LOOK No Further

Article first published as TV Review: LOOKING FOR ALASKA on Seat42F.

While John Green may be best known for The Fault in Our Stars, and Turtles All the Way Down seems to have caught on quite a lot, his debut novel, LOOKING FOR ALASKA, is good, too. More raw, less polished than the others, it is written in the familiar style of Green, creating interesting teen protagonists, but without the complexity or level of insight some of his later works feature. If anything, the book feels a bit more personal to the author than those others, and I myself found the main character of Pudge easier to identify with. It was with this perspective I took part in It’s All Been Done Presents’ Quarterly Book Club last winter to talk about the novel. (That video discussion is available on YouTube or iabdpresents.com)

Excitingly, Hulu premiered a miniseries adaptation of LOOKING FOR ALASKA last week. If you’re a John Green fan, or fan of the coming-of-age story at all, you should watch it. If you liked the book, as I did, you should definitely watch it. It is a faithful adaptation of the source material, and I daresay, in the hands of the great Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl, Chuck), is even improved upon, adding complexity to minor characters and better building out the world.

The plot begins with Miles Halter (Charlie Plummer, Boardwalk Empire) going away to a boarding school in Alabama, Culver Creek Academy, seeking ‘the great perhaps.’ Quickly and ironically nicknamed ‘Pudge’ by his assigned roommate, Chip ‘The Colonel’ Martin (Denny Love), Miles finds kinship and perhaps his perhaps with the offbeat Alaska Young (Kristine Froseth, The Society). However, tragedy both big and small will shake all three.

I do think the television show telegraphs the climax a bit too obviously. The opening scene of the series is an unclear look at what will happen, but it seems relatively predictable. The book’s countdown, echoed in the miniseries, does something similar, but perhaps with a bit more ambiguity.

That aside, however, LOOKING FOR ALASKA is terrific. It has fine performers and tells a great tale that is both narrow and wide, relatable and specific. Some events are re-ordered or differently emphasized than in the novel, but only in the service of the larger story. Having viewed five hours in a row (unable to stop myself after the intended one or two to write this review), I haven’t found a single issue with the departures Schwartz and the writing team have made.

The characters are better formed than on the page. Yes, Alaska is still framed by and large by how Pudge thinks of her, surely a disappointment to many viewers who wish for more gender parity and anyone who can see what an awesome job Froseth does in the role. Yet, the focus is on Pudge, with all other characters shaped by how they relate to him, and some manage to stand out around him. Love does an absolutely stunning job as the complicated Colonel. Ron Cephas Jones (This Is Us) rounds out a great subplot as Dr. Hyde, an elderly teacher who understands the kids better than they think. Timothy Simons (Veep) makes a potentially one-note authority figure someone that is understandable to be sympathetic with a little distance the students don’t have. Sofia Vassilieva (Medium) is heartbreaking as Lara Buterskaya, Pudge’s more attainable love interest. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Jay Lee’s (American Vandal) performance as Takumi and the memorable guest turn by Deneen Tyler (Treme) as The Colonel’s mother, Dolores.

While now in my thirties, I am still a sucker for a well written version of adolescence, and LOOKING FOR ALASKA delivers that in spades. Many try to capture the spirit of the age, but few do it as well as John Green or Josh Schwartz, and their union delivers a near-perfect result.

I have to stop writing now because I can’t wait a minute longer to finish out this miniseries. I highly recommend it. All eight episodes are currently streaming on Hulu.

Discussing THE INTERVIEW

Article first published as Movie Review: 'The Interview' on Blogcritics.

Much press has surrounded the controversial film The Interview, which Sony first canceled, and then later made available, to independent theaters and video-on-demand services. (Many major theater chains have opted not to carry it, though presumably they could if they wanted to.) Now that the movie has come out, I couldn’t help but check it out, considering the attention, and see if it is worth the trouble surrounding it. The short answer is, sort of.

The plot of The Interview is goofy, bordering on surrealistic. Television producer Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen, Super Bad, The Comeback) wants to get into more serious news, but the star he works with, Dave Skylark (James Franco, 127 Hours, The Mindy Project), is all about sensationalist entertainment. These two worlds merge when the guys find out Kim Jong-un (Randall Park, Veep, Larry Crowne) is a super-fan of Skylark and invites them to visit, which is complicated when the U.S. government asks Skylark to assassinate the dictator, and gives him minimal training to do so.

One can easily see why North Korea is upset by this movie. It takes their Supreme Leader, whom they worship as a god, and make him a metrosexual, emotional, cartoon character. In fact, much is made in the movie of exposing the true Kim to the people of that country, something that would go against the administration’s policies. With a dramatic climax that I won’t spoil, which goes a step further in defacing Kim, it makes sense that his home country wouldn’t want people to see The Interview.

That being said, terrorism is inexcusable, and threatening nuclear warfare isn’t right. The United States would never do that to anyone who made a similar movie about our elected leader. In fact, a British film about George W. Bush’s fictional murder, Death of a President was released in 2007, though that one was not a comedy. In that spirit, I urge many people to see The Interview, if for no other reason than to thumb our noses at a petty regime that would seek to infringe upon freedom of speech and resort to scare tactics to censor art.

The Interview is pretty funny, though not spectacularly so. Rogen’s character isn’t very humorous, presumably on purpose, which drags down the feature more than if every part of the script were to be played for laughs. But Franco is hilarious, especially when sharing the screen with Park, whom will soon be starring in an ABC sitcom called Fresh Off the Boat, and is absolutely terrific here. The supporting cast includes many notable faces, including Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex), Ben Schwartz (House of Lies), Timothy Simons (Veep), Diana Bang (Bates Motel), Rob Lowe (Parks and Recreation), rapper Eminem, and many semi-self-playing cameos. The movie makes terrific use for Katy Perry’s “Firework,” and there are a number of laugh-out-loud moments.

Where the piece suffers is in it’s satirical quality. It flirts with full-on lampooning in the style of Team America: World Police, which skewered Kim’s father, but backs off by trying to make itself a more mainstream film. It raises several important issues, such as the state of current media, but it barely scratches the surface.

I can’t help but wonder how much better The Interview would be had it fully committed to its premise, instead of couching a relatively pedestrian, predictable buddy story that happens to be set in an outrageous environment. Franco and Rogen’s This Is the End is superior because every bit of it revolves around the unique tale being told. The Interview pulls itself back, making it relatively tame and safe by comparison.

Is The Interview worth watching? Sure. I probably would have viewed it when it came to HBO or another premium channel, rather than going to see it in theaters, but I still would have eventually watched it. Is it worth owning? Probably, but only because of the stir it created in our culture, not being quite good enough on its own merit to shell out my hard-earned money for. But right now, when you can pay a few bucks to watch it on YouTube, I recommend everyone check it out, even if the stars aren’t quite your brand of humor, which is admittedly not critically-acclaimed.

The Interview is currently in select theaters, as well as being available on YouTube, GooglePlay, iTunes, and other online outlets.