|
Post by Lounge Lizard on Feb 13, 2015 17:29:30 GMT -5
I don't really visit this board often (the top banner is flapjacksing great!) but I noticed there's no threads for this show so I'm starting one now! Season 10 is underway and so far my fav is "Charlie Work". Did you notice any similarities to Birdman while watching it?
|
|
Hey Cabot!
Nanite
Professional third wheel
Posts: 30
|
Post by Hey Cabot! on Feb 14, 2015 9:48:23 GMT -5
"Charlie Work" is a masterpiece. Charlie slamming the stool over and over while leading the health inspector around was so confusing to me, and then paid off in spades by the end when Dee sits on it and falls. Of course, there's the continuous take that is reminiscent of Birdman (haven't seen it, been meaning to) and other famous continuous takes in movies, like Goodfellas and Carrie. Not easy to pull off but everyone just nails it, especially the camera operator and Charlie Day, who is just tremendous in this show. I'm so glad that he's getting noticed by directors and being given memorable supporting roles in movies like Pacific Rim and The Lego Movie. Guillermo del Toro said of Charlie Day when casting him for Pacific Rim, (paraphrased) that in the episode "Charlie Kelly: King of the Rats" Charlie was able to project a kind of gravitas that really transcended the show. Even Horrible Bosses, which people have panned, features Charlie Day doing his damnedest.
I also love Kaitlin Olson, who has proven once and for all that it is entirely possible to be an actress both beautiful and funny. Most female characters get the kid glove treatment on sitcoms from all the male characters, but Dee Reynolds gets constant verbal abuse and can still hang with the boys. She's such a damaged character and yet she has a mean streak a mile wide which she lets out through subtle put downs and secret plots. I also love how Kaitlin Olson puts her gangly body to work in physical comedy bits. Just a fantastic comedian all around.
Glenn Howerton is tremendous as the narcissistic Dennis Reynolds. I love his slow turns to the camera and his smug expression at his own self-imagined brilliance. I also love that Dennis Reynolds is secretly a loser who needs his tiny cadre of barely-friends to prop up his fragile ego, and that Dennis is scarcely above being a sex offender. The show never shies from offensive humor, and yet never offends anyone, because it's always the characters and not the actors themselves, and the characters always fail at everything they try.
Rob McElhenny as Mac is maybe the most complex character on the show. He's also narcissistic like Dennis, and yet strictly in terms of his physique, which he images is far greater than it is. He's homophobic and yet a closet homosexual. He imagines himself to be a martial arts expert and yet runs from any confrontation. He wants Dennis' acceptance as a fellow womanizer, yet takes constant put-downs from Dennis while yearning to be the same inner-city urchin he was while growing up with Charlie.
Lastly, Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds. What is there to say? The man was already a legend of filthy comedy and now is still kicking it in his later years. I'm amazed at his energy and his camaraderie with the rest of the cast. In particular, Danny and Charlie have an incredible chemistry that works no matter where they are, whether it's in a boardroom trying to act like business exectives or in a junkyard scrounging for treasures.
The entire show, barring a few episodes here and there, are just comedic perfection. I've heard it called "Seinfeld on crack", but I think I love this show far more than I ever did Seinfeld. I think the difference here is that Seinfeld was always portrayed as the group's leader with no great flaws other than an inability to commit to women, while everyone on It's Always Sunny are terribly flawed, but prop each other up just enough that they're able to function as a group, however racist, misogynistic and woefully alcoholic that group might be. I recommend this show to anyone with an audacious sense of humor. It's just a treat.
|
|