Fury, Thy Name Is Alvarez – Casa de Mi Padre Review

“If you were smarter you would realize how dumb you are,” says an embittered Miguel Ernesto, father of Will Ferrell’s Armando Alvarez, the oafish but sweet protagonist of Casa de mi Padre, 2012’s early front runner of the “How The Fuck Did This Movie Ever Happen?” award which –fear not- is not a harbinger of subtitled doom. It’s just that this movie is such an odd duck, so unique and just kind of weird, that it’s amazing that it found a theatrical release, even with the star power of Ferrell fueling it. The end result is a movie sure to be unlike any other this year and also very, very funny.

From the opening moments of the film, where Armando picks up a very alive white baby calf and then in the very next shot it is a black, stuffed prop, the ridiculousness bar has been set. This type of visual humor runs rampant through Casa de mi Padre, some of it obvious (a beautiful house maid carrying a tray of drinks entering the room in one shot and in the next, a burly, hairy arm serves the glasses), and some of it not so obvious (mannequins sloppily placed within a scene, a gaudy woodcut Wolverine statue in the background of a dinner sequence).

In the film, Armando is the younger brother of a successful Mexican ranch family. Ferrell is obviously white as rice, but there is no mention of this in the film. He is Mexican and you better damn well believe it. The Alvarez farm is an isolated enough location for drug runners to drive to when they must do their dirtiest of work and this notion is personified when older brother Raul (Diego Luna) returns home with fancy clothes, an expensive car, and a beautiful girlfriend in Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez). Sonia is not quite happy in her relationship with Raul, mostly because he is creeping in on the drug trade in Mexico, which also happens to be encroaching on the business of the feared La Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal). La Onza is such a badass that he can smoke two Virginia Slims-style cigarettes at the same time. His nicotine prowess does little to scare Raul, who continues his illegal work.

Meanwhile, Armando and Sonia grow closer and closer. He takes her to the most beautiful place he’s ever seen, a poorly lit, badly dressed pond area on the farm. They ride together on horses made of wood and fabric and we see the same three shots of Armando saying “Interesante” while Sonia talks of her younger life. The plot thickens when La Onza realizes that Sonia, his niece, has a relationship with Raul and uses her as leverage to get him to back off of his hostile takeover of the area’s drug trade. It’s a pretty simple task, what with the Mexican police and American DEA agents in his pocket. But both La Onza and the Alvarez family underestimate Armando and a fucked-out vision quest turns him into the man he was destined to become: an unstoppable Mexican killing machine.

Casa de mi Padre is a wildly funny send up of Mexican melodramas, telenovelas, Spaghetti Westerns, and B-crime pictures. The entirety of the film is spoken in Spanish, save for a few lines from the lone American DEA agent, which in and of itself is a pretty bold move considering the current film market and studios nervous about anything that wasn’t a video game or action figure in its past life. Ferrell does a great job navigating a foreign language and holds up well against the native speaking and incredible talents of Bernal and Luna. His and Adam McKay’s company Gary Sanchez exec produces the film and their trademark humor runs rampant throughout it. Don’t be put-off by the randomness of the humor though- this isn’t a Jared Hess movie where all the characters and the world within is made awkward simply in order to make fun of it all. Certainly Casa de mi Padre is poking fun at the 70s-era Mexican melodrama, but it does so lovingly. And not all the humor is at the genre’s expense. Take for example a scene in which Armando asks Sonia to go riding. He tries to help her onto the horse, but does so awkwardly, pushing her into the horse like she was a sack of potatoes. This sequence continues for about a minute. A great joke like this isn’t at the expense of the characters or the genre, it’s just hilarious. Musical numbers also pepper the film over the course of its brisk running time and while they aren’t anywhere near the caliber of joke songs that Matt Stone and Trey Parker have given us in the past, they are very welcome and give the film a nice little boost of energy (one in particular, in which the only lyrics are “La La La” and are still subtitled, is pretty great).

Casa de mi Padre is not going to be for everyone. Like Kung Pow: Enter the Fist and Machete before it, the movie is a send up of a genre that not all are familiar with, but contains great laughs for those willing to dive in. The platform release will hopefully allow it to grab a foothold at the box office and encourage people to seek it out. We need more unique and oddball comedies to compensate for the Hangovers and Wedding Crashers of the world.

Images courtesy of Pantelion Films and Lionsgate Inc.

Oscars 2012 Recap: Fool’s Gold

For the third year in a row, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded the Best Picture Oscar to the most over-rated and over-hyped movie of the year. It started with the bland The Hurt Locker in 2009, the blander The King’s Speech in 2010, and now we have The Artist, a skillfully made film and one that deserves praise, but it was certainly not the single greatest film of 2011. The no-brainer Best Picture win of the night was the culmination of a droll and obvious awards ceremony, where there were absolutely no surprises and even fewer interesting moments which begged the question, “Why are we still watching?”

