SNL Review

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SNL Review- Paul Giamatti/Ludacris featuring Sum 41

 

The pre-review stuff features my look at what I thought were the top 10 movies of the year. It’s quite lengthy since I write a lot so feel free to scroll down all the way to the review if not interested.

 

SNL MOMENT #11:

 

11. Good God! I don’t even know who that’s offensive too!

 

As I said last week, the John McCain/White Stripes was a major turning point show in SNL history. Lorne Michaels reportedly was not very happy with the first two shows (something I disagreed with) and let the cast know about it. They knew this week was the week to have a balls out great show to appease the Ferrell fans who doubted SNL’s ability to along without him. The first ‘real’ skit of the show, SNL’s recurring character staple Hardball, was the first classic skit of the non-Ferrell era and established Hardball as one of SNL’s greatest recurring bits.

 

THE MOMENT:

 

Hardball gets a big ovation to start and Chris Matthews intros the subject as Homeland Security and we meet our panellists: A woman from the ACLU (Rachel Dratch), John Ashcroft (Sen. McCain) and Harry Belafonte (Tracy Morgan). Belafonte had recently called Colin Powell a sellout and compared to a slave serving his slave master. John Aschroft proposes that each American be afraid of being thrown into jail and that they are actually carrying out the founding fathers dream of imprisoning people for months at a time for no reasons. This prompts a great Chris Matthews quip.

 

Chris Matthews: Rebecca DeWitt, what Ashcroft just said was pretty crazy - can you beat it?!

 

The ACLU lady is appalled that the terrorists are not allowed to access OR their terrorist leaders. We then cut to Harry Belfonte which prompts my favourite part of the skit:

 

Harry Belefonte: Chris, I'm gonna say something that a lot of people are afraid to say: Osama bin Laden is a Uncle Tom!

 

Chris Matthews: [ shaking his head with wonder ] Good God! I can't even figure out who that's offensive to!

 

John Aschroft then proposes making the Arabic illegal and reveals that Shaquille O’Neal was in a Middle Eastern flavoured movie called Kazzam- and must be a terrorist sleeper agent. The crowd is dying at all of this as the ACLU lady proposes that the terrorists police the police so there are ‘checks and balances’. The way Dratch moves her hands is great. We go back to Harry Belafonte as Chris Matthews wants more racist quips.

 

Harry Belefonte: The war in Iraq is in a minstrel show!

 

Harry Belefonte: Winston Churchill was a house Negro!

 

Harry Belefonte: Poodles are the black man of the dog world!

 

After a brief stop with Aschroft we go back to the ACLU lady which prompts my second favourite part of the skit. I still wonder how they were able to get this line on the air but God bless them for it.

 

Rebecca DeWitt: Chris, if you bake one cake, it doesn't make you a baker; if you paint one painting, it doesn't make you a painter; but if you blow up one embassy, it automatically makes you a terrorist! [ laughing ] It's hypocritical!

 

The crowd is a bit uncomfortable to laugh at that but it’s hilarious and the ‘It’s hypocritical’ line MAKES it. Chris Matthews stares at her in disbelief and says “That just might be the dumbest thing I ever heard.”

 

We go right back before Belafonte who gives us one more racial remark, this time regarding Pokemon. Matthews having enough idiocy for 6 minutes mercifully ends the skit. As the screen fades to black, the uncomfortable laughter turns to a loud applause for one of SNL’s best skits of that year. Even though there was no Ferrell life would go on and classic skits would still occur.

 

Sports Report-

 

Nets- They haven’t let R-Jeff’s injury get them down as they’ve managed to reel off 3 straight wins. They have a hellish 5 game West Coast trip coming up which does not sound fun. If they can win 2 of those games I will be ecstatic. Nenad Kristic seems to be developing pretty well and I hope they give Zoran lots of playing time when he comes back.

