Strangers with Candy

This was a pretty wacky movie - very unusual and unlike anything I've seen before.

This movie has fairly basic plot: a recently released 40+ year old lady wants to help bring her father out of a coma, so she embarks on the task of bettering herself by going back to high school and excelling. If it doesn't make sense, that's OK - it's nothing compared to the characters.

What makes this movie so unusual are the characters - the lead character (Amy Sedaris), the principal, the parents, etc. They are so strangely conceived and acted that it's really wild to watch. I guess that means that the actors and director did a pretty good job.

I can't say this movie was funny. Rather, it was amusing because of the extreme nature of characters. It was interesting to watch just to see what they were going to say next.

If you're in the mood for something really strange - check this out. You'll know after the first 10 minutes if this is something that's going to interest you.

The show Strangers With Candy was a dark and a comical slice of viewing, where Jerri, a 46 year old ex drug addict, released from prison returns to high school to re start her life. Now with the show finished, Strangers With Candy returns to Jerri's first day of school. Her father currently in a coma, Jerri thinks if she does well at school, joining the science project team, he will awaken from his slumber.

The movie Strangers With Candy is basically made for the fans of the show. Writers and actors of the show; Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello, retain the same strange and unique style of comedy that made the show such a stand out. Jerri's constant sexual appetite, Chuck and Geoffrey's sexual tension and commitment problems. Strangers With Candy works as well as it does with the main cast members returning into their roles; minus Larc Spies who played Derrick in the show, Joseph Cross taking his place here.

There is a rocky start to the film. Jokes aren't that strong, they're few and apart and lack the bite. Sedaris, Dinello and Colbert seemed to cautious stretching what basically could have been a thirty minute episode to feature length. After a few light steps, once Jerri returns to the school setting, they settle back into their comfort zone, letting the subversive comedy crawl out, and the randomness of the show.

While the original cast return and know their parts exceedingly well, Sedaris mixes disgusting habits and empathy in Jerri. Greg Hollimon self centered Principal Blackman and Deborah Rush disheartening Sara Blank. Paul Dinello as Geofrrey with his child mentality, steals every scene with Stephen Colbert as science teacher Chuck. Colbert is the most impressive of the entire cast. But this also boast one very strong cast of cameos; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Allison Janney, Justin Theroux, Matthew Broderick, Ian Holm, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristen Johnston are amazing and take their roles head on with a serious attitude. Philip Seymour Hoffman is nicely pathetic as member of the staff board, and Justin Theroux eccentric shot as the driving instructor.

While Stangers With Candy is just a notch short of the show, it is compulsive viewing for any fan.

What remains remarkable in the translation from Comedy Central TV show to mainstream feature film is Amy Sedaris' complete lack of vanity in replaying her comic alter-ego, the aptly named Jerri Blank, a 47-year old ex-con who decides to return home after a lengthy prison term and finish high school. The original concept for the three-season cult series was a fun idea full of possibilities, satirizing the high-minded seriousness of the ABC Afternoon Specials in the 1970's by having the hapless Jerri learn some significant life lesson after going through some humiliating situation. Probably a disappointment to dedicated fans of the show, the 2006 movie is really no different except the paper-thin plot feels dragged out to its eighty-minute length (wisely cut from its 97-minute length in theaters). It has the additional burden of feeling repetitive of the series without providing much more in the way of texture or complexity.

Director Paul Dinello (who plays effete art teacher Geoffrey Jellineck), along with co-writers Sedaris and Stephen Colbert (who plays closeted science teacher Chuck Noblet), uses the opportunity to fill in a bit of Jerri's back story in coming back to the family home and dealing with her father's comatose state. According to kindly Dr. Putney, the only cure lies with Jerri's efforts to do her father proud by winning the school science fair. Of course, the easily misdirected Jerri wants to be part of the in-crowd, in particular, getting horizontal with Brason, the school's hunky squat-and-thrust champion. This consequently means turning her back on her science project team, the Fig Neutrons, which includes Tammi, Jerri's best friend and object of Sapphic desire, and Megawatti, the Indonesian geek who has an unexplainable crush on Jerri. Lots of hijinks ensue until the inevitable conclusion, including the insertion of several star cameos - Allison Janney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as bickering school board members, Sarah Jessica Parker as self-absorbed grief counselor Peggy Callas, Ian Holm as Dr. Putney, Dan Hedaya as Jerri's comatose father; and Kristen Johnston as a wheelchair-bound coach. Matthew Broderick actually has a bigger role as Noblet's adversary, the preening Roger Beekman.

Much of the TV series cast is here as well with Colbert the standout as the blustery, uptight Chuck who secretly yearns for Geoffrey, who spurns him to be Roger's idea man. For most of the time, it is fitfully funny if only because the scabrous screenplay takes no prisoners in its approach. Consider this the comic flipside to "Sherrybaby" with plenty of familiar elements from "Carrie" and "Napoleon Dynamite" thrown in for good measure. But most of all, it is a tribute to Sedaris' Borat-like transformative skills as a comic actress. The 2006 DVD has a commentary track by Sedaris, Colbert and Dinello, and although they are obviously having a good time together, much of that rapport surprisingly does not translate well for the viewer. There are eighteen minutes worth of deleted scenes, most understandably excised though interestingly, it looks like Parker's counselor was the chief victim of the cuts. Also included are the theatrical trailer (another case of a promising trailer that's a lot funnier than the movie itself) and a music video for Delano Grove's "Atomic Car".

Kind of like a best of album for the show, all the best routines and gags are here. If you can get your hands on the series watch it, unlike Reno 911 were the movie is an extension of (and better than) the series, this is the entire series condensed ...(read more)to an hour and half. Though there's a lot of recycled material there's a fair amount of new jokes as well. In any event its still one of the funniest comedies in recent memory. Amy Sedaris is brilliant, and Stephen Colbert is great to watch here as well. My only real complaint is the dance sequence in the credits is kinda simple(the dance sequences at the end of each episode used to be one of the best parts of the show). Sans that, this was great.

"Hello, I'm Jerri Blank and - and I'm an alcoholic. I'm also addicted to amphetamines as well as main line narcotics. Some people say I have a sex addiction, but I think all those years of prostitution was just a means to feed my ravenous hunger for heroin. It's kinda like the chicken or the nugget. The point is, I'm addicted to gambling. Thank you."

Sweetheart Amy Sedaris plays appropriately named, Jerri Blank in the off the wall comedy about a 46 year old ex-drug addict, prostitute and loser who goes back to high school. She appears almost retarded but she is everything but. The Comedy Central series from 1999-2001 named the same title, was 30 episodes of the same genre. She offers crude, down right shocking remarks that you have to laugh about. She is passive bisexual and lude and lacks all graces of the typical middle aged female. Amy Sedaris is hilarious and her off the chart behavior in this movie should get your mind off any problems. If you are expecting a truly down to earth teen age comedy, you will be disappointed as it is everything but. It violates sensitive politically correct subjects from race to sex preferences to gross references to drug and sex addiction in a very comical way that you just can't find offensive. Stand back and take a different perspective when watching this movie and don't take it so seriously and you will enjoy it greatly. She is truly a talented comedian. Everyone has to love Amy Sedaris. Loves Amy Sedaris.