There was a time when the Oscars really meant something. When the most creatively successful and artistically present films were awarded prizes and those films were remembered and still resonated in the decades that followed. Now, of course, it is mostly a campaign that is as political as any presidential race and just as slimy and underhanded. The show itself was a mixed bag, nowhere near the black hole of suckage that was last year’s Franco/Hathaway train wreck. Billy Crystal may be old and predictable, but the cat is also reliable. His trademark opening video segment in which he adds himself into scenes of nominated films was funny and watching A-list actors provide their services to re-create scenes is always fun to see. The following musical number in which he recapped all the Best Picture nominees was okay, but generally meh. The brightest spots of the evening were few and far between, but those moments ended up glowing brightly amidst the dullness; the Cirque Du Soleil performance was as impressive as ever, and the SCTV/Christopher Guest troupe sketch about film focus groups was painfully true to life and very funny. Equally hilarious was Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis blasting cymbals into the faces of Brangelina, and newly crowned Oscar winner Jim Rash lampooning Jolie’s bizarre stance she displayed just seconds before handing him his trophy for Best Screenplay. None of it compared to the comedy home run of Sasha Baron Cohen, who came to the red carpet as The Dictator, spilled an urn containing the “ashes” of Kim Jong-il onto Ryan Seacrest, and was whisked away by security and never heard from again…

The wins of the night were all as predictable as any ABC procedural past or present, from Supporting Actress winner Octavia Spencer (it’s funny how shitting in a pie gets you an Oscar, but fucking one relegates you to teen comedies…) to Best Picture winner The Artist. People keep talking about how The Artist was a love letter to cinema…well, what the fuck was Hugo then? Hugo would fit that love letter bill much better than The Artist, but Hugo – of course – writes its cinema love letter with quiet subtlety, using fountain pen and parchment to The Artist’s gaudy, giant mylar heart balloon with streamers flying off of it. But the Academy is not known for picking subtle movies. After all, it didn’t recognize Drive for fuck all this year and gave the soap opera known as Crash top honors in 2006. But at least a film like Hugo was nominated and, in fact, was the most nominated film of the year. What speaks more to the tired process of the Oscars more than the nominated films and talent are the ones that got snubbed.

Drive is the most obvious and glaring snub of this entire awards season; easily the most critically praised movie to only be a blip on the Oscar radar (specifically, it was only granted one technical nomination). And what of Shame? The film itself is a searing portrait of sexuality and Michael Fassbender’s performance is absolutely the most raw, revealing (pun intended), and honest of the year and yet it joins the ranks of the forgotten. We Bought a Zoo, for all its old-Hollywood sentimentality, was a lovely tail (see what I did there?) about a man coping with loss and even if the competition was too fierce for the film itself, it has one of the most unique and gorgeous scores and original songs of any other film this year. Jonsi’s musical work in We Bought A Zoo is as significant as Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s contribution to The Social Network last year, but because Fox did not push the movie for awards, it simply drifted under the radar. Arguably, though, the biggest snub of the year next to Drive is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2. The entire Potter franchise has earned billions of dollars worldwide and every single entry was critically praised and yet in an environment that gives a Best Picture statue to The Return of the King in celebration of that fantasy trilogy’s entire creative and commercial success, the same good grace is not given to Harry Potter. If the Academy really did want to shrewdly try and harness that slippery 18-24 year old demographic, nominating this film would have been the smartest way to do it, especially because it’s a great fucking film. Instead, the dark horse slot is given to Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

An article in the Los Angeles Times provided an in-depth cross section of the Academy voters and though the data was no secret, seeing the numbers confirmed was still a shot to the gut. 94% of Academy voters are white and 77% of those are Male. What’s worse, the median age of a voter is 62 and less than 13% of voters are under 45. Knowing that it’s pretty much your grandparents who are voting for achievements in art, it’s easy to see where this train derails. How can a film like Shame or Drive or Harry Potter get properly awarded when the people doing the voting simply don’t understand or want to invest emotionally in a movie that is challenging their cobweb-filled head? The way the Oscars are executed needs to be changed. Drastically. It’s as outdated as the Nielsen ratings, Cameron Diaz, and Emo haircuts. The only reason that the Oscars are relevant anymore is because they serve as a career boost to the winners and people like seeing celebrities in gowns and tuxedoes. We need to look past the superficiality of it all and really do hard gut-check to find where this once prestigious awards show is broken and figure out a way to make it shine anew once more.

Images courtesy of FilmDistrict, The Weinstein Co., GK Films and IMDbPro

Advanced Screening: Casa De Mi Padre

Poptimal.com and Warner Bros. are teaming up to get 30 lucky Poptimal fans into an advanced screening of the new movie Casa De Mi Padre. Here is your chance to win a pair (2) of tickets.

Thursday, March 8
7:30 PM
AMC Georgetown
Washington, DC

In Theaters Friday, March 16 (www.casademipadremovie.com)

Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) has lived and worked on his father’s ranch in Mexico his entire life. As the ranch encounters financial difficulties, Armando’s younger brother Raul (Diego Luna), shows up with his new fiancée, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez). It seems that Raul’s success as an international businessman means the ranch’s troubles are over as he pledges to settle all debts his father has incurred. But when Armando falls for Sonia, and Raul’s business dealings turn out to be less than legit, all hell breaks loose as they find themselves in a war with Mexico’s most feared drug lord, the mighty Onza (Gael García Bernal).

Please note, tickets do not guarantee admittance. Seating is first come, first served.

Fill out the form below for a chance to win. (No Purchase Necessary) *** If you are on Twitter, you can get extra entries by following us at @Poptimal and send the following tweet: “I entered for a chance to win tickets to an Advance Screening of #CasaDeMiPadre. Thanks @Poptimal! – http://ht.ly/9ajyg” You will receive additional entries (limit one per day) to win the above prize.