 

Mailbag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-

 

Chad Ruffner writes-

 

I agree with Scott Keith's assessment on this week's program: " A pretty Blah show that wasted a super hot and unique crowd." That about sums It up for me as well, although I probably disliked Raw more than he did. Thank God I taped 24. Smackdown! has been hit or miss recently, but I've found myself enjoying It far more than Raw. And best of all, no HHH! What did you think of this week's Raw, assuming that you watched It? Chad

 

I was at RAW on Monday- it was part of my week of fun that included that and two Hilary concerts. I thought RAW was a lot of fun live and they didn’t waste the crowd at all since they had fun cheering for everything. The Benoit v. Jericho match was fun and the crowd going crazy and chanting and yelling for everything just made it fun to sit through. Kane v. Snitsky was horrible but in a good way. We were doing the wave and just enjoying the awfulness of it all. The post-match 6-man tag was lots of fun as well. HHH, Edge and Batista all did a bunch of hilarious comedy spots. It was a good RAW and a great RAW to see live. I don’t get Smackdown! where I live so I can’t really comment.

 

Wanna be in the mailbag??? Email me at [email protected]

 

My top ten movies of 2004:

 

I ended up seeing 40 movies in the theatre that came out in 2004. I saw everything from New York Minute to the Aviator. I saw three movies more then once in the theatre (they all show up on this list) and I figured what better way to cap off a good year for film with a top 10 list. I still haven’t seen everything I want to see from 04 so if it’s not on the list- that could be why. Plus I didn’t see everything so that could be another reason a film isn’t on this list. Now onto the top 10:

 

Honourable mentions:

 

Friday Night Lights: Based on the best-selling book this was probably the top sports movie of 2004. Billy Bob Thorton plays a Texas high football coach- where the team is everything and losing is not an option. The film was shot documentary style and you could get a good look at what the coach and these teenagers are going through as the town’s hopes rest all on them. Tim McGraw made his acting debut and does a standout job as an abusive drunken father reliving his glory years through his son.

 

The Aviator: Yes- this didn’t make my top 10 list. I found the first half to be a bit too slow but once Alan Alda and Alec Baldwin got involved I thought the film really picked up and got going. Martin Scorsese did a great job of getting the look of the time period with his Technicolor shots and I thought Leo was pretty good as Howard Hughes. Cate Blanchett, Alda and Baldwin all gave excellent performances and I wouldn’t mind seeing any of them nominated with an Oscars. I think the film should’ve been a bit longer (to flesh out some aspects of Hughes’ life) as his romance with Ava Gardner was badly underdeveloped and that’s what is holding it back.

 

10. Raise Your Voice starring Hilary Duff, Oliver James, John Corbett directed by: Sean McNamara

 

Don’t laugh because I thought about this for a while and I truly think it belongs on my list. Hilary Duff plays a girl who has just gone through a horrible tragedy and goes to a musical camp where she struggles to fit in and find the right note. The movie bombed badly at the box office due to a horrible campaign by New Line and going against Shark Tale. This was Duff’s first drama and she was terrific- I think if more people had saw this movie I think she would’ve gotten a bit more respect. John Corbett as the cool music teacher injected some humour and did the musical mentor role quite well. The film was a bit cliché and at times McNamera was a bit too manipulative rather then just letting Duff’s performance tell the story. Even though this was a kids movie, they weren’t afraid to be depressing and sad rather then the fluff of A Cinderella Story. I hope Raise Your Voice bombing doesn’t cause Duff and her team to scare away from doing more dramas like this since I think she could end up being a pretty good actress.

 

9. Closer starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen directed by Mike Nichols

 

From a PG rated family movie to a grown up drama- this list covers the whole gamut. I remember seeing the trailer for Closer and not thinking much of it but I read the reviews and the whole picture intrigued me. Instead of being a regular romantic movie- it was the anti-romance film. It was such a simple movie: 4 people play with each other’s emotions over four years. The movie had great dialogue and even though not much happens ‘action’ wise- it kept me riveted and interested the whole time. At times the film was disturbing and unsettling- the movie showed the most private moments of these people’s lives and I felt guilty and wanted to turn away. Clive Owen gave probably the best performance of the four. He’s the guy with the most baggage and the guy with the most to lose and every scene he’s in kicks ass. I have to give credit to Natalie Portman. I never liked her and couldn’t get into her character in Garden State but she impressed me and it wasn’t just for her stripper moves. Jude Law isn’t getting much acclaim (I guess critics were still bitter over Alfie), but he was probably one of my favourite villains of the year. He really got under my skin and I was hating him by the end. Julia Roberts was just there to put a name on the poster. The anti-date movie of 2004 ended up being one of my favourite films of the year.

