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The Movie Nut
Directed by: David Silverman Starring: (voices of) Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria, Yeardley Smith and Harry Shearer MPAA rating: PG13 (for ir reverent humor) Running time: 93 minutes Best suited for: the fans of Springfield's finest Least suited for: d'oh! On my way to the theater I wondered to my wife why anyone would want to pay $10 for something they could see at home for free. Homer (nicely portrayed in the film by Homer) answered my question soon after the curtain rose and, chastised for being the loser I suspected I was, I was free to relax and enjoy. And this one's easy to enjoy, especially if you're a fan of the television series. But even if you haven't a clue about Springfield's jaundiced family (both emotionally and color-wise), the film's pretty funny. Think of "The Simpsons Movie" as a threeparter glunked together in one bodacious, 90-minute, big-screen adventure. The animation's a bit more adept, the humor's perhaps more tightly toned and the film is a bit more socially astute than what you'll catch on the tube. There's been some grumbling lately that the TV version's showing its age- although I suspect this movie's popularity will infuse new life into the half-hour series that creator Matt Groening and company have been churning out these last 18 years. Like television's culturally savvy "South Park" (which delivered its own movie in 1999), "The Simpsons Movie" dares to dabble in the kind of humortinged controversy that most live-actor shows can't pull off. The flick is audacious enough to walk both sides of the fence simultaneously, seemingly without offending too many people. Take the threatened environment, for example, a premise on which the film is based. "The Simpsons Movie" caters to those who don't care about the environment by poking fun at those who do, then discreetly pulls the rug out, mocking those laughing at the environmentalists and doing so in a way in which the environmentally clueless remain- well, clueless. In another simple, wordless, 10-second scene, Springfield's citizens fear that the end is imminent. All those in the bar scramble next door to the church, while all those at church skedaddle over to the bar. It's a brilliantly irreverent commentary. Sure, you can see "The Simpsons Movie" and laugh at the pratfalls and the silliness and a full-frontal Bart (although even this sequence is so deftly devised that, by the time you're aware of such artful naughtiness, you still find yourself shocked into laughter). Or you can read between those colorfully astute lines and realize that, Somewhere Out There, someone is still ragging on us for our complacency and conformity and borderline stupidity- Homer is, indeed, America's bumbling Everyman- and doing so in a way that's safe for even a 9yearold to enjoy. If you're looking for a plot sequence in this review, I wouldn't bother. A two-second summary might be this: Homer dooms Springfield and saves it again. But let's face it, if you intend to see the flick, what happens up there on the big screen is likely to be irrelevant. Without doubt, whatever happens will be cuttingedge satire. Despite the fact that the project was rumored to have begun back in 2001, went through more than 100 script changes and reportedly leaves out as much material as it finally delivers on screen- despite all the stalls and postponements, I suspect that whatever finally made it into theaters will suffice for the happy masses. That we're all paying $10 a pop to see "The Simpsons Movie" is, I suspect, a telling comment about society. But I've burned $10 in worse ways (all those political donations perhaps), and I've rarely laughed so earnestly in a theater. In a sense, one can have one's cinematic doughnut and eat it too.
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