Dear Santa: A Commentator’s Wish List

Dear Santa,

It’s almost Christmas. I promise I’ve been good this year…you can even check my social networking accounts. So, I’ve put together a list with my special Christmas television wishes.

All I want for Christmas is…

• An invitation to Sunday night dinner with the Reagan family on Blue Bloods.

• That Mike & Molly’s wedding goes off without a hitch. Although, realistically that probably won’t happen.

• For Wade (Wilson Bethel) and Zoe (Rachel Bilson) to get together on Hart of Dixie. Also, for Lemon (Jaime King) to stop trying to be so perfect. She’s much more likeable when she’s more relaxed.

• For 2 Broke Girls’ Max (Kat Dennings) and Caroline (Beth Behrs) to get some new diner uniforms. That mustard yellow is just atrocious.

• On a similar note, some new clothes, or at least some longer running shorts, for Schmidt (Max Greenfield) from New Girl because he always seems to be half naked.

• For Chuck (Ed Westwick) and Blair (Leighton Meester) to be okay following that car accident in the Gossip Girl fall finale. Also, that these two lovebirds finally tie the knot.

• More shirtless Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) on Hawaii Five-0. Plus, there’s always room for more McGarrett-Danno bromance.

• Mrs. Suit’s aka Elizabeth Burke (Tiffani Thiessen) safe return on White Collar.

• For a satisfying series end to In Plain Sight in its fifth and final season. It’s also probably about time Mary (Mary McCormack) & Marshall (Frederick Weller) got together.

• For Smash to be a hit! NBC could use one.

• For Modern Family to just keep on doing what it’s doing. Ditto with Happy Endings. These shows can do no wrong and just keep bringing the funny.

• Parenthood’s Amber (Mae Whitman) to realize that her calling is to work with kids who have disabilities, like her cousin Max (Max Burkholder) who has Aspergers syndrome, instead of continuing to work at the coffee shop.

• Please don’t let Poppy Montgomery’s show, Unforgettable, be cancelled. She deserves to be on television.

• All episodes of Homeland to be available On Demand or online so I can catch up on one of the most popular new shows.

• For Red Riding Hood (Meghan Ory) to be featured in an episode of Once Upon A Time. I think she’d have a pretty awesome storyline.

• That USA Network continues to air Elf before Christmas. There can never be enough Buddy the Elf.

 

Love,

Allison

PS- Since it is the season of giving…please give all Poptimal readers their own Christmas television wishes too. I’ll make sure I leave out extra cookies. Xoxo

 Images Courtesy of JoJo Whilden/CBS and Colleen Hayes/USA Network.

NBC TCA Press Tour 2011: Network Reboot

NBC’s seasonal TCA Press Tour is the network’s most major attempt to wow the media with their upcoming slate of programming for the fall schedule, which involves a fresh and expansive slate ranging from high-concept dramas to classically structured, multi-cam sitcoms. The tone was one of high hopes and new beginnings as NBC enters yet another season in last place (against the other big three networks), prime to reclaim lost thunder.

The first morning’s event kicked off with a presentation by new network chairman Robert Greenblatt, who announced an aggressive new approach to their comedy development, forging deals with near-sure things Greg Daniels and Gary Sanchez Productions. The Daniels deal will focus on animated programming, where Daniels gained his footing while running King of the Hill with Mike Judge. “We are very fortunate to continue our productive creative relationship with Greg Daniels, a gifted and extremely versatile producer-writer,” Greenblatt confirmed. The deals with these comedy powerhouses are inspired and will hopefully bring some new flavor and edge to a network whose comedy crow’s feet are beginning to show. After Greenblatt’s announcement, the whirlwind tour began and packed an all-star punch.

Free Agents seeks to be the Californication of NBC, a single-camera comedy based on a UK export that revolves around the aftermath of two co-workers (Hank Azaria, Kathryn Hahn) sleeping with one another and the awkwardness that ensues in the aftermath of the hook-up. The two principles are supported by a ridiculously strong supporting cast including Anthony Head, Natasha Leggero, and Joe LoTruglio. The State alum LoTruglio may have been a bit confused, but nonetheless enthused, exclaiming, “I have to say, for my first Comic-Con, you guys look amazing!” Joking, of course, but breaking the ice enough to delve into the sexual nitty-gritty of the show. Whereas the vast majority of shows build and build a male/female relationship undoubtedly towards romance, Free Agents completely eschews the notion, getting all that nasty sex out of the way in the pilot episode. But who would make such a rash decision? How about anyone? “He’s just a wreck,” Azaria explains of his character. “And men are more and more being allowed to show their vulnerability and admit they have no idea what they are doing.” Hahn, too, delights in the flaws of her character. “She has a lot of pride, and I think that it is kind of her armor. And underneath she’s a mess. Just a mess,” she admitted. Lending an extra dosage of uncomfortability is the consummate Anthony Stewart Head, reprising his role from the British export. “I’m just inappropriate. His behavior is undoubtedly inappropriate on every level,” he said. Look to see gobs of up-tempo, fast-talking, His Girl Friday-style freak outs in which the creatives see an infinite amount of possibilities. “We could take it so many different places,” Hahn muses. “This will ebb and flow. There’s going to be a instant push-pull I’m sure.” Executive Producer Todd Holland smiles in agreement. “Sooner or later,” he said, “when you’re all trapped in one space, somebody is going to sleep with somebody.”