 

8. Collateral starring Jamie Foxx, Tom Cruise directed by Michael Mann

 

Collateral could be summed in one word: Cool. That’s what the film was. The setting was cool, the pace was cool, and Tom Cruise was most definitely ‘cool’. I saw Collateral three times in the theatres and each time I enjoyed it a lot. I had a few problems with it that bothered more each time I saw it but I’m not gonna let that kill my enjoyment of one of the most fun movies of the summer. Jamie Foxx seems to be getting a lot of acclaim and Oscar buzz for Collateral mainly because they’re cheating and putting him in a category where he’s going to get a nomination. It’s Tom Cruise who made Collateral. Like a classic film noir, he was the bad guy that you rooted for no matter how evil was. You loved seeing him boss Jamie Foxx around and knock off the people on the list. The relationship between Foxx and Cruise was the best part of the movie. Even though he had a gun to his head most of the film, you could sense the fact that Foxx really respected Cruise for his attitudes on his life and everything Cruise taught him. And vice versa- even though at times Foxx defied his orders, Cruise never tried to kill him until he absolutely had to. He knew Foxx was stuck in a rut and he tried to help him get his courage and straighten out his life as best he could. All this while they were running around Los Angeles killing people. Awesome.

 

7. The Passion of the Christ starring Jim Caviezel directed by Mel Gibson

 

I got caught up in the hype of the Passion and I really wanted to see it. I wanted to see if it was anti-Semitic, if the film was as violent as I heard and most importantly: if the film was any good. I finally got the chance when the film came to my arts theatre and I was excited to see it.

 

2 hrs later I walked out stunned. I had to take a long walk after seeing the movie and I can say Passion is probably the only movie where I almost had to turn away and where I almost got sick watching it.

 

Is it anti-Semitic? No it isn’t. If anyone walked out of the movie with feelings of anti-Semitism then they didn’t get the movie or the message it was presenting. Is the movie violent? Yes. It takes a LOT to phase me and Passion sure did that. It’s not a film I would want to see again and it’s not a film I can recommend because it’s a hard film to sit through.

 

Now was it good? Well obviously since it’s on my top 10 list. Jim Caviezel gives the performance of his life as Jesus and I fully immersed myself in his character. The scenery and set was beautiful to look at. Having the movie in Aramic was the smartest decision Gibson made. It made the film ‘real’ and it made the brutality and bloodshed all the more hard to look at. I never thought a movie would come out that would just lay out what Jesus went through and what his teachings were- the Passion did that and so much more. I’m glad Mel Gibson had the courage to make the movie and not tone down any of the violence and I’m glad it became a big hit. It’s just a shame that the undeserved controversy the movie received is hurting its chances in the award season.

 

6. Spiderman 2 starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina directed by Sam Raimi

 

I liked the first Spiderman- it was a fun movie and it had Randy Savage. But I always felt there was something lacking in it- I couldn’t pin it down. Spiderman 2 managed to fix all these problems.

 

I thought some of the fights in Spiderman were a bit anti-climatic and some of the characters and scenes were cookie-cutter. Spiderman 2 had awesome adventure scenes (the scene on the subway, the bank robbery) and the final battle scene kicked ass. The movie did a great job of humanising Peter Parker and the three main struggles he has in the movie aside from Doc Ock and whomever wrote that speech Aunt May gave deserves a medal. Aside from my #1 entry, Spiderman 2 was the most fun movie of the summer. Unlike other summer movies, it knew when to have fun (and was very funny when it wanted to be) but in an instant it could get the audience into the movie and caring about the characters. Movies like Shrek 2 failed in that sense- I never cared about characters. In Spiderman I was made to care about Peter Parker and I nearly jumped out of my seat rooting for him in the train scene. It seemed like Raimi may have had too many plot developments in Spiderman 2, but I’m confident Spiderman 3 will be just as good. In Spiderman, at times the special effects overwhelmed the story. In Spiderman 2 the story (and the characters) were given their due.

