Harry here... Sometimes the intellectual brain of a hardened prose-slinger just melts. Is this the case here or is THE NEW GUY actually an enjoyable romp? Somehow I feel I'll never know for certain. Here ya go...
I can't believe I'm writing this--let's get that straight from the beginning. Last night a friend calls me up and offers me free passes to see The New Guy. Now, I'd seen a brief crap trailer that looked like some embarrassingly painfull shit featuring that skinny white kid from Road Trip pretending to be black, so I'm hesitant, but then my friend says Lyle Lovett is in it, so I bite. It's free, right? And it might even be funny in parts. Harry, charitable champion of the underdog film that he is, made disparaging groaning noises when I told him what I was up to, as if he could smell sour stock across town. Much like the trailer, all signs pointed to CrapperTown USA.
Okay, okay, I'll get to the review. Ignore the trailers, and ask yourself this: Do you like pure comedies? Do you enjoy the writing on the Simpsons? Do you like the Farrelly Brothers but sometimes wish they had more jokes and less gross? Do you like soul music? If you said "Yes" to any of these, then go see this movie.
Spoilers and comedy are a bad combination. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll tread softly on the critique.
This is a damned good comedy--I laughed from start to finish and was happy the whole ride. It's parading as a teen flick, but I'll stick by my comparison to the writing of the Simpsons. Sure, it's a screwball comedy and it'll appeal to teenagers, but the better part of the humor is aimed at 25-35 yr olds. It's as dense with gags as Airplane but faster paced. It has the same joie de vivre, root-for-the-underdog flavor as Caveman, and unlike a lot of the sucessful comedies churned out lately, it doesn't rely on self-reference or pure parody of other films for its humor. This is a fun, fun ride with nary a mean-spirited bone in its body, and I think writer David Kendall should be proud. Besides that, it pays homage to James Brown, and that's like greasing angels palms to get into Heaven--if you got it, baby, you better use it!
The movie has a strange kind of raw pacing, where it almost quashes its own laughter by zipping on before the last joke sinks in, but I think for first time director Ed Decter, this is a point in his favor. It's like a messy first kiss--kind of awkward at first, you're surprised by the flavor, but you're definately entertained, and damn if it doesn't work. Besides, timing is the hardest thing in comedy, and with as much as he wants to throw at you, it's better to let the little chips fall where they may and save his craftiness for the harder gags to pull off. I'm dying to see what he does next.
I don't understand what's happened to film trailers or marketing. I don't write often for the site, but, well, the trailers, the poster and the tag lines for this movie sucked, and I think it deserved better. I enjoyed the hell out of it and felt like I should do what I could to let someone else in on it. There, I've absolved you of any embarrassment you felt while watching the trailers. If you want to laugh, take a chance. Enjoy.
--Dotty
