Disc Reviews

If you were to print out all the quotes from the interviews in Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis, a 116-minute documentary, you would swear that Lewis himself wrote them all. Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Carol Burnett, Billy Crystal, Chevy Chase, John Landis, Carl Reiner, Richard Lewis (no relation) and Alec Baldwin are all so effusive in their compliments as to almost defy belief. Woody Harrelson says if you don't like Jerry Lewis, he doesn't even want to hang out with you. Comedian/Actor Richard Belzer (Law and Order) shows off his Jerry Lewis tattoo. Jerry Seinfeld says that if you don't laugh at Jerry Lewis, you don't understand comedy. Everyone interviewed in this film is completely unreserved in their love and respect for the man.

The film is a fairly comprehensive, looking at the 80-year career of the 85-year-old hyphenate (he is comedian/director/writer/actor/singer). Director Gregg Barson was given pretty much a free hand to record Jerry Lewis, the man behind the scenes in his daily life and activities. What comes out is a fairly vibrant and fresh perspective on the legend and icon. I was personally surprised how intelligent and sharp he still is. From news reports in recent years, it was easy to get the impression that he was a doddering and delusional old nut job. One omission from the documentary is any mention of Lewis's involvement in the Muscular Dystrophy Association which he singlehandedly turned into the most prominent charity in the world over many generations. It seems recently he has become disenchanted with the management, but it is not clarified here. What is brought into perspective is the truly monumental success of the man's life and career. It is hard to estimate the money he has made, but it must be astounding. At one point during a comedy tour he had a little time to churn out a movie. He made The Bellboy for a little under 1 million dollars with no studio help and has personally pocketed over 300 million dollars from that film alone. For many years, Paramount Pictures wouldn't have known what to do if they didn't get two Jerry pictures a year, he was that important to their bottom line.

If you watched any comedic movie in the late '90s, you’ve seen Harland Williams. A funny guy who always played the dummy (see Half Baked and Down Periscope), his career never took off the way similar stand-up comics like Jim Carrey and Norm MacDonald did. In this special, Harland performs his trademark wry and goofy comedy in a new, innovative way: the comedian does his routine outside and with no audience.

It’s just him and a microphone on top of a mesa in the Mojave Desert. Harland doesn’t mind breaking the fourth wall, telling the viewer at the start that it’s okay there’s no audience; that he believes you are smart and “I think you’ll know when to laugh.” Just in case we miss something, though, he throws sunflower seeds at us if he feels something was particularly funny, like his polio walk. (“C’mon, polio doesn’t even exist any more!”) This breaking of the fourth wall makes you feel like you’re there on the mesa with him.

“Blood is thicker than water, and oil is thicker than blood.”

The drama continues; not trying to steal the slogan from TNT; however, it does seem fitting for the returning soap drama, Dallas, especially since TNT is the network that it airs on. I am certain that everyone has heard of this soap opera in one capacity or another. The series ran for thirteen seasons from 1978 to 1991, and caused worldwide spread pandemonium with one of the most famous cliffhangers in television, “Who Shot J.R.?” Well enough about what Dallas was, and on to what it is; for starters it’s back. More than twenty years after it went off the air, the series returns with some new faces and some familiar ones.

Coming into the HBO animated series on its third season, I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Life & Times of Tim.  Even after a quick search on IMDB to see what else creator Steve Dildarian had worked on, it left me with little to go on concerning what to possibly expect. I got to go into season three with virgin eyes, and overall it was a good time. When we first meet Tim (Dildarian), his life is at a low point, lower than what most twenty-something graduates would be used to.  But on the bright side Tim has managed to find a job as the personal assistant to a women’s basketball player (Kym Whitley), though Tim is too ashamed to admit to his girlfriend Amy (M.J. Otto) what he really does.  From episode one on we see a common formula take place, Tim decides to do something, and in the end his actions prove his idea was horrible or will simply end with disastrous results.  If anything Tim is something of an inspiration; after all, for those who claim to have terrible luck, they can always look to Tim and realize it could always be worse.  But Tim is also fictional and animated, so any comfort the show may give will most likely be short-lived.

Each episode consists of two separate stories running about 15 minutes each.  Having these mini episodes helps the pacing of each of the episodes, and even when there is a weaker story playing it at least manages enough time to fit in a couple laughs without overstaying its welcome.  Also having the 2-story episodes it seemed at least for me there was easily “the good story” and then “the weaker story”.  For me there wasn’t a point where I ever found myself hysterically laughing throughout an episode, but there were two that I could say with ease were my favorites.

“78% of all professional football players are divorced, bankrupt, or unemployed two years after leaving the game.”

Now here’s a movie with quality subject matter. A film that addresses the consequences athletes face when they live for today’s instead of tomorrow’s satisfaction. Of course it is wrapped up in the bow of a romance theme, but the principle still holds. The idea of the two plots at first may be perceived as bad mixture like oil and water; however, after watching the two will be viewed more complementary like vanilla and chocolate swirl.