Double-fisting the Wednesday night funny with Free Agents is Up All Night, a show that has a pedigree that any comedy would die to be born from. Executive produced by Lorne Michaels, birthed from a seasoned SNL writer, and starring Will Arnett, Christina Applegate, and Maya Rudolph, Up All Night has already become NBC’s most touted new comedy this side of Whitney and looks to have expectations just as high. Rather than being ripped from the headlines, the show’s inspiration instead lies within the life of creator and SNL writer Emily Spivey. “It came from having a baby, getting promoted at SNL…and thinking, ‘Oh, I can do this..’ and it was just a real trial,” Spivey explained. What wasn’t so much a trial was getting Lorne Michaels on board as an Executive Producer, who warmed to the idea immediately. “It didn’t feel like it was well-trod territory. I know Lucy had a baby and people have been having babies on television for a long time, but it is always just off stage. And this was…what it’s like to be a modern parent at this moment,” he said. The show also has a rich pool from which to draw material, with all of the main cast officially parents themselves. Case in point, a story line currently in development that spawned from a story Applegate retold about deciding on what she and her husband decided to call the baby’s “no-no place.” Comparatively, Arnett’s brow furrows at the thought of parenthood. “I was legitimately Up All last Night,” he quipped. Rudolph smiles, commiserating. “I feel like any point that we’re all together, one of us can say that and it’s actually true.”

Switching gears to drama, the peacock presented its newest take on the procedural, cop-drama Prime Suspect. Adapted from the Helen Mirren starrer of the same name, the show follows the exploits of Jane Timoney, an iconoclastic female detective who must carve her own path within the male-dominated NYPD Homicide division. At the thematic forefront of the show is the inherent sexism that will come with everyday interactions amongst the characters, though Executive Producer Alexandra Cunningham ensures that it will not be a hard and fast focal point. “I think some of the characters will react to her in a traditionally sexist way, and other characters will just not like her because of the person she is, that she’s very rude and uncompromising and ambitious.” Cunningham also promises to be in spirit with the original series, but won’t be beholden to it, a method that has garnered praise from none other than original Prime Suspect creator Lynda La Plante. “She couldn’t be happier that Maria’s shouldering the character now, and she said a lot of stuff that brought a tear to my eye,” Cunningham said. Maria Bello also couldn’t be happier about the role, explaining, “My favorite shows growing up were Baretta and Columbo and Kojak. They were all detectives that had a little weird thing, their own quirk. And we haven’t seen a woman like that on television, a woman detective. So I feel really lucky that I get to explore her.” Also adding a touch of grit and realism to the show is Executive Producer Peter Berg, who also directed the pilot. “The two things that were really important to us were, ‘A: Casting’, but the other, frankly, was to make sure we protect a certain audience expectation and that being a procedural expectation,” he said. So in short, expect a Case-of-the-Week type structure with more attitude and dramatic grit than you can shake a police baton at. “These are all extraordinary actors,” Berg stresses. “They don’t look like a bunch of Abercrombie & Fitch models running around solving homicides in Miami, all backlit with greens and blues.” It seems that Bello is primed to make considerable waves both off and on camera. How long her character, and the show for that matter, can last before breaking is anyone’s guess.

Free Agents and Up All Night debut Wednesday, September 14 at 10:30/9:30c and 10/9c, respectively, on NBC.

Prime Suspect premieres Thursday, September 22 at 10/9c on NBC.

Stick with Poptimal for more coverage of the NBC fall schedule.

Images courtesy of Keith Kuramoto for Poptimal and NBC.

Anthony Stewart Head of "Free Agents" Anthony Stewart Head of "Free Agents"	Anthony Head leaps across the pond for US version of "Free Agents" Anthony Head leaps across the pond for US version of "Free Agents"	Anthony Head reprises his role as Stephen in "Free Agents" Anthony Head reprises his role as Stephen in "Free Agents"
The cast of "Free Agents" The cast of "Free Agents"	The cast and producers of "Free Agents" The cast and producers of "Free Agents"	Hank Azaria, star of "Free Agents" Hank Azaria, star of "Free Agents"
Kathryn Hahn, star of "Free Agents" Kathryn Hahn, star of "Free Agents"	Lorne Michaels, executive producer of "Up All Night" Lorne Michaels, executive producer of "Up All Night"	Lorne Michaels of "SNL" fame and "Up All Night" Lorne Michaels of "SNL" fame and "Up All Night"
Maria Bello, star of "Prime Suspect" Maria Bello, star of "Prime Suspect"	Maria Bello stars as Jane Timoney in "Prime Suspects" Maria Bello stars as Jane Timoney in "Prime Suspects"	Maria Bello talks "Prime Suspects" with Poptimal Maria Bello talks "Prime Suspects" with Poptimal
Maya Rudolph of "Up All Night" Maya Rudolph of "Up All Night"	Christina Applegate, star of "Up All Night" Christina Applegate, star of "Up All Night"	Peter Berg, executive producer of "Prime Suspect" Peter Berg, executive producer of "Prime Suspect"
Peter Berg of "Friday Night Lights" promotes new series "Prime Suspects" Peter Berg of "Friday Night Lights" promotes new series "Prime Suspects"	The cast and producers of "Prime Suspects" The cast and producers of "Prime Suspects"	Left to right: stars Maya Rudolph, Will Arnett, Christina Applegate and executive producer Lorne Michaels of "Up All Night" Left to right: stars Maya Rudolph, Will Arnett, Christina Applegate and executive producer Lorne Michaels of "Up All Night"
Cast and producers of "Up All Night" Cast and producers of "Up All Night"	Cast and producers/creator of "Up All Night" Cast and producers/creator of "Up All Night"

