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Black Hat wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Browsing his film CV, I only like (and just "like") Bridesmaids, but on the TV end there's the Ben Stiller Show, the Critic, and the Larry Sanders Show, which are all three fantastic in their own fashions

How involved was he on those shows? I know he wrote Sanders, was not aware of him being in the mix with the other two.

He wrote for all three in addition to producing

And knives, I did not like Forgetting Sarah Marshall. You're probably thinking of how I defended Kristen Bell's character as the only adult in the film and criticized the film for its demonization of her

Ah, memory can be fuzzy. I thought you had said that you relatively liked it in comparison.

Turns out I was right, just not be degree. Oh well. I do think Apatow is pretty fair game and certainly not worth criticizing Black Hat for.

All I’d say is that his body of work as a producer is sprawling, and he’s thrown enough at the wall that I’m surprised if someone can’t find something among all of it that’s stuck. I don’t begrudge Black Hat his feelings on the matter.

Apatow produced The Cable Guy as well, which I love but appreciate its divisiveness.

I hope Showalter gets nommed so we get an awkward Oscar season with Michelle Williams

I can’t say I know the backstory to which you refer

Standard gossip disclaimer that this is all chatter from over a dozen years ago, but Showalter and Williams were dating during filming of the Baxter. Afterwards, she left to film Brokeback Mountain and allegedly cheated on him with Ledger, eventually leaving the comedian for the late actor

I found The Big Sick to be entertaining with appealing leads, but almost completely middle-of-the-road in its approach. At a full two-hours, the film also suffers from the typical Apatow bloat where it feels that everything that was shot found its way in (the "ordering a cheeseburger" scene was particularly superfluous, especially given it was lacking a solid pay-off gag).

One curious aspect I've not seen mentioned in reviews is that while the actual events depicted in the film took place circa 2007 and slightly earlier, the film itself takes place specifically in 2016 with a recent iPhone model used extensively and numerous "2016" dates visible on the screen. This disregard for period is surprising when the film is keen to present itself as a true story.

The moment I smiled the most at...

Spoiler

...was when Kumail is preparing to show Emily The Abominable Dr. Phibes on DVD and asks her to close her eyes when the menu comes up since it contains spoiler footage - that felt like something very true to life!

Roger Ryan wrote:The moment I smiled the most at...

Spoiler

...was when Kumail is preparing to show Emily The Abominable Dr. Phibes on DVD and asks her to close her eyes when the menu comes up since it contains spoiler footage - that felt like something very true to life!

What I loved about this was her reaction, calling him on being, well... male. Thought that was very clever.

mfunk9786 wrote:There are a few one-liners that, when seen with a crowd, absolutely destroy - Nanjiani and Gordon's screenplay and Michael Showalter's direction take numerous opportunities to seize upon the tension inherent in the circumstances of the plot to land well-placed jokes with a lot more bombast than if the audience were at ease.

I caught this in a half-full daytime showing with a mostly older audience, and one that really made me laugh out loud was (paraphrasing)

Spoiler

"9/11 was a terrible tragedy... we lost 19 great guys,"

but the rest of the audience did NOT find that amusing: total silence except for my chuckles.

The culture clash and sudden illness elements are enough to differentiate it from the standard "immature comedian has to learn to grow up" mode of Apatow film, though it probably would have been improved by leaning even more heavily into those elements. Overall, I'm solidly in the good-not-great crowd on this one, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it ends up with some awards consideration for Romano and/or Hunter, and I could see it getting some Original Screenplay attention depending on the rest of the field.

DarkImbecile wrote:

mfunk9786 wrote:There are a few one-liners that, when seen with a crowd, absolutely destroy - Nanjiani and Gordon's screenplay and Michael Showalter's direction take numerous opportunities to seize upon the tension inherent in the circumstances of the plot to land well-placed jokes with a lot more bombast than if the audience were at ease.

I caught this in a half-full daytime showing with a mostly older audience, and one that really made me laugh out loud was (paraphrasing)

Spoiler

"9/11 was a terrible tragedy... we lost 19 great guys,"

but the rest of the audience did NOT find that amusing: total silence except for my chuckles.

That was the exact line that went over so well in my screening that I couldn't hear the next 30 seconds or so of dialogue.