WILL AND GRACE THE REVIVAL SEASON 1: WASN’T THIS SHOW FUNNY?

While I watched this new revival of the groundbreaking series from 1998-2005 I kept asking myself that question: wasn’t this show funny when it was first on? I can remember watching it back then but not to the point I found it to be must see TV. I did enjoy it and laughed at the shows I can recall watching. But in watching this season not so much. As a matter of fact I can only recall laughing twice while watching this.

For those who don’t recall the series it’s the story of two best friends who live together. Grace (Debra Messing) is a somewhat successful home designer who we last saw get married when the show ended. She’s not divorced and once again living with Will (Eric McCormack). Will is a successful lawyer and gay. When the show first aired that was a somewhat controversial aspect of the show. These days it’s nothing more than another show on the air. Across the hall from their apartment lives Karen Walker (Megan Mullally), a wealthy woman whose husband is rarely seen. Living in the same apartment is Jack (Sean Hayes), a gay actor still searching for the right role and living off of Karen as much as she allows. The four of them are friends and find themselves in various sitcom difficulties with each episode.

So what makes this season different. To start off with the opening episode has decided to dive into the realm of political commentary while forsaking comedy. The episode is perhaps one of the most mean spirited things I’ve ever witnessed on TV. There have been some truly humorous shows and skits revolving around the current President, Donald Trump. Even some of the worst skits seen on SNL have at least had some humor to them. This one just seems determined to placate the personal politics of the stars as they bash Trump from the beginning of the episode to the end. It makes for a bumpy start that was sure to please some and alienate others which seems like an odd thing for a series to do out of the gate.

Fortunately the series doesn’t remain in his style with each episode that follows. But each of these episodes seems a bit dated in today’s world. Where a story involving openly gay characters in the past might have been controversial they’re blasé now. And yet the same humor found in the series earlier incarnation is found here once more as if time had not passed and acceptance had never occurred. It becomes trapped in a time warp with only a few things making it different. Most of those involve the now acceptable act of two men kissing, something that would have alarmed folks back when the show first aired. Today it’s nothing.

One thing that has changed with time is the ages of the actors and the characters as well. Episodes deal with that here as when Will begins dating a younger man while Jack faces the fact he’s not as young as he once was. Another episode deals with a grandchild that Jack never knew he had. But their love lives are still a topic of several episodes, dealing with coming out of the closet it discussed and more items that as I keep saying might have been controversial or surprising in the past but whose time has long since passed.

Perhaps the worst thing about the revival is the lack of anything funny. I kept watching and hoping that I would find something to make me laugh. Two exceptions out of 16 episodes is not a great track record for a comedy series. In comparison I find myself laughing almost non-stop at the series MAN WITH A PLAN, even when I watch the reruns. And if it weren’t enough that this series was trying to revamp topics from its previous incarnation they even try and revamp items from other shows such as Grace and Karen getting trapped in a shower that’s sealed shut. Shades of Lucille Ball!

In the end I can’t recommend this series on TV let alone spending money on it to own. I’m sure there will be the die-hard fans that will buy anything connected to the series and find it amusing. And there will be fans of the shows political persuasion which is on display throughout that will scream yeah take that and find enjoyment in the mean spirited moments it offers. But for most this is nothing more than a ghost of what the show once was, a pale imitation, a look at characters that were once funny now fueled by an obvious laugh track instead of actual laughter. I think there are other shows who played politics in a more subtle manner that are more enjoyable. Like M*A*S*H whose old episodes can still evoke laughter. Not so this revamp.

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BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE: FLAKY COUNTER CULTURE

I can remember when this movie was released back in 1969. I was only 12 at the time but I kept hearing about this controversial film that was released that people were shocked by. I wasn’t old enough to see it but even MAD magazine did parodied the movie. So naturally when I got older and had a chance to see the movie I was anxious to learn what the controversy was all about. That came when the movie made its way to video. I watched it unimpressed and wondering what the controversy was all about.

Now here we are almost 50 years later and the movie makes its way to a new blu-ray edition via Twilight Time. Remembering what I thought of the film years before I decided to try it again and see if I had missed something back then or if it truly was one of those groundbreaking films to come out of the sixties. The end result was that I did see it through different eyes but it didn’t make the film that much better.

