ScotlandZeif

This episode had a lot of links to terrorism. A lot of people in America think that just because its not perfect here, and they don't get everything they want, that our entire system is corrupt. Therefore, they surmise, we are no "better" than the terrorists. This is just like the leader of the prisoners in this episode. Right now, the whole fleet is facing a water shortage that could threaten everyone's life. But all the prison leader cares about it how the current president was chosen. This is symbolic of the way this country is now. A lot of Americans would rather focus on the side issues than the big ones that affect us all. This episode did an amazing job of dramatizing this issue. What role do prisoners play in our society? Where does democracy fit in during a state of emergency? Thesse questions and more are here in this volatile and exciting episode.

This movie failed for me on a major level. I love the TV show, and was looking forward to seeing this flick. But it was no good. If you are going to have a crazy character like Gerri, the REST of the characters in the school need to be very normal! The reason why Gerri is funny on the TV show is because she's acting like a lunatic while the rest of society are being mostly normal. The writers and directors made the unfortunate choice of having every single actor ham it up, and instead of having believable scenes, I felt stuck in a burdensome, long SNL skit that refused to end. Comedy is mixing the real with the strange. None of the things that took place in that high school looked remotely like anything anybody has experienced in a school. I'll repeat - for something like that to be funny, the rest has to be played straight. The plot is completely absurd and unfunny - yet the movie spends a maddeningly long amount of time nursing and building it. Everyone associated with this movie should be ashamed of this product.

I'm a huge Howard Stern fan, and I've been excited to see this movie since I first heard Artie talking about it on the Stern show. I was not expecting much out of this movie - just a stupid movie with some good laughs. But this film fell far short of my already very low expectations. There were plot lines within plot lines within plot lines - each one slowing down any kind of flow the movie tried to catch. When the softball part started to get somewhat interesting, the love story would bog it down. Artie tried to do a John Candy and be the farcical yet believable character - but he just did a bunch of Artie-shtick. He really was not able to carry this movie. It was kind of a fun movie, but even the fun scenes such as the bachelor party felt like a drag - clumsily staged and just awkward. Ralph Maccio rocked. Hopefully he will get in more movies from doing this one. The enemy antagonist was good at his role, but it was just too unbelievable. This guy has the best softball team, owns the best gym, AND is running for mayor? All of these different plot lines began to give me a headache and made me look at my watch waiting for the end. There are some good laughs, but we get mostly one liners here. In fairness, I should add that my friend who saw it with me has never listened to the Stern show and liked the movie a lot better than I did. This is a good TV movie or Netflix movie, but I wouldn't recommend seeing it in the theaters.