rjwinterswrites

Sometimes an unlikeable lead will redeem themselves or engage in situations so absurd that a kind of cringe comedy will emerge. That's not this movie-- the lead keeps making self-sabotaging mistake after mistake, in a depressing simulation of reality that is also extremely unsatisfying because the main characters (Tammy, played by Melissa McCarthy and her grandmother, played by Susan Sarandon) never really experience any kind of consequences for their actions, no matter how egregious those actions would be. This is likely the least funny Melissa McCarthy movie I've ever seen, and it doesn't work as a "dark comedy" either. It has a decent soundtrack, but that couldn't redeem this film-- the main character is too unlikeable and it's hard to care about a person who is indeed miserable, but who also palpably makes her problems worse through her boorish, inconsiderate, and crass behaviors. Too much cringe, not enough entertainment or reason to care and pretty unwatchable. A shame, really, because it's a rare movie that tries to realistically depict a down-on-her-luck female slacker type struggling with one thing after another, but this movie is both half-baked and exhausting.

I'm not the biggest history buff, and don't like historical dramas much, but the historical comedy intrigued me. "Another Period" is a great pastiche of period comedy, satire, and spoof, as well as an unique thing all unto itself. I don't know if people are realizing that Natasha Leggero is a very funny stand-up comedian (listen to her specials if you haven't already), and this show is a real extension of a 1-liner premise from one of her shows about, as a woman, wanting to go back to the faint-on-a-couch all afternoon age of ladyship, no voting, and stuff is paid for with some batting-of-eyelashes. I don't want to misquote it, but that "beats workin' " premise is the real hero inspo for the show. But the show is also much more than that, and it's a refreshing idea for the 30 minute show format, with surprisingly rich character development for a comedy. I wasn't sure I was going to like it, and it is growing on me. It is a very sharp and dark kind of humor, but I also find it very accessible. Rapid-fire and clever. As I said, I'm new to "historical comedies," but I think it's very original and (thankfully) also doesn't require the viewer to actually know a lot of history.

I think many of the reviewers here do not understand what true satire is. The point of satire isn't to ridicule specific people or specific time epriods-- it's to shine a light on our unquestioned present, to point out how we haven't come all that far from those times and are not as sophisticated now as we would like to believe, that our current moment also suffers from a lot of the same biases and magical thinking as went on then.

Yes, I am late to this show. In my defense, I didn't have cable or time to watch this show before now. It's very smooth and binge-able, especially if you're into historical and/or cringe comedy. I remember seeing ads for it at the time and I remember it getting a fair amount of critical attention back then.

As all the 1 star reviews here note, this film -- even knowing it's an anthology film -- is a total waste of time. It lacks emotion, urgency, sincerity. Not even Emma Stone can save this pile of confusion. None of the characters are portrayed with much depth, and none are particularly "good" or even interesting people. This isn't avant-garde; it's just bad. As others have noted also, it bears no resemblance to the amazing, quirky trailer that did its job sparking interest in this dry and artless waste of film. Truly, this is one of the worst films I have ever seen, and I hate to admit this, but I could not get past the first "story." I like to give unconventional, independent, even surrealist films a chance, but this film is just set-piece pretentiousness with no underlying art, no point, nothing compelling about the stories or the characters, and no discernible payoff for the viewers. There are many Indy screenwriters who can't get their work made, yet this gets made, and that injustice is maddening. Apparently I do not care for this director (I also thought "Poor Things" was massively overrated). I hope this mess isn't what movie studios now consider "the future of storytelling." I think the glowing reviews here are either from loyalists or paid hacks, they aren't reviewing the same film I'm watching. If only the people who made the trailer made the film, it might be worth sitting through for some kind of insight about life. This movie is just vapid, but in a pretentious way. It thinks highly of itself.