaboration with "Weeds" creator Jenji Kohan. Think of it as a distaff "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but with TWO impossible Jewish protagonists instead of just one. It's a joy to watch the improvisational virtuosity of these two performers, who've honed their chemistry at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater and elsewhere. Especially hysterical: Beverly's violent reaction to a cute baby, in which her affection is articulated as a bloody rampage. Of course, like Larry David, these two are masters of mortification, so be forewarned. Painful, indeed, but also painfully funny.
Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
Utterly Dreadful
It's amazing that Henry Fonda made the fantastic "Once Upon a Time in the West" the same year, or thereabouts, that he made this atrocity. Tonally inept, directed like a school play, with an obnoxious, heavy-handed score, this is an object lesson in how not to make a western. As you probably know by now, an impossibly brutal killer terrorizes a small town but no one has the courage to stand up to him. You'd think they could hand out a few guns and encircle the guy, instead of taking him on one at a time. Various central-casting western types cycle through, brandishing their mustaches and petticoats, and seem to have been left to their own devices on such matters as line readings (Keenan Wynn, in particular, barks his dialog as though dictating it to a sign painter). Ersatz Aaron Copeland music kicks up for interminable montages of town-building. Henry Fonda and Janice Rule have the same argument for two hours until, mercifully, some bloodshed makes the conversation moot. You will mourn the two hours of your life you sacrificed on the altar of this inert flick.
Godspell: A Musical Based on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (1973)
Ick.
Worst thing ever. Combines tendentious religiosity with embarrassing hippie-theater shenanigans to create an unwatchable stew. Unlike, say "Jesus Christ Superstar," there's no dramatic development for nonbelievers; but far worse are the hammy performances, lame jokes and other extremely dated "dramatizations" of Biblical poesy. There are a couple of good songs (notably the hit "Day by Day" and "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord"), but the visuals will likely overpower anyone who doesn't have a very strong theater-queerness gag reflex. Victor Garber's 'fro is impressive, though. I wish somehow they'd incorporated it into "Alias."