Well, from our “things you never thought you’d see yourself type
Last night’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by Ben Affleck, was almost funny all the way through. Affleck was a big part of the reason; what can I say, I like the guy. Hell, I think I’m not only the only critic to give Reindeer Games a good review, I’m one of only two people who will admit to liking it–the other being the film’s late director.
Lord knows the boy needs a better shit detector when it comes to picking films, but he has got that hard-to-define “it” that, I hope, will sustain him till his much-needed next hit. Maybe Jersey Girl will be that hit, maybe it won’t.
A big part of that “it” is having a good sense of humour about yourself, and on SNL, he took the “good sport” award away from Michael Moore (who’d previously held it for the joke at the Oscars). I admit it–I tuned in mostly to see how many “Bennifer” and/or Gigli jokes they would work in, and he handled the inevitable with a smile. Highlights…
Trying to get ahead of the next media buzzword version of one of his relationships, previewing a series of T-shirts, including “Mary-Kate and Ashfleck” and “Ben-Gay,” the latter in the event he starts dating Marcia Gay Harden, “or the unlikely possibility that Matt comes to his senses.”
A flashback to the filming of Gigli with a mentally handicapped man pointing out to a disbeliving Ben the flaws in the film, and how rarely real couples succeed when paired onscreen.
The cast is still crap and the writing is worse, and Weekend Update is still like watching two cars crash and plunge into a black hole. Which is kind of strange, because I remember about 20 years ago–dear god–when the rest of the show was like that and Weekend Update was the one segment worth cheering. That was when a GOP-knocking scamp named Dennis Miller was doing it. Anybody know whatever happened to him? There’s somebody with the same name on MSNBC, but it can’t be the same guy.
The last half-hour of the show is still a sketch graveyard. When is NBC going to realize that and cut the show to an hour? The Tonight Show used to be 90 minutes too, but Johnny Carson was sharp enough to see it needed trimming.
And finally, whatever “hipness” was once attached to the show being live has long since been drowned out by the technical limitations it imposes and the “pull-it-out-your-ass” writing it encourages.
Nevertheless, at least for one night, SNL was enjoyable, and I thought that should be remarked upon.