The Office Review: Search Committee

Creed’s the man. Who’d have thought? No one, at least not until he rolls up to the office parking lot in a Porsche Boxster proclaiming, “It’s a beautiful morning at Dunder Mifflin, or as I like to call it, ‘Great Bratton’.” Unfortunately, he’s totally out of his mind, or at the very least, senile. Scranton needs a new manager, STAT. The search starts at Will Arnett’s feet. The search team, comprised of Jim, Toby, and Gabe begin interviewing candidates in earnest and we begin watching in a similar fashion, knowing that none of these guest-stars are really going to be the show’s new hire. After a while it feels like an exercise in futility and unfortunately, this is the structure of 70% of the episode which begins to grate even through many funny bits.

As Arnett begins to crash and burn mid-interview, the rest of the office has turned into a high school campus  during campaign week, with virtually all rolling the dice and fighting for the coveted manager spot, from the sheepish (Andy quietly wears an “Andy For Manager?” button) to the savvy (Darrell’s self-proclaimed strongest skill: “I’m blaaaaack!”). Dwight, however, has pulled a complete 180 and is no longer even working, instead opting for the silent protest of sitting around in his pajamas and reading the newspaper at his desk, more specifically the classifieds. Yes, Dwight is thinking about moving on.

Enter James Spader, who is hands down the most awesomely hilarious candidate of the episode. For the team, interviewing him is like looking down the barrel of a gun as his misdirected intensity sucks all the air out of the room. Consider his answer to a basic interview question: “There is no such thing as a product. There is only sex.” Post-interview, Jim breaks the silence and admits, “He creeps me out. But I think he might be a genius.” Minutes later in the building lobby, Dwight overhears Spader ripping on the company to an incoming Ray Romano. It’s a truly weird scene in a lot of ways, most pointedly being that James Spader could very well be Dwight Schrute’s Bizzaro-World doppelganger, or more specifically if Dwight popped one of those transparent pills from Limitless, he would become Spader. But the belittling of Dunder-Mifflin is more than enough to set a hatless Dwight off and gives him a sudden burst of inspiration. “See my hat?” he challenges. “That’s because I just threw it in the ring.”

It’s about here that the structure of the episode begins wearing thin and it feels like everyone is on auto pilot. The Manager interviews continue their round-robin of ridiculous. Cue the talking-head segments. Back to interviews, rinse and repeat. Every so often a gust star like Ricky Gervais will come in and quell the monotony, but it is short lived. Jo (Kathy Bates) arrives after the interviews have wrapped to assess where the branch is at. She is immediately pounced on by Dwight, begging for an interview she does not grant. This doesn’t stop Dwight though, and he goes to great lengths to try and get his foot in the door, going so far as to wrap himself head-to-toe in bandages, playing the (burn) victim, but fails gloriously. Despite his insanity, Jo allows Dwight to interview (“I like a little crazy”), the fallout of which leads to an open forum on the office floor, with everyone airing their grievances and opinions of who they want as a boss. The search team reconvenes to make a decision…and it just kinda ends.

Unfortunately, the biggest misstep of the entire finale is the ending, by which I mean there is none. That’s not to say it’s lacking some sort of finality or cliffhanger- its not (Mad Men’s finales by comparison are structured similarly, but there’s always a sense of closure). It simply fails to move forward at all and fully shows how the episode more or less runs around in a circle chasing its tail for an hour. The entire episode is built around finding a new boss, but there isn’t even a loose decision made by the time it’s over and it simply just feels like a waste of time. The show would have been much better off ending the season with Michael’s departure, leaving these last few episodes including the Ferrell arc to kick-start the new season next fall. All in all, the finale wasn’t a total misfire, but it came frustratingly close, especially when you expect some sort of answer and are led on for an hour to end up not getting what was promised. Bummer.

Season 7, Episode 23: “Search Committee” (originally aired May 19, 2011)

Is The Office lost without Michael Scott? Post a comment in our discussion boards below!

Click here for more Poptimal coverage of The Office.

Images courtesy of Chris Haston for NBC Universal and IMDbPro

 

 

 

The Office Review: Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager

Sometimes dreams really do come true. Sometimes, a worst nightmare is brought to life. In the case of “Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting Manager),” both happen for Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and the rest of the office when he is delegated interim manager. With D’angelo (Will Ferrell) in a coma and the office in a state of flux, the Scranton branch has been able to self sustain without a manager to great results; orders are going out on time, stress levels have dropped. There’s even a foosball table in the manager’s office. Life is good. That, of course, lasts all of fifteen seconds and when Jim passes up the opportunity to stand as acting manager for the office as to not ruin a good thing, the offer is brought to Dwight, who takes it with the dramatic reverence of a Shakespearian melodrama. It is both the dream and the nightmare horribly come to life. Pam’s quiet question to Jim speaks for us all: “What have you done?”