Ted Sanders (Robert Culp) is a documentary film makers who goes to an Esalen-type retreat with his wife Carol (Natalie Wood) thinking that perhaps there is a film to be made about the place. If you’re unfamiliar with Esalen it was one of those counter-culture pop psychology type groups where people would try to get in touch with their inner feelings. At a 24 hour session Bob and Carol open up to the group and to one another and find a peace in their ability to be completely honest with everyone.

They return home and later go to dinner with their friends Ted (Elliott Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon), a conservative couple they’re best friends with. They can’t talk enough about how wonderful the experience was and when Ted doubts them they try to get him to open up. The thing is every time he says something they don’t agree with they call it a cop out until he laments and tells them what they want to here at which point they praise him. Their “enlightenment” goes so far that Carol tries to open up with their waiter making Alice uncomfortable. We’re supposed to see Alice as the one with the hang ups but for me she becomes the sanest member of the group.

Ted goes to San Francisco for work and while there has a one night stand. When he returns home he tells Carol about it. Surprised at first she then praises him for being open and honest with her. Which surprises Ted who then seems disappointed that she wasn’t upset of jealous. For all his bluster about what he supposedly learned at his core Ted is still that “square” inside.

After a dinner party the four smoke grass and act silly before Ted and Alice begin to leave. Running out to tell them how much she loves them Carol breaks the news to them about Ted’s affair still thinking how wonderful it was. On their way home Alice can’t control her anger about the situation and gets physically ill. When they get home she can’t stop talking about it as they go to bed. This leads to the funniest and most frustrating parts of the film as Ted wants to fool around but Alice is in no mood. Frustrated he wants to go for a walk but while uninterested in sex she doesn’t want him to leave their bed.

A second trip to San Francisco for Bob finds him turn down another one night stand to return home early. Except that he finds another man in his bed. Unlike his wife he gets upset and rages at first before she calms him down and they once more talk about feelings and how this is nothing more than sex with no love or attachment involved. Which leads to another funny moment.

All of this culminates with the couples dealing with their own issues, a visit to the psychiatrist by Alice, another quick affair and the four of them heading off for a weekend trip to Vegas to see Tony Bennett. The end result of their trip is more revelations and a potential foursome between them all, a final breakdown of acceptance for the “enlightened” to initiate the squares.

The movie can be confusing at times. Is it an endorsement of the results of the sexual revolution of the sixties or an indictment? Is it supporting it or condemning it? The sexual revolution opened doors for people to talk but like Pandora’s box it also unleashed a flood of bad things as well. STDs reached epidemic proportions, marriage took a nose dive and divorces increased. The traditional family was torn apart and the anything goes attitude was embraced. In its wake the rubble was sifted through and some things recovered. Other not quite so as we’ve seen the addiction and availability of pornography increase and the family structure still not quite recovered.

While watching the film I kept thinking about the characters and the location their story takes place in. Both are affluent couples who because of their wealth and status can afford to take the time for things like this retreat as opposed to hard working blue collar workers who don’t have the time or inclination to do so. For those couples life is working and having the nice home and 2.5 kids, happy to do so. It is the bored upper class that always seems to find a need to explore things out of their boredom.

People jokingly refer to California as the “land of flakes and nuts” which seems a bit harsh. But you have to admit that the state does tend to welcome the most over the top life styles and concepts. This is in large part due to the film industry itself providing wealth that leads to boredom for so many in the public’s eye. My guess is you don’t hear much about crew workers on films doing these sort of things because they’re the folks based in reality making far less money but working equally hard. California gets its reputation based on what we’re told by news and mass media with stories about celebrities, hangers on and scammers promising enlightenment if you just come to a retreat where you can scream away your pain for $99.99 per day.

The film here is well made and looks great. The actors do an amazing job with Cannon standing out as someone who wants to stick with her beliefs and ideas but who is basically bullied into following the lead of the rest. It isn’t a bullying involving insults or fists but one of if you’re not enlightened like us then you must be the one who is wrong.

This was the first feature film director Paul Mazursky made and it provided enough interest for him to build a career on. His films were always character driven and interesting well-made movies. For me this one wasn’t among the best. It definitely feels dated. Some may remember it fondly, for me it was just there.

