bradgad

I can't not give this film less than 10.

There are films you love, films that excite you, films that move you, films that make you laugh, films that make you laugh so hard stuff comes out your nose... and docudramas and guilty pleasures... you get the idea. Films. Movies.

Then, there are films (and books) that rearrange your mental furniture. You are a different person after you have seen (or read) them.

This is one of those.

Tom Shadyac turns a traumatic event into the occasion to examine what truly matters... for him and, amazingly, for all of us and our planet.

There are tons of little things in the film that show Tom is a smart guy (UVa transcripts, etc.). What's so great and what's so heart-lifting and encouraging for all of us, is we also see this smart guy becoming a wise man.

I make it a practice of luring people into my house and making them watch this film. My little bit.

Two things:

1) My eight year old son wanted to watch this, based on the pay-per-view previews. I enjoyed the old show, and had kinda wanted to see it too, so I forked out. We both truly enjoyed it. Actually, we both had a blast.

2) Why do so few of these reviews comment on the action sequences? They're right up there with the Bond flicks! The plane? The train? C'mon! Believable? No. Kick ass? You betcha! The production values of this film totally blast past expectations.

One thing:

1) At least twice, Smart gets to say his trademark "Missed it by *thaat* much!" line. But, the film doesn't give noobies the hints/help they need for this. There should have been -- very early early in the film -- a scene that was totally plagiarized from the series... A classic "Missed it by *thaat* much!" scene... so the new crowd could get into that alongside us old-crowd folks.

One other thing:

1) Carell is perfect for the part. But he should have put a little effort into the voice.... The nasal quality of Don Adams' Smart's voice was -- I think -- one of the defining aspects of the character. Seemed like Carell totally ignored this.

Still... a well done fun film. I'm glad I spent the money to activate it on pay-per-view.

I think you should watch this show.

It's delightfully weird.

Totally unrealistic, it has just enough I-don't-know-what to enable the all important willing suspension, and once you got that, you're golden.

Here's the little stuff, the stuff that you'll enjoy but don't need to go out of your way for:

1) It has Candice Bergen! Bergen fulfills her role (uber-classy uber-MILF) perfectly. (Plus, she's Candice Bergen. To this date, no one does Bergen as well as Bergen.)

2) Clemenson/Espenson is likable and offbeat. One of the best "spice" characters since, oh, I dunno, Hill Street Blues.

3) Sometimes John Larroquette shows up, and he's so tall! He doesn't have to actually say anything funny. He's John Larroquette. It's a grin just for him to show up. (That sounds dismissive and snarky, but it's not meant to be. I honestly believe this is Larroquette's great comic gift: he shows up. That's all he needs to do. That's what he does. It doesn't matter what he says, because all the humor is in the wry, sardonic (and tall) presence. On Night Court, he had some funny lines, but that was actually a distraction. Remember The West Wing and The Practice... he had no funny lines there, but the effect was the same: Larroquette's wry, sardonic (and tall) presence = a grin. (Although, to be fair, in The Practice he did actually play a character in addition to showing up.))

4) It has William Shatner!

And here's the big stuff, the stuff you'll never experience if you don't go out of your way to watch a few episodes:

1) It has William Shatner! Star Trek gave us William Shatner giving us Captain James T. Kirk. Boston Legal gives us William Shatner giving us William Shatner (as Denny Crane)... the intelligent goof we always suspected was playing Captain Kirk. Even if you weren't a Trekkie, it's such a cool feeling to feel like you're getting to hang out with the *real* Captain Kirk, the (intelligent, goofy) man behind the myth.

2) Despite -- or rather, alongside -- the show's unabashed unrealistic stance, it takes an honest stab at depicting honest emotions, especially (but not only) in the traditional closing scene, where Spader/Shore and Shatner/Crane share a Scotch, a cigar, a presumably rather nippy Boston evening, and a friendship.

3) It has James Spader! Who? James Spader! Who's Jame's Spader? I don't know, I never heard of him before I saw this show, but he's incredible. His character (Alan Shore) brings something unlike anything I've ever seen on television... a character that is, I think, truly Shakesperean in its immediacy and otherness.

In fact, I believe this is the secret ingredient of Boston Legal's success. Spader's Shore has a Shakesperean otherness, and once we accept this otherness (as we are compelled to do), it doesn't matter how unrealistic (or compressed or reductive) the rest of the show is. Once we (the audience) have signed up for this otherness, once the writers have that signature on the dotted line, they're free play around and cut corners as they like. Thankfully, they often (though not always) do so to good effect.