A week passes and in that brief amount of time, Dwight has turned the office into a Socialist’s fantasy playground. Everyone must punch in via an ancient time clock; oversized business cards have been distributed, their titles, all, “junior employee”; lunch breaks are painfully staggered (Jim’s is at 10:30 in the morning); the day starts by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance beside a hokey acrylic portrait of Dwight. All drama does not fall at the feet of Dwight, though. Still feeling threatened by Andy’s (Ed Helms) pseudo-friendship with Erin, Gabe drags him into the conference room for a good ol’ tongue lashing, though he pretty much ends up crying like a baby. Andy promises they are friends, whether it is true or not (spoiler alert: NOT). Gabe later professes his love (again) to Erin in the middle of the office, but Erin later reveals in an interview segment that she isn’t looking for a relationship and, regarding Gabe, “It was a challenge being touched by him.” Ouch.

Meanwhile, the Iron Curtain continues to fall on Scranton: everyone has copy codes. Coffee is on an Honor payment system. Stringent filters have throttled internet use. As if it couldn’t get any worse, Dwight is gifted a holster from his uncle and begins ambling around the office with the leather accessory hung low across his waist, with an actual gun resting in it. Needless to say this doesn’t exactly go over well and the office insists that Dwight stow the hand cannon. He finally gives, but not before spinning it around moronically…and accidentally firing it, nearly hitting Andy. Dwight down-plays the accident as Andy struggles to find perfect pitch. “I can’t find perfect C!” he wails. From here, you can more or less point to this as the moment when Dwight’s perfect little world begins to implode. Andy is rushed to the hospital after a WebMD diagnosis crashes and burns after hitting one of Dwight’s Internet filters and Toby begins to file an accident report. On top of this, Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates) is due to stop by the office to check in on things now that Michael has left.

The tide turns quickly and everyone starts using the gun shot as leverage to revert the office back to the way it was: no copy codes, no honor system coffee, no paintings. Jim’s request: for Dwight to work in “Shagadelic, Baby” into a conversation with Jo and to do jazz hands whenever he coughs. It’s a special torture in concentrated form and it’s awesomely hilarious. Amazingly, Dwight finds the willingness to come clean not because it’s the right thing to do, but because he loves the middling position of office manager so much that he won’t even let himself do it half-assed. Jo is none too pleased and immediately removes him as acting manager and decides to replace Dwight with someone based only on seniority, leaving Creed in charge. Dwight is crestfallen at losing his dream job, but Jim warmly reassures him that work during his tenure was good and maybe even “shagadelic.” It’s small moments like these that remind us that everyone within the office is one big family, no matter how at odds they are with one another, even Dwight.

Next week’s episode not only marks the season finale, but also the reveal of who will replace Steve Carrell. Not sure if it’s supposed to be some kind of big mystery, but between the massive guest stars, barring some secret left-field announcement, my money is on Ricky Gervais. Ray Romano already has a gig, Will Arnett isn’t high profile enough (though really, I desperately want him on this show), and Jim Carrey is just there to plug his inconceivably ridiculous new movie.  Seeing how Dwight is going to deal with the new hire is going to be way more interesting than seeing who it actually is, me thinks.

Season 7, Episode 23: “Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager” (originally aired May 12, 2011)

Discover the identity of the next Michael Scott on The Office season finale, next Thursday, May 19, at 9/8c on NBC

Images courtesy of NBC Universal and IMDbPro

The Office Review: The Inner Circle

Changes abound in the office and it’s not just a monumental personnel shift.  D’Angelo (Will Ferrell) schedules a meeting and, with great authority (“If you don’t like it – this is called a door, you can walk right through it. I live to leave at five.”), sends Darrell to business school, gives Toby a new chair, and integrates “Ice Cream Thursdays” into the schedule.  But the changes don’t stop there; an inner circle has formed with Jim, Gabe, Darrell, and Kevin where they discuss important office matters, much to the chagrin of the other office-ites, but most specifically Andy (Ed Helms). Despite the inner circle, D’Angelo does his best to make nice around the office, extending the olive branch to Dwight time and time again, only to have Dwight deflect every single gesture much to the new boss’s dismay. “It’s like my relationship with my son, except there, I’m the Dwight,” D’Angelo laments. The rubber hits the road when the two talk in the break room, ending with D’Angelo insisting that he will win over Dwight, shortly before fleeing back to his office.

There is some inconsistency with D’Angelo’s character, specifically between his random, crazier antics of last week (double-fisting cake, shoving marshmallows into the coffee maker) and this week, which feels like the EPs weren’t quite sure where to take his character, though it’s worth mentioning if the rumors are true regarding his full arc, it’s going to be one fucked up ending to the season. That said, the craziest thing D’Angelo does in this episode is perform a “motivational juggling” routine without any juggling props. It’s an awesome scene that shows Will Ferrell in his element, totally improvising the entire sequence, all to the tune of some guilty-pleasure nu-metal, courtesy of Evanescence.