I will say that Twilight Time has once more done a great job with this one. We’re offered the film in blu-ray with a hi-def 1080p presentation. And they’ve included plenty of extras to enjoy including an isolated music track, an audio commentary track with film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman, an audio commentary track with Mazursky, Culp, Gould and Cannon and TALES OF BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE a featurette with Mazursky being interviewed. This release is, as with all Twilight Time releases, limited to just 3,000 copies so fans should act quickly if they want one. 

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THE SOULTANGLER: SAVE ME

  

I know that at the heart of it all AGFA is trying to rescue films from obscurity, trying to offer them with the best presentation possible and saving movies that might otherwise be lost to the world forever. But there is also a large part of me that gives credit to people who at least attempt to make a movies, a large part that says ALL films should be saved from disappearing to the ravages of vinegar syndrome or the trash heap, at the same time a small part of me says maybe there are some movies that with the exception of friends and family of those film makers the world might be a better place for not being exposed to a particular film. Case in point THE SOULTANGLER.

Promoted on the box as similar to RE-ANIMATOR but shot in New Jersey I found so little of it similar that I couldn’t comprehend the comparison. I saw some green fluid but there were other colors as well. During the commentary track the director said his lead actor looked like Jeffrey Combs but I’ve seen people on the street who looked more like him. And the similarity of creating zombies of the dead is not limited to RE-ANIMATOR. So ignore the claim and look at the film on its own…merits?

The story involves a Dr. Anton Lupesky who is kicked out of the hospital he works in for doing experiments deemed unworthy of such an institute. Coming back to the same town a few years later Lupesky has developed a serum that transfers the souls of one person into the deceased body of another. Except that they come back as zombies. A reporter is doing research on the story and, as with all good reporters, eventually finds herself with the possibility of becoming a part of the story she has no desire to be.

In reading that description, and not giving myself credit, it is much more entertaining than the actual film itself. I am a lover of low budget films but this movie transcends low budget and delves into the world of no budget. When your secret lab looks like what it is, the basement of someone’s home, then you know you have a problem.

I’ve tried to think of something positive to say about the film but there isn’t much that deserves it. Beginning with the script we have a terrible amount of bad story telling going on here. Far too much of the story is being told to us via narrators or letters being written and read. One entire segment is a letter being read while images of an abandoned institution is on display with boarded and broken windows. Uh okay how about a little more explanation than that? I just finished watching Hitchcock’s DIAL M FOR MURDER in which almost all of the film takes place in a single room. Plenty of exposition is in the script as characters discuss possibilities of what actually happened. Five minutes of that film rivals anything seen in this film’s entirety.

The acting is subpar throughout in spite of the director in the commentary track giving praise to different cast members. A recent high school production of ANNIE I saw which had some terrible acting on display (not all but some) showed more potential than the actors here.

The film was shot on 16mm and it shows. I’ve seen some films shot on 16mm in the past that were blown up and transferred and they actually looked pretty good. This is not one of those films.

The special effects, the mainstay of any gore fueled horror film, are for the most part weak here. Far too many images of just blood smeared on someone or squirting into the face of Lupesky are used. But at least there were two segments that allow me to say something good about the movie. One involved a dream sequence in which the reporter peels away a portion of her own forearm that was well done. The second involved the doctor’s henchmen having had his head not quite severed from his body who stands up and pursues the reporter, head hanging on by a thread. While it wasn’t amazing to see it was well done and kudos to the make-up man for that image.

I will, in the end, still believe that all films should be preserved and saved from obscurity. Films like this one may make it difficult to believe that and continue to encourage it but they do. Some people will watch this and love the low-budget of it all, the attempt to create something from nothing, to make a horror film that intends to frighten even if it inspires raucous laughter instead. For those people this will be an item to pick up, to watch while incredibly drunk as you roll around on the floor in spasms of laughter. For the rest of is it does have one beneficial aspect to it. When you’re facing a night of insomnia put this one in the player and I can almost guarantee you that within minutes you’ll find yourself dozing off.

Extras include the commentary audio track with director Pat Bishowl, an unseen 62 minute alternate director’s cut, behind the scenes footage, trailers for this film & DEAD OF NIGHT TOWN, a music video for “Wave” by Hypnolovewheel and liner notes by Bleeding Skull’s Zack Carlson. I’m stunned that a movie like this has this many extras included while some great movies are being released with none. View at your own risk.

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