 

5. Million Dollar Baby starring Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman directed by Clint Eastwood

 

Last year I saw Mystic River and it instantly became one of my favourite films. I didn’t hear anything about Clint doing another movie until a few weeks before it came out as I heard rumblings from Ebert about how amazing this movie was. I saw it the week it came out and I thought all of Ebert’s pimping was well deserved.

 

There’s a lot I could give away but I won’t since you need to see the movie knowing as little as possible. For people scared off by a boxing or sports movie- it’s not. As Ebert said, it’s about people and their lives- and how boxing affects it. Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank both gave amazing performances and I would like to see both nominated for Oscars. Clint’s movies never rely on much, he always lets the characters tell the story and just lets everything fall into place. No bells and whistles, no explosions, it’s always just raw human emotion on display. Even though people are saying it’s Scorsese’s year he doesn’t deserve to win over Eastwood. It’s Clint’s year to win.

 

4. Mean Girls starring Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey directed by Mark Waters

 

Ahhh- the days when Amy and Tina doing something together was a good thing. I saw Mean Girls four times in the theatre and despite me not liking Tina and Amy anymore and having no love for Lindsay Lohan either- I can’t deny it’s a hilarious movie.

 

Teen comedies don’t work for me. I remember everyone in my grade seeing She’s All That, and I rented it and I was appalled at the low standards my fellow classmates had. The only teen movie I ever liked was the vastly underrated teen movie Get Over It which happened to be one of those teen movies no one saw. Get Over It once aired on Showtime for a month, I watched it everytime and soon fell in love with it.

 

Mean Girls worked where other teen comedies failed because of the grownups involved. Tina Fey’s script was very witty and many times was laugh out loud funny. The characters in Mean Girls weren’t just cookie cutters and the ones that were stereotypes (the cool mom for instance) worked because they were so over the top. I don’t like her but Lindsay Lohan did a fine job of playing the new unaware girl and then switching over to evil bitchy girl. I thought Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert gave the best female performances.

 

What elevated Mean Girls from good to #4 on my list is the performance of Tim Meadows as the principal. He has perfect comedic timing and somehow manages to steal every scene he’s in and deliver the funniest lines of the movie. Without him, Mean Girls would have been a nice little teen comedy, but he was the missing piece of the puzzle. At times Meadows’ was the audience’s point of view- he couldn’t believe how much these teen girls screwed with each other and other times he was just there to deliver another gut bustingly funny line. I’m not joking when I say Tim definitely deserves an Oscar nod for Mean Girls. Oh Tina- why can’t you be this funny on Update?

 

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson directed by Michael Gondry

 

I didn’t see Eternal Sunshine in the theatres until September. It was playing at the big cineplex but my arts theatre (which is cheaper) was adverting it so I figured I’d wait. Unfortunately, I left Canada by then and the movie soon left theatres. Thankfully, a second run theatre on the outskirts of Toronto was playing it and I was excited at my second chance at seeing Eternal Sunshine.

 

Eternal Sunshine is one of the most frustrating movies I’ve seen. And that’s a compliment. I got so wrapped up in Jim Carrey’s character and his hapless plight to save the memories of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend that I became frustrated that the film wasn’t unravelling the way I wanted it to go. This is because of Charlie Kaufman’s script and Michael Gondry’s excellent direction. The movie is visually stunning and you never know where it’s going to go.

 

It’s Jim Carrey as Joel Barrish that made me fall in love with the movie. Carrey again shows why he’s my favourite actor as he gives a toned down performance. In every frame you can sense his character’s heartbreak when he finds out what his girlfriend did to him and when he realises the memories they had together are going away. Carrey has said that Joel Barrish is the role that most closely resembles him- getting to see the ‘real’ Jim Carrey beneath all the silliness is another thing I love about the movie. He’s not going to get nominated on Tuesday and when he doesn’t- it’ll be a real shame.

