If it were not for the fact that the guy behind "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia" wrote and directed this SNL 'short film' (really just a pre recorded skit), this spoof would never have gotten it's own IMDb page. It was broadcast as part of the February 19th 2000 episode hosted by Ben Affleck and featured on "The Best of Molly Shannon" (which by the way, received it's own place on the IMDb years after this page). As a parody this is neither original nor funny. MTV FANatic is a pretty pathetic show anyway, so to make fun of it was really redundant from the start.
Merely copying the MTV format and having Ben Affleck and Molly Shannon scream and pull faces does not cut it. Jimmy Fallon adds little, playing it cool as usual. At least Ben Affleck went to the trouble of making himself look unappealing and nerdy. Molly Shannon plays Anna Nicole Smith the same way she does Courtney Love and most of her other impressions: loud and annoying. They even fire off a few shots at Smith's disastrous movie effort "Skyscraper" which was so bad it's basically spoof proof. So they took two of the lamest bits and copied them. Nothing added or changed. It might have been funnier had they shown the actual clips, or presented a sequel called 'Booby-trap' or anything.
This skit is all set up and no pay off , it just sort of ends without a final twist or a punchline. I can't even figure out if Paul Thomas Anderson was picking on MTV's Fanatic because he found it annoying or if he was strangely fascinated by it. The TV Funhouse Smurf version of the Anna Nicole show turned out so much funnier (and more original). Perhaps they should have let the actual Anna Nicole play herself. She seems willing to do any stupid thing in front of the camera anyway.
2 out of 10