While the employees on the main floor grapple with their new boss, Ryan (B.J. Novak) has woven an intricate lie that has him supervising Kelly (Mindy Kaling) even though the two are on even-footing. The ruse forces Ryan (or, if we’re being honest, just enables him) to reprimand Kelly for imaginary infractions whenever D’Angelo is around, but it is short-lived; Kelly can only take so much and quickly outs him, “Ryan isn’t my supervisor. He’s like Rango.” Ryan’s rebuttal? “I…have not seen Rango.” Impossibly, the entire argument goes over D’Angelo’s head and he decides to just keep Ryan as Kelly’s supervisor regardless.

Venting about D’Angelo in the break room, Angela calls him out as a sexist since he doesn’t ever talk to any of the females on the staff and no one can deny that she has a point. Jim takes the initiative to talk to D’Angelo about the issue, which turns into another inner circle meeting, but ultimately seems agreeable to addressing the complaint. Out on the main floor, he asks the oft-poignant question, “Raise your hand if you have a vagina. Raise your hand if someone you love has a vagina.” In a feeble attempt to douse the controversy, he hires a beautiful, inexperienced female as his assistant, but this of course doesn’t exactly work, though Dwight is actually willing to side with D’Angelo, “NBA. WNBA. One is a sport, and one is a joke. I love sports and jokes. What’s the big deal?”

Later on in the day, the inner circle receives texts for another meeting, except for Jim. Because of his feather-ruffling, Jim has been removed from the circle, made all the more clear when he crashes the meeting and is greeted with an uncomfortable silence which remains until he slinks out of the office. Meanwhile, Dwight continues to refuse D’Angelo’s gestures, even when they are liaised by his new assistant. “D’Angelo, tell your whore to leave me alone.”

Jim’s ostracization from the inner circle is short lived, being asked back in during a ridiculously intense game of office-basketball in D’Angelo’s office. Rather than accepting, he instead proposes an exhibition, calling out D’Angelo’s statement that he can dunk like Jordan. He reluctantly agrees to the challenge and the office reconvenes in the warehouse where a regulation-size hoop sits. He makes his dunk in half a suit (below the waist, it’s all athletic wardrobe) and shouts successfully, “The Doctor is in!” just before the hoop doubles over and collapses onto him violently. An ambulance whisks him away, leaving the office in another state of limbo and opening the door for another possible replacement.

Sadly, we are in the twilight of Will Ferrell’s arc on the show. Short-lived, but wholly memorable. It’s really a shame that he’s one of the biggest comedy movie stars in the world because he would be a great fit for the show. No doubt, his energy would be better spent donning once again his Ron Burgundy leisure suit, but Paramount are a bunch of bottom-line obsessed dick heads, so let’s just put that to bed (Tangent averted! Success!). In any event, D’angelo is quickly losing his shit, so it’s not so much wondering if he’s leaving, but how they’ll be hitting that jettison button. With only two episodes left in the season and a jam-packed guest starring lineup, that ousting is going to be anyone’s guess, but it’s probably going to be great.

Season 7, Episode 22: “The Inner Circle” (originally aired May 5, 2011)

Find out what becomes of D’Angelo Vickers and the Office-ites Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC

Images courtesy of IMDbPro and Chris Haston for NBCUniversal

The Office Review: Michael’s Last Dundies

D’angelo Vickers’ (Will Ferrell) integration into Dunder Mifflin continues this week with “Michael’s Last Dundies,” which executes what The Office does the very best- marrying comedy and sentimentality without being ridiculous about it.

In true awards fashion, Michael and D’angelo are up at the butt-crack of dawn (6am to be exact) to surprise the nominees of the 2011 Dundies at their respective doorsteps, which is basically the entire office staff. Michael’s OCD is on overdrive since this is his last Dundies and he wants everything to go perfect, but converting D’angelo is proving to be the bigger challenge; he’s unsure of whether the tradition is something he wants to keep around, especially after Michael announces him as co-host for the event, putting Dwight (Rainn Wilson) further into a corner. Michael tries to appease D’angelo, saying, “the Dundies are like the Golden Globes, but less mean,” but D’angelo suffers from a crippling wave of stage fright he needs help to overcome. Michael tries to lend a hand, or an ass, by sitting on a prone D’angelo and putting him through a round of vocal exercises. Amazingly enough, no one seems to notice or care, which is one of the subtle, funniest aspects of the scene. That is, until Michael puts headphones on D’angelo and turns an ancient early-90s Walkman on full-blast in an effort to distract him while he reads cue cards- sorry – SCREAMS cue cards.

Over lunch, Jim and Pam run into Erin (Ellie Kemper) sitting in her car and she frantically asks them to quickly get in. She confesses that she is unhappy with Gabe and hiding in her car is the only time away from him that he has and doesn’t know what to do. “I can’t just dump him. I’m not like you, Pam- I can’t be mean.” Despite the backhanded compliment, Pam tells her to be firm and break up with him.