 

One more note- they seem to be marketing Eternal Sunshine as a comedy when it’s not. To me it was a very sad depressing movie with occasional laughs. Don’t go into this movie expecting a Jim Carrey comedy. You will get an amazing Jim Carrey performance.

 

2. Kill Bill Vol. 2 starring Uma Thurman, David Carradine directed by Quentin Tarantino

 

I went to the midnight showing of Kill Bill Vol. 1. It was me and a bunch of Tarantino geeks and I’ve never seen an audience have as much fun watching a movie as they did watching Vol. 1. The ending of Vol. 1 pretty much made me want to run out and see Vol. 2 right now- but Miramax made us wait until April. And on opening day I gladly forked over my $9 and got ready for more Kill Bill.

 

The first volume of Kill Bill was basically an introduction. We met the Bride, knew she was pissed and that she knew how to wield a sword. Vol. 2 fleshed out the story. It was slower and 20 minutes longer but it told you all the backstory about the Bride, her relationship with Bride, how she became an asskicker- everything.

 

The scenes with Pai Mei and her buried underground kicked so much ass. Just like Vol. 1, Vol. 2 was so much fun with the added bonus of answering all your questions that Vol. 1 had. I liked Vol. 2 more- it had more of the Tarantino dialogue that I love while still supplying the action and graphic violence that Vol. 1 had. Plus it had a Samuel L. Jackson cameo- I mean- come on!

 

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azbakan starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, David Thewlin, Gary Oldman directed by Alfonso Cuaron

 

After June 5th, every film I saw after Harry Potter caused me to ask at least one question:

 

Was this film as good as Harry Potter? The answer was no.

 

I had read and seen the first Harry Potter book/movie but skipped out on the second. To me the second looked exactly like the first and wasn’t worth the trip to the theatre. (I’ve since seen the second and it kicks a ton of ass) I started seeing trailers for the third movie and one thing struck me: It looks kind of dark. It looks a bit scary. I heard they got an acclaimed Spanish director to do the movie and every article I read about it promised me a darker look at the Potter world. Everytime I saw the ending of the trailer with Harry yelling “Expectum patronus!” I knew I had to see this movie.

 

2 hours 30 minutes later I walked out with my energy drained. Rarely had I ever been so emotionally involved in a movie. I generally cared about what happened to the kids and if they caught Sirius Black or not. Even though the movie was dark and scary- it knew when to pull back and be funny. It knew when to lighten the mood and hint that everything was being okay. I’m not going to lie- I was scared to death by the movie. The wolf stalking Harry started it and the introduction of the Dementors is what really got me. Not every scene was meant to scare, but the way Cuaron made it, there was always an underlying tension going on. When the climatic scenes finally occur and everything goes down- it goes down. There’s tons of action, it’s really scary and there are even wolves fighting each other. I was literally on the edge of my seat the whole film and didn’t take a breath until I was sure it was over. Even then I left the theatre exhausted. I ended up seeing it again three months later and I still had tons of fun watching it and getting into the story.

 

I’ve read the book and the movie is easily better. While the book has a bunch of Quidditch scenes that were fun, the movie compresses what at times is an overlong and bloated book. I don’t think JK Rowling knew exactly how to do the timetwister concept while Cuaron handles it perfectly and it’s fun to watch.

 

There’s no film that came close to Harry Potter this year. There’s no other movie that sucked me in and kept my interest the whole way through. I never got bored, I never got a bit disinterested, I was hooked right from the opening credits. Alfonso Cuaron deserves a ton of credit for being able to improve on the positives of Chamber of Secrets (the underlying tension, the scary scenes) and take out a lot of negatives. (The overlong running times). I’m sad he won’t be doing the Goblet of Fire though.

 

But when you add all this up it’s simple- Prisoner of Azabakan is the best film I saw that came out in 2004.

 

Now onto the actual review….

