Cynical Cinema

“I am a racism connaisseur.” 

Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist was a bizarrely-animated Comedy Central TV series featuring a type of computer animation dubbed “squigglevision”.  It’s a rather disconcerting style, where the inanimate objects look normal, but the outlines of the people are constantly “squiggling” around.  It’s too bad that the animation is so obnoxious and distracting from what was otherwise an excellent show.  And the best of it is here on this DVD. 

When they say “the best of”, they really mean “the biggest stars to appear on the show”.  Everyone on the show appears as “themselves”.  So when Denis Leary comes on the show, he is really playing Denis Leary, just in a cartoon therapy session.  Most of the superstars on this disc are basically doing their standup routines, just in the context of a therapist’s chair.  For some of them, this really works.  Like Dave Chappelle, whose bit about being the only black guy on an airplane is still one of the funniest bits I’ve ever heard.  The extra pictures that add to the routine are fantastic, like the little graph he pulls up that shows the statistics on terrorists taking black hostages, versus white and hispanic and oriental ones.

Patton Oswalt’s bit is hilarious, where he tries to convince Dr. Katz that he functions better if he has someone to hate, and that he would like Dr. Katz to be his nemesis.  It’s an inspired bit, where he keeps asking the therapist to be more evil, and maybe tent his fingers some.  Also great are Sarah Silverman, Janeane Garofalo, and Conan O’Brien.  There are a few misses, like the bit with Julia Louis-Dreyfus where she does the whole session over the phone, and keeps having to go to the bathroom. 

Overall, this really is a funny DVD, and a great collection of the best Dr. Katz moments.  It’s just too bad about that annoying animation.  The Best Of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist comes out Tuesday, December 2nd, from Paramount Home Entertainment.

There are many reasons to watch Californication. First of all, it has been savaged by many conservative critics for being too lewd. So, first thumb up right there… There has been a boycott organized by Christian groups of not only the show, but every company that advertises with this show as well, in response to a scene where a nun performs oral sex on David Duchovny. (To be fair, it’s a dream sequence. They were not suggesting that a real nun would do such a thing.) That scene is the first scene. Of the first episode. Ever. Season One of Californication opened with a bang, ensuring that right-wing critics would need only to watch one minute of the show, ever, before roundly condemning it. Which, I think, is a genius plan. Get them out of the way early. I mean, what if Touched By An Angel had waited until Season Seven to show that lesbian love affair between Roma Downey and Della Reese? Think of the backlash then…

Another reason to watch Californication, aside from the boundary pushing and the fact that it enrages conservatives, is the boobs. Every single episode has some seriously excellent boobs. David Duchovny plays Hank Moody, a struggling novelist who pines for his ex-wife (Natascha McElhone), but deals with his grief by nailing every hot woman who comes along. So there are tons of boobs, tons of sex scenes, and even when there are no boobs and no actual sex, there are women being ridiculously sexy and hot. (Especially a couple of episodes featuring Duchovny’s agent’s new secretary. Wow. I have no idea what her name is in the series. Duchovny refers to her as Morticia and Bettie Page and countless other names.)

Not only the controversy and the boobs and the sex, but the combination of all three is tantalizing as well. Now, the first scene in the first episode involved the nun and the oral sex. So the Christian bible thumpers should likely have stopped watching then. But clearly they didn’t. They like this show too, I guess. Because Christian reaction has been specifically bad with respect to another episode, one where Hank and a woman smoke marijuana and have sex, then they both vomit all over the place. (Also decidedly unsexy, but awfully funny, is the giant female-ejaculation episode. Which also makes certain people angry, if they kept watching this far.)

And the fourth, and best reason, to watch Californication is that it is genius. One of the funniest shows on TV, Duchovny is absolutely perfect as Hank, the womanizing, hard-drinking ne’er-do-well who bulldozes his way through life while still maintaining a remarkable amount of charm. The dialogue is as crisp and hilarious as any other show on television, the boobs are better than any other show on television, the scenarios push more limits than any other show out there (like the episode where Hank sleeps with his ex-wife’s new boyfriend’s 16-year-old daughter) and it’s more watchable than just about anything else on TV. Season One of Californication comes out tomorrow, June 17th, from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Halle Berry is an over-rated actress. And she is under-rated as a hottie. I can’t say enough good things about how gorgeous she is, and yet I can’t seem to find too many nice things to say about her acting. Oh, she’s passable enough. She can be quite good, and in some movies, almost great. But Charlize Theron or Cate Blanchett she is not. But she has managed to do a great job with her career, and has recently landed meaty acting roles like the one in Monster’s Ball and this one here in Things We Lost in the Fire. Benicio Del Toro, on the other hand, is over-rated as an attractive guy, and under-rated as an actor. He is fairly ugly, it seems to me. Not Steve Buscemi or Ric Ocasek ugly, but certainly he is no Scott Baio. However, he has been able to translate his unique looks and remarkable acting into similarly challenging roles, like Fenster in The Usual Suspects, and great roles in Traffic, Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas, Sin City, and now Things We Lost in the Fire.

All of which means that Things We Lost in the Fire is only as good as Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro can make it. When that means it’s as good as Halle Berry, it’s decent, even good at times. When that means it’s as good as Del Toro, it has moments verging on brilliant. However, that is all there is here, which leaves a lot of bothersome moments. Berry plays a woman whose husband (David Duchovny) is killed by a random act of violence. Del Toro is Duchovny’s childhood friend, a friend who is a heroin addict. He has never met any of the family, or the other friends, since he wouldn’t be seen by anyone until he was clean. But now, with Duchovny’s death, and Del Toro’s attendance at the funeral, bridges are gapped and amends are made. This all leads to him moving into his friend’s house, with his widow and young children. There are some strange moments. Like, when Halle Berry takes her kids swimming, and wears a really awesome string bikini. If it’s going to be just you and your kids, would you really wear a Hawaiian Tropic Girl uniform? Well, I have dated some women who would, and it’s Halle Berry, so who cares? Bring on the string.

The main problem with Things We Lost In The Fire is that it is strangely unmoving. There are scenes which should be heart-wrenching that end up being barely compelling. Maybe because the director seems to insist on focussing on characters, one eye at a time. You might not notice that the first time you see this film, but now that I’ve mentioned it, you will be irritated by this quirk. Oh yeah, there’s that one eye again. The scenes between Duchovny and Del Toro are terrific. They have a very convincing last-friend-on-earth vibe between them. And the scene where Del Toro goes through heroin withdrawal is as good and as harrowing as some other classics, like the one in Trainspotting or the wonderful acting job by Frank Sinatra in The Man With The Golden Arm. At one point the little girl says “do you ever feel like you’re inside a movie? I do. And it’s a sad movie.” And that is the biggest problem. You always feel like you are watching a movie. The scenes are very realistic - people are incapable of expressing their emotions or voicing exactly what they want to say. Which is very real. However, it does nothing to move the film along, and a lot of motivations go unexplained and we are never really able to understand.

Things We Lost In The Fire is very up-and-down. When it’s on, it’s fantastic. When it’s off, it’s tepid and obvious. Unfortunately, it’s more often off than on.