There is a chance that some clever marketer will take advantage of currents in the culture and, noticing the audience's avid love for Glee, market The Marc Pease Experience as another plucky tale of high-school outcasts united and healed by the magical power of music and performance. This person would, in fact, be clever, but they would also, in fact, be evil with a capital 'E,' because The Marc Pease Experience is — from horrible title to smug closing moment — one of the least funny comedies in a long time, and a head-scratching exercise in how you can take three funny, talented people and wind up with them not being especially funny in any way. Fortunately, nobody seems hell-bent on marketing The Marc Pease Experience — it was dumped unceremoniously into only 10 theaters nationwide, all in second-tier markets last August, and now comes ot a featureless, vanilla DVD in the hopes it might generate some cash on the strength of the names of its stars.
We meet Marc (Jason Schwartzman) just as he's getting ready to make his big entrance in his high school's production of The Wiz, as the Tin Man, egged and coaxed onstage by his drama teacher and the show's director Mr. Gribble (Ben Stiller) — but Marc's stagefright gets the better of him, and the result is a disaster. Jumping forward 8 years, Marc's a limo-driver loser, dating a high school girl, Meg (Anna Kendricks) from his old school, and Meg also has an uncomfortable attraction to Mr. Gribble, who Marc resents and hates for ruining his life. So from the outset, we have a love triangle where two sides are creepily, disturbingly inappropriate for the other; who exactly are we supposed to root for?
Marc's other obsession is with his acapella group, 'Meridian 8"; alongside several high school associates, he's booking gigs, doing the thing, making it go. But a crisis of confidence strikes Marc, and he's convinced that he's got to make a big gesture, so he sells his condo to raise the money to record a demo for Meridian 8, in the hopes of taking them form the reception-and-reunion circuit to the big time; meanwhile, Mr. Gribble's trying to extricate himself from his relationship with Meg and mount (poor choice of words, perhaps, but still) a new production of The Wiz, in part to wash away the feeling of failure he had when Marc tanked the show last time. …
But you don't have to sell a condo to afford recording a demo; it's something you can do in your living room, with the right equipment. And more damningly, raising the stakes for both Marc and Mr. Gribble suggests that we care about what happens to either of them, and we don't. Director Todd Louiso co-wrote the script alongside Jacob Koskoff, and it's larded with lazy moments and unfunny funny stuff — oh, Marc has crazy hair! Marc learns about Meg's infidelity by listening to an audition tape that captures her and Mr. Gribble fooling around! Meridian 8's plans to record may not go as smoothly as one might hope!
And Schwartzman, Stiller and Kendrick are all left to founder. Kendrick's a talented actress — her work in the upcoming Up in the Air is almost certain to garner her a Best Supporting Actress nomination — but as a woman torn between two idiots, she can't do much. Schwartzman nailed the hurt-but-hopeful spirit of High School in the classic Rushmore, but watching him do a sad, shabby reduction of that work here – where the biggest identifier his character has is his out-of-control hair — is a little depressing. And Stiller (who reportedly shot all his scenes in 2 weeks) is woefully mis-cast here, in that I only like Stiller when he's big, broad and blunt as possible; I don't watch stiller to see the small problems of ordinary life; I watch him to see the big problems of exceptional (and exceptionally stupid) life. Director Louiso's first film, Love Liza, was weird and dark and sad and strong, including a great performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman; that alone made me interested in The Marc Pease Experience, but after seeing it, to paraphrase a genius of pop music, all I am saying is don't give Pease a chance.
Posted on November 22, 2009 at 7:43 pm
What baffles me, is while Redbox Blog says to not waste any time or money on this crapfest, they still put it in their kiosk. Seems to me if Redbox wants to maintain good word-of-mouth, they would protect their users from banal shite like Marc Pease. Comedy? Nothing funny about this sad trite chunk-o-dung!
Posted on November 22, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Well of course, Tim, everyone’s tastes are different. As anyone who reads redblog regularly knows, there are a lot of films I love that others hate, and vice versa–big, popular films that I myself hate. (*cough*newmoon*cough*)
You wouldn’t want me filling the redboxes with only films *I* liked, trust me :)
Lots of people like lots of different films for a lot of different reasons, and humor is one of the most personal tastes around. There ARE folks out there who liked The Marc Pease Experience, just as for almost EVERY movie there’s someone who likes it, or at least is curious about it. Viva la cinema difference, variety is the spice of redbox, and other cliches ;)
Posted on November 25, 2009 at 11:42 pm
i cant believe this is called a comedy…totally bland and forgetable.