JazB
Joined Oct 2000
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JazB's rating
When I first saw "Stacked" advertised, I thought, "oh no, not another average sit-com based around a once famous personality" (Cybil, Jenny, Fat Actress, The Comeback etc etc). But this was different. For once, the main personality in the show, in this case Pamela Anderson, was an asset and not a hindrance. Her character and her performance fit in with the other characters, instead of the other characters revolving around the "most famous" person on the show.
Another good thing about Stacked is its consistency. It reminds me of Cheers in its heyday; consistently funny with solid characters. Unlike the very excellent 'My Name is Earl', which varies wildly from week to week as to how the characters behave, Stacked is much more solid and satisfying, because of this. It's also pretty unique to see something so well crafted in this day and age.
The entire cast is brilliant. I wasn't immediately enamored with the casting of the two brothers who run the store, but I soon warmed to their characters. Christopher Lloyd is absolutely on form, delivering his lines with the comedy precision of a master, knowing how to make one line turn from a chuckle into a gut-laugh. Even Pamela Anderson, not known for comedy talent, has a character which fits her personality perfectly, while allowing her to drop some great lines and still seem like the same person.
Every character in this sit-com feels "right" and you can only imagine the amount of time and effort that must have gone into making this happen.
Stacked is never mean-spirited, overly cynical or even topical, it's just brilliantly crafted, constistently funny, top-quality entertainment. It echoes Cheers in its heyday - whatever happened to shows like this? I hope Stacked finds its audience and remains as good as the first season, and then keeps running for years to come! It deserves to!
Another good thing about Stacked is its consistency. It reminds me of Cheers in its heyday; consistently funny with solid characters. Unlike the very excellent 'My Name is Earl', which varies wildly from week to week as to how the characters behave, Stacked is much more solid and satisfying, because of this. It's also pretty unique to see something so well crafted in this day and age.
The entire cast is brilliant. I wasn't immediately enamored with the casting of the two brothers who run the store, but I soon warmed to their characters. Christopher Lloyd is absolutely on form, delivering his lines with the comedy precision of a master, knowing how to make one line turn from a chuckle into a gut-laugh. Even Pamela Anderson, not known for comedy talent, has a character which fits her personality perfectly, while allowing her to drop some great lines and still seem like the same person.
Every character in this sit-com feels "right" and you can only imagine the amount of time and effort that must have gone into making this happen.
Stacked is never mean-spirited, overly cynical or even topical, it's just brilliantly crafted, constistently funny, top-quality entertainment. It echoes Cheers in its heyday - whatever happened to shows like this? I hope Stacked finds its audience and remains as good as the first season, and then keeps running for years to come! It deserves to!
While this film starts off well, adding more depth to Bruce Willis's now familiar character and setting up an interesting storyline, it falls flat as soon as Jeremy Irons appears as Hans Gruber's less interesting brother. In fact as soon as he appears the film tries to retread the same points of the first film in EXACTLY the same way:
We have an "intelligent" bad guy, who is nowhere near as charismatic as Alan Rickman was as Hans Gruber.
We have the villan's scheme revealed as a disguise for a robbery.
And finally the film tries to make us feel happy when the terrorists get the lucre.
The problem here is that a) these plot points don't fit in with the first 40 minutes of the movie and b) the "bad guys" torture of our hero comes across as cold and sadistic. As such we are unable to even be charmed by them, let alone empathize with them.
Saying that, the film does have its good points, Samuel L. Jackson is a still a treat to watch and some of the action scenes are pretty inventive. But overall there is nothing to top the excellent balance of Die Hard 1 just yet.
We have an "intelligent" bad guy, who is nowhere near as charismatic as Alan Rickman was as Hans Gruber.
We have the villan's scheme revealed as a disguise for a robbery.
And finally the film tries to make us feel happy when the terrorists get the lucre.
The problem here is that a) these plot points don't fit in with the first 40 minutes of the movie and b) the "bad guys" torture of our hero comes across as cold and sadistic. As such we are unable to even be charmed by them, let alone empathize with them.
Saying that, the film does have its good points, Samuel L. Jackson is a still a treat to watch and some of the action scenes are pretty inventive. But overall there is nothing to top the excellent balance of Die Hard 1 just yet.
Dharma and Greg really shines when it starts exploring relationship problems (eg last season's finale) but it falters when it tries to offer "light relief"; 'Here come the hippy parents!', hilarious. The juxtaposition of poor comedy often weakens the rest of the show's well-meaning (and often quite good) drama and can grate quite badly at times... and that's the good episodes! Without the decent responsibility/maturity storylines you're just left with the poor comedy, the writers shouldn't be afraid of going with the drama more.
Roseanne (the early years, at least) this is not.
Still, not a terrible way to relax, just not up there with the greats.
Roseanne (the early years, at least) this is not.
Still, not a terrible way to relax, just not up there with the greats.