That evening, the Dundies gets underway, starting off strong with a completely hilarious video intro which finds D’angelo on the hunt for Michael so he can host the show. Along the way, he runs into office workers, all portrayed by Michael in costume. The Angela and Phyllis impersonations are great, but the Jim scene is the most off-base and funniest. Ferrell also reminds us how awesome he is at acting badly, which really is an art unto itself.  Trouble looms when Michael and D’angelo take the stage, only to have D’angelo run off in a panic, headed straight for the bathroom. Michael chases after him and gives him a pep talk, complete with face slaps. It’s hard to tell what convinces D’angelo, the talk or the slapping, but he and Michael quickly return to the stage. Notable awards include “Most Promising Assistant Manager” going to Dwight, which he dedicates to a garbage can and promptly disposes of into said can; the “Diabetes Award” to Stanley; the “Cutest Red Head in the Office” award to Erin, where she uses her speech time to publicly break up with Gabe, “I just…I cringe whenever we talk…” , making for both the best and worst speech of the night. Michael even gives the “Best Dundies Host” award to D’angelo, who once again panics during his acceptance speech and turns to the aid of his Walkman, announcing full-bore, “THIS IS SUCH A SURPRISE. I WAS IN THE BATHROOM JUST VOMITING AND VOMITING,” at which point, the restaurant quickly shuts the show down.

Despite the setback, the team convinces Michael to finish out the show at the office, where in a night full of surprises, they give Michael the best surprise of them all- an impromptu (but secretly rehearsed) rendition of the Rent hallmark “Seasons of Love”, tailor-lyriced to Michael’s robust and storied career at the Scranton branch; “9 million 986 thousand minutes/that’s how many minutes that you’ve worked here.” Each person adds their own personal lyric to the song and it is quickly realized the effect that Michael has had on everyone, and more importantly, the effect everyone has had on Michael, good and bad. But mostly good. It’s an incredibly sweet, totally balanced moment- an “aw, shucks” realization that Steve Carell really is leaving for good and this isn’t just a Sweeps stunt. No doubt, the talent on the show are going to miss him as much as their characters and vice-versa.

Summing up the episode, in the eloquent words of Michael Scott, “Well, this is gonna hurt like a Motherfucker.”

Season 7, Episode 20: “Michael’s Last Dundies” (originally aired April 21, 2011)

Don’t miss Steve Carell’s last episode this Thursday, April 28 at 9/8c on NBC.

Images courtesy of NBC and IMDbPro

The Office Review: Training Day

“Training Day” marks a changing of the guard for The Office, not to mention Steve Carell’s swan song for the series. But Greg Daniels is not sending Carell out on a rail though and is instead finishing season seven in the strongest way possible: Will Ferrell.

After Michael’s announcement that he will be leaving Dunder Mifflin, the company has finally found an adequate replacement in D’angelo Vickers (Will Ferrell) and the two plan to meet at the bar inside D’angelo’s hotel. In classic Michael Scott fashion, the two strike up a conversation without even knowing who one another is. Michael finally decides to give D’angelo a call to check in and when his phone rings, he steps away to answer the call. The scene becomes meta when they begin having another conversation on the phone, right next to each other, in the same bar without either of them being the wiser. The two eventually catch up with real-time and the ball officially gets rolling.

The next day finds D’angelo getting up to speed with the ins and outs of the Scranton office by shadowing Michael and getting to know the team; Andy becomes the “funny guy,” Dwight feels outcast by getting stepped over for the management position, and Kelly sets up a convenient “meet-cute” by bumping into D’angelo with an armful of files. The rest of the day is spent by the team in an all-out suck-up fest, each of them trying to put their best foot forward with D’angelo (“We only have one kid, but she poops for four!”, “The southwest? That’s my favorite region!”, “My boyfriend is a senator!”) All of this puts a bad taste in Michael’s mouth as he watches longingly from a distance as everyone seems to transition away from him much smoother than he could have possibly imagined. It’s as if they didn’t ever need him to begin with. He tries to interrupt the love fest with a classically weak, “You decide to have an orgy without me? I call middle!” but does little to turn the tide.

The two butt heads again when they passive-aggressively argue over how Erin should answer the phone (“Dunder Mifflin, this is Erin” versus “Dunder Mifflin, how may I help you?”) causing her to completely shut down, and the conflict accelerates further when D’angelo brings in the best reviewed barber on Yelp to shave him in the office and Michael buys a small can of Barbisol, getting Erin to shave him in an insane, hilarious one-upmanship competition. Meanwhile, Andy has woefully become D’angelo’s dancing monkey and every time he asks him, “Make me laugh,” Andy’s attempts at humor get more and more desperate, the peak of which finds him flailing about with cheese puffs and eating dish soap at the oafish request of D’angelo.

During all this, Dwight continues his secret coup but inadvertently discovers that Michael never referred him for the management position, which will no doubt come back to haunt Michael sooner rather than later. It all comes to a head when Michael starts passing out a mid-afternoon snack of PB&J sandwiches, despite D’angelo’s peanut allergy. “There are nut particles circulating all around this office!” D’angelo screams as Michael tosses the sandwiches freely about the room. D’angelo calls an emergency meeting in the conference room to get away from the nuts, but Michael tries to convince the office to not join. They do, of course, and Michael gives up, but not before D’angelo runs out and asks him for some pointers, which turns into a dopey heart-to-heart ending with the two hugging in what can only be described as “standing reverse-cowgirl”.  “Why did you have to be so good?” Michael laments as the homo-erotic euphemisms fly fast and furious.

Will Ferrell’s addition to the final episodes of this season is a real shot in the arm for the series. And even though his time is limited, or it at least appears that way, time with Will Ferrell is always time well spent.

Season 7, Episode 19: “Training Day” (originally aired April 14, 2011)

Don’t miss Steve Carell’s last days at The Office, Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC

Images courtesy of NBC and IMDbPro

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