STRANGERS WITH CANDYPaul Dinello, USA 2005
8.0
YOU WHORE!!! okay, now, let's get straight to it. are you a fan of Strangers With Candy, the series? yes--come on in. no--do yourself a favour and go rent the tv series. now. Colbert, Dinello, and Sedaris did something wonderful in adapting the cult tv series for the big screen - they made it a prequel. this way, people who haven't heard of it can watch and enjoy it, and the fans get some juicy backstory to their favorite characters. they pulled off the story without dumbing the series down. not everyone will go with the humor (my radar for their comedy has been shot, thanks to the hilarious series, so i can't see where the line is anymore), but those who do will find an enjoyable 97 minutes of their time filled with hilarity and punchlines. it's an extended episodes. but a fun one. part of my feelings for this film were influenced by the screening i attended tonight in Montreal (the Canadian Premiere !). in attendance were Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello, which made the experience worth driving 90 minutes to Montreal, on my own, for (and they also stayed for an unannounced, brief post-screening Q&A). seeing the film with fans was essential to me, so this screening was perfect beyond belief. but the thing is, Just For Laughs didn't seem to even promote it beyond their website. of course people started lining up outside the venue an hour before showtime. i was thankful to see other fans there. but once inside, i saw that the theatre was only mildly filled. the centre aisle was well filled-out, and the audience reactions were cheerful and generous, but i couldn't help feel a bit bad for Amy and Paul who'd come all the way to Montreal for this thing. there. quasi-rant over:) now, what about the film, you ask. everyone's back, the story line is as classic as any corny movie could be but it's so well-handled that everything runs as smoothy as the series did. it's still HIL-arious and un-PC as ever. these guys are alone in treading this territory. no one has even dared follow them down the road to gleeful desecration as this team plays with. if you're a fan of the series, fear not - Colbert, Dinello, and Amy haven't screwed the pooch. on the contrary, they still had more of these wonderful stories to tell. you will not be disappointed. as for newcomers - please don't embarass yourselves and abstain; there's also a third category: the curious - enjoy this film. everyone is spectacular in it (and no fake cries like Stephen can--really happy they used it for the film:) a special ps goes to Amy Sedaris for another grand performance as the one-and-only Jerri Blank. here's (blindly) hoping there's even more of Jerri in the near future. and a special, extra special note goes to David Pasquesi, aka Stew the Meat Man, who did an outstanding job, actually raising the bar on his performance for the film. huge thumbs up all around.
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