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Will Forte, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Darrell Hammond

Thoughts- Well congrats to Amy and Tina for being on-screen together and being funny together. I thought the twin talk stuff was awesome and both girls brought their ‘A’ game. Forte gave another good performance as W. and I think he’s starting to come into his own. Amy and Tina weren’t overly cute or anything like that- they had good Southern accents and had a lot of good lines. Darrell as Dick Cheney MADE this skit though. I thought he was perfect here and played Cheney as kind of sleazy and self assured which is why people love him or hate him I guess. It was great seeing two of my former favourites have fun while being funny again. ****

 

Monologue

Cast- Paul Giamatti

Thoughts- I guess they had absolutely no ideas so they decided to wing it. That’s nice and all but it’s kind of annoying since it’s a waste of TV time. I would’ve just had Paul Giamatti go up there and say: WNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNBC a bunch of times. It’s better then nothing. ¾*

 

Senate Hearings

Cast- Giamatii, Maya Rudolph, Seth Meyers, Poehler, Riggle

Thoughts- I knew we were in for a good start when I immediately laughed at Giamtti’s Senator Luger getup. And then we get Seth returning as John Kerry! Seth’s Kerry once again rocked and it was great to see it again. From the subtle flip flopping to his constant lack of questioning, it was good to see the master impression back. The crowd seemed to really enjoy Amy’s Barbara Boxer so I guess liberals enjoy going out in the snow. Amy gave another very funny performance and I really enjoyed the rapid fire exchanges between Amy and Maya. A couple screwups at the end meant it won’t be perfect but this was easily one of the best skits of the year and I’d like to see them try to find ways to use Kerry and Boxer again. ****1/2

 

Gaystrogen

Cast- Chris Parnell, Fred Armisen

Thoughts- While it was no Homicil- this was pretty funny. Fred does look kind of gay (sorry Fred- but it's true) so he played a very good gay man. Solid funny stuff here. ***

 

Limo Driver

Cast- Giamatti, Dratch, Finesse Mitchell

Thoughts- I thought Rachel was dead on as Elizabeth Cohen. Truly one of the most accurate impressions I’ve seen in years. I figured they were going to do something on the fact that we have a less-famous host and I thought this was a good way to go. I must extend my sympathies to whichever writer watched the Hot Chick to make that reference. I’m surprised Giamatti didn’t mention his role as Bob Zmuda in Man on the Moon since that’s probably his biggest role to date. He also didn’t mention Big Fat Liar which had Amanda Bynes on the cusp of hotness. She was 16- it’s allowed. The movie also had a cameo from Jaleel White- how can you not love it? Kenan and Screech are also in it. I don’t think Giamatti looks that much like Rob Schneider since his face is a lot wider. Anyway- Finesse was funny here for once and I liked Giamatti’s desperate attempts to get him to know who he was. Finesse rubbing in Jamie Foxx’s win and re-enacting his Golden Globe speech (you can tell Foxx has never won a thing in his life) was probably my favourite part. Overall a good skit if a bit too long. ***

 

RICK! RICK! RICK!

Cast- Giamatti, Horatio Sanz, Poehler

Thoughts- I’ve seen RICK RICK RICK at the last two dress rehearsals I’ve been to and they both got cut and they both sucked. I said this in the Winslet episode but it once again is shown here. RICK! RICK! RICK! worked well the first time because Caitlin had Lindsay Lohan to play off- she had an actual protagonist instead of just Horatio Sanz standing there looking stupid. Caitlin and Lindsay had actual chemistry and it was cute seeing Caitlin to try one-up and befriend the girl at the same time. Now every skit is just Caitlin acting annoying while the guest host and Horatio look on. There’s no appeal. Another thing I didn’t like about RICK! RICK! RICK! was Caitlin saying she would go on the Price is Right and bid a dollar. There is nothing more then people who do that on that show. I know it’s strategy and all but- YOU KNOW IT DOESN’T COST A DOLLAR SO STOP BEING A DOUCHEBAG AND BID A REAL NUMBER! I seriously think people who do that should be taken out back and shot. It’s such an asshole cheap thing to do that it bothers me so much. Just bid what you think it costs- have some pride for God sakes. I admire Amy for having all this energy in the skit but it goes nowhere. The Lohan skit at least told a story. This was overly long too. At 6+ minutes hearing someone run around screaming RICK! RICK! RICK! goes from funny to cute to kind of annoying to just plain old. My favourite part of the skit didn’t even involve Amy, it was the conversation between Giamatti and Horatio about Giamatti’s music career and his concept album. Of course the crowd sat there silent for that one. I think it’s time for Amy and Emily Spivey to put Caitlin to rest. She had a good run, said RICK! RICK! RICK! a lot but it’s over. *1/4

