I Love Dick

Being a big fan of Jill Soloway's Tranparent, it seemed worthwhile to check out her failed pilot, I Love Dick. It was not worthwhile. At all.

In I Love Dick, a couple moves to a small town of writers headed over by Kevin Bacon as someone who is billed as cool and charismatic but who actually just seems like a pretentious jerk (charismatic jerks can also be found in Transparent - Soloway seems to be intrigued by them).

The wife becomes instantly fascinated by Bacon, even after he goes on a mansplaining rant denigrating everything she's ever done.

You can't feel sorry for her, because she's an awful person. As is her husband. Really, this is just a show about awful people. When midwest Republicans talk about New York liberal elites, I think they are imagining people like these horrible people.

Ugh.

I can't believe all the people trashing this Pilot for the new series. We watched it last night and thought it was beyond excellent. The Acting was good, the filming and technique superb, and the quick back and forth dialogue and interplay with characters was first rate. I love the motif of the letter, playing itself out through the whole. Everyone of the characters so far introduced is begging to be unfolded, much less the story itself. If anyone is on the fence because of the reviews, please give it a chance. Quite a few of our friends, whose taste is superb, have loved it too. We are all different in our tastes but this one deserves a chance. I really hope it becomes a series.

I didn't look at the reviews before watching the show, because I'd heard an interview on it on the radio and really liked the concept. I haven't read the book yet, so I can make no comparison there.

It took me a couple of episodes but then I was really hooked. It's off beat and unusual -- the protagonist is for the most part unlikeable, but that's part of the point I think. Her awkwardness and self-involvement are cringeworthy, but you can't help but see yourself reflected, at least in small percentages, in her. It's an interesting exploration of various female voices, of the women that surround Dick with Dick as an object and and very rarely a subject in the series, taking instead the women to always embody the role of the subjects rather than the men (turning the television /film industry on its head).

One post here wrote "feminism gone awry," but I completely disagree. I loved for instance that they show the viewer various works by female artists throughout the series, in a way that's seamless, thoughtful, and stimulating. I didn't feel that this show was overly political or something like that -- it doesn't have an agenda, but is itself an expression of various crises, struggles, small triumphs and losses, of identity and relationships, growth and personhood, marriage and single- ness (and the bounds of each) with the female perspective at the center of these queries. It doesn't fit in the normal bounds of genre - it's darkly funny, but you'll probably never laugh out loud. Nor is it plot driven. It's it's own thing, but at no point did I find it boring.

The show is interesting and different and genuinely held my attention. And I thought the acting was superb, from all involved and particularly from Kathryn Hahn (not only Kevin Bacon!). It's bizarre and kind of wonderful and I'd be excited for a second season.

During the pilot it becomes immediately apparent that there is not a single redeemable quality in any of the characters. The male protagonist is a sorry caricature of middle age stagnation. The story begins with him but shifts to his wife as the storyteller. His wife starts complaining about everything as soon as the camera hits her, the food, the accommodations, the town, the people...and on and on. Characters are introduced, seem interesting but then their story arcs just end with no clear resolution or even unclear resolution. The story is an endless series of wine gatherings and classes about "art?" I honestly did not believe vapid people still existed like this, I am surprised Andy Warhol was not exhumed to round out the cast. The characters are the stereotypical New Yorkers, roaming around the desert wearing blue blazers and ladder strap sandals...."oh look at us we are sophisticates because we drink wine." I was hoping for so much more.

This film tells the story of a married woman who goes with her husband to a small town for an artistic conference. They have troubles in their marriage, and the cracks widen as she meets a charismatic man in the conference.

There must be something seriously missing in the "I Love Dick" that I watched. The 32 minutes of footage does not show what the plot summary says - I did not get how "both" of them fall for the same professor. I only see how she falls for him, and there is no second person falling for the professor. Either way, the story is not so interesting. It is more like a housewife fantasy, only that it is boring and fails to connect with viewers. The only good scenes are Kevin Bacon's flirtatious gazes at the camera, and the final scene which looks rather artistic. However, these fleeting scenes are not enough to make me interested in this film, or the potential future series.