 

Ludacris featuring Sum 41 ‘Get Back’

Thoughts- You know Bill O’Reilly’s head was going to explode watching this. We have Ludacris, who O’Reilly hates and has called for a boycott of Pepsi because of his involvement in an advertising campaign, and we have Sum 41. What’s so bad about Sum 41 you ask? Well they’re Canadian and last year, Bill O’Reilly considered boycotting Canada because they were granting AWOL soldiers asylum. So not a good combination. I don’t really like Derek Whibley’s black hairdo. I know he’s trying to look older but it really doesn’t work. In the end he still looks like he’s 12, and yes I know coming from me that’s a total pot-kettle-black thing to say. But somehow Derek bagged Avril so I have to give him some credit. I had to laugh at Sum 41 yelling, “Get Back!” into the microphone trying to sound all badass because they’re really not and it just made them look stupid. It’s the musical guest- you actually expected me to discuss the song? It was fun to listen to the two sounds mesh but I think it went on a bit too long. I was starting to get a headache after a while. **1/2

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Fey, Poehler, Dratch, Hammond

Thoughts- I could go off on my usual Amy should be fired/bring in Seth rant but this Weekend Update wasn’t beyond terrible so there’s no need. But Amy really should be fired. And Seth really should’ve been hired. The bit with Rachel in the snow was hit and miss- the part where they drank hot chocolate and berated her were pretty funny. Even though Tina kinda ruined by revealing there was not hot chocolate in the cup. The jokes were a bit better then usual although there was still too many clunkers and Amy needs to stop with the Brad-Jen-Angelina jokes. And I could do it without the unprofessionalism. Darrell’s Ahnuld sucks. He has a lot of good impressions but suffice it to say that is not one of them. As usual I’m probably giving this a better rating then it deserves but Tina and Amy were better joke-wise then usual but Update still kind of sucks and needs massive improvement. At least it was better then last week’s and the stuff with Rachel was somewhat amusing. **1/4

 

Variety Vault

Cast- Giamatti, Armisen, Poehler, Rudolph, Fey, Dratch, Parnell, Forte, Kenan Thompson

Thoughts- This was really bad and not that funny. But I still liked it and laughed anyway. Fred looked ridiculously funny in his getup and the bit at the bar was so stupid and horrible and cheesy I just had to smile and laugh. Kenan’s bit was legit funny at least. Amy also made me laugh too. I can’t give this a high rating since it wasn’t all that funny but at least it wasn’t horrible and bad. **1/4

 

OH NO!

Cast- Giamatti, Forte, Dratch, Poehler

Thoughts- The Random Will Forte skit of the Week RETURNS!~ This was awesome. It took a little bit to get going but Will just screaming OH NO totally grew on me and I was laughing a lot. Giamatti screaming at Will to answer the phone when the voicemail wouldn’t pick up was my favourite part of the skit and I loved Giamatti talking to the guy on the other end and trying very hard not to say OHHHHHHHHHHH NO. I hope we get more weird and random Will Forte skits in the future. They don’t always work but the ones that do are totally worth it. ***3/4

 

Ludacris

Thoughts- I don’t understand why they chose to sample Soul Bossa Nova and Ludacris’ plugging and the Austin Powers references got pretty old after a while. His mentioning of Bill O’Reilly does of course earn him some bonus points. *1/2

 

Spy Glass

Cast- Giamatti, Sanz, Poehler, Meyers

Thoughts- I don’t know whether to be more excited that they brought back SpyGlass or that they mentioned VIVIAN CINNAMON!~ Vivian Cinnamon, I believe, was the character Lindsay Lohan played in the cut Spy Glass. She was speaking with a British accent, said the phrase ‘Cheeriatsi’, and well, it really turned me on. So SNL gets bonus points for that. I like SpyGlass. It has stupid puns, British accents and well it’s Seth and Amy. I love when Seth did too many puns and commented on it. I could’ve done without Gene Shalit stuff but the rest was the usual fun SpyGlass stuff. ***1/4

 

The Cat

Cast- Giamatti, Armisen, Dratch

Thoughts- I’m surprised they put this on last but whatever. The line about Giamatti’s character enjoying working on death row had no point but I still laughed. Fred is really good at playing annoying animals and like the parrot skit, I did like this. I wonder what animal they will have Fred play next. Him playing a horse would be quite badass. ***

 

The Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.7 making this a thumbs up show. As I expected, Paul Giamatti was a great host and he helped the show a lot once he got over his nerves. There was a bit too much Amy tonight but she shined in the cold opening and the Senate hearing skit. It was great to like her again aside from RICK! RICK! RICK! and Update. This was a very good show that was brought down by a nothing monologue and a few other clunkers as there was good skits across the board and the last 20 minutes were really strong. I’m 100% against the Paris Hilton hosting as I think getting non-actors/comedians to host is always a bad idea and a recipe for disaster. If they can get something out of her, then great- I’m just not optimistic at all. Still- good job on a good show. I’m glad they didn’t waste a good talent.

 

Thumbs Up

[MDH257 0]

Solid show, but nothing was out of the park.

 

The only optimism I have about Paris Hilton is that the last couple of times I thought a show would suck because of who was hosting (Timberlake, Nick & Jessica, Trump) it turned out to be a good show.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

I think this episode was the best of the season.

 

And I'd bid a dollar to see Amy get canned. She was EVERYWHERE. I didn't like that.

[bob_barron 0]

The only optimism I have about Paris Hilton is that the last couple of times I thought a show would suck because of who was hosting (Timberlake, Nick & Jessica, Trump) it turned out to be a good show.

 

I thought Trump was horrible. I knew Timberlake was going to be a good show- he struck me as a funny guy. And Jessica's funny and they had a lot to work with her. The problem with Paris is that she has no personality. She's famous for being a whore. They have lots of material to work with but I don't see that being parlayed into anything funny. I think we're in for a Roddick like show.

 

And I'd bid a dollar to see Amy get canned. She was EVERYWHERE. I didn't like that.

 

Yea- I hope Will Arnett isn't too upset since she must've blown Lorne to get that much screen time.She was funny in some stuff though- so I can't complain

[Vigo 0]

They should have gotten Nicole Richie instead of Hilton. From what I've seen from Conan and MAD TV last night, Richie seems to be a lot funnier then Hilton. If I had to choose between the two I'd let Richie host.

[bob_barron 0]

I don't think they wanted a host who would possibly snort up right before they went on the air

[Vigo 0]

Nonetheless, Richie coked out of her mind is still a hell of a lot more entertaining then Hilton's monotonous voice and shitty acting.

[bob_barron 0]

That's true. I don't understand why they couldn't have picked an actor or comedian to host- I bet NBC wants a high rated show and came down on them

[Ted the Poster 0]

So what's the over/under on how many times Paris says "that's hot" next week? Whatever it is, I'm taking the over.

[bob_barron 0]

It's in two weeks- I'll put the over/under at 7

[Vigo 0]

It wouldn't surprise me if they have a whole sketch based around it.

[razazteca 0]

I demand a RICK! RICK! RICK! skit next week vs Paris vs the ZING! guy in a japanese game show battle of wits.

[bob_barron 0]

My head would explode

[razazteca 0]

It would be a parody of HEY! Spring of Trivia or Iron Chef.

[bob_barron 0]

Their best hope for a good show with Paris is just to load it up with recurring characters

[TheBigSwigg 0]

I want to see an Armisen animal impersonation. Maybe then he could get some humanity out of her.

[Ted the Poster 0]

Have seen that poor dog of hers? She doesn't give a fuck about animals.

 

Their best hope for a good show with Paris is just to load it up with recurring characters.

Or have Paris play a zombie in every sketch.

 

Oh, and you just know they're going to do a Donatella sketch next week with Paris playing her cousin or something.