The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie
Dir. Andrew Silverman, 2007
(Warning: Major grumpitude ahead)
Matt Groening claims that the twenty-year wait to bring The Simpsons to the big screen was merely a matter of waiting for the right script to come along, but I don’t believe him. Movies based on TV shows immediately have three things going for them on the business end (brand recognition) and one thing against them on the artistic end (the notion that the audience is paying for something that they normally get for free). In the first few years of the show, it is doubtless that Fox would have put immense pressure on the Simpsons crew to make a movie based on the beloved show. After all, The Simpsons had already been licensed for every other conceivable merchandising product. But, (and this is just speculation, of course) Groening and company must have taken notice from that a movie based on The Simpsons would have made a pretty concrete shark jumping moment for the show (not that the term jumping the shark existed back then). If the movie had bombed, it would have killed the momentum of what was perhaps the best winning streak in television history.
It was a noble gesture, but the world of the late ‘00s is a much different one than the early ‘90s. Pop culture adaptations have gone from cheap cash ins to Hollywood’s stock in trade. The South Park movie proved that not all TV adaptations were mud. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut was not just a quality flick, but also moved the show in a much more satirical direction. As its Peabody winning credentials rose, the Simpsons’ spiraled down. Considering the caliber of his writing staff, Matt Groening probably didn’t have much shark jumping to worry. But as the show limped into double digit seasons, shark jumping was simply inevitable. By now, the Simpsons has jumped the shark so many times the show now spends most of its episodes making fun of its shark jumping.
If the first two points above give reasons that Groening and Company needn’t have been worried that a Simpsons movie would sink the show, the last point shows that, at this point, a big screen Simpsons couldn’t possibly be anything other than a ninety-minute widescreen episode of the show. The South Park movie, which was released within two years of the show’s premier, largely succeeded because it transformed the show into a grandiose musical parody. The Simpsons couldn't get away with something like that. At least fifty episodes have some character spontaneously bursting into song. With 400 episodes the show has done every conceivable storytelling form imaginable multiple times, from epic battles to short stories to avant garde freakouts. Even if the movie had managed to find some sort of fictional style not picked clean by the show, it would still fail to register as fresh because, by steadily breaking new ground for over twenty years, the show has immunized its audience to innovation.
But then, even a 90 minutes Simpsons episode wouldn’t be anything to scoff at, right? After all, the first ten years of the show are just about the best TV ever. Unfortunately, The Simpsons Movie steers closer to the show’s second decade excesses rather than its first decade genius. All items on the episode template are covered: from an exposition that has nothing to do with the plot to a nondescript government figure with a Springfield-destroying conspiracy to a visit to some far off land. There’s even a cute boy for Lisa to swoon over. The movie’s abandonment of that plot thread would come off as lazy in the show, but in a movie that’s supposedly been labored over for several years, it’s disheartening. There is nothing in the movie that hasn’t been done better by the show. And some of the jokes, such as Homer getting knocked between a giant rock and a giant building labeled “Hard Place, are so ancient that they wouldn’t pass muster in the show’s first season. When Bart wears a black bra over his head to goof on everyone’s favorite soul-sucking corporate mascot, it’s a reminder of how the show’s incisive satire has mellowed into blithe one-liners. In fact, the best humor in the movie comes from the gags that implicitly acknowledge that this is 90 minute episode of the movie (“Thou shalt turn off thy cell phone”). The last decade of the Simpsons has shown the writers doing things with the show just because they can and the movie is no different. So, Otto tokes up, Dr. Nick is impaled, and, certainly the movie’s biggest ush for immortality, flagrant cartoon nudity.
The success of a pop culture movie adaptation is two thirds good filmmaking and one third pandering nostalgia for the fan. It’s not Michael Bay’s direction that lit fire in the hearts of men-children across the country, but his (surprisingly good) chops have made Transformers into this summer’s movieplex rallying point. And sure, when Bart and Homer sail over the Springfield gorge at the end of the movie, I cheered for Homer to make it. But, then I realized it was funnier the first time around.
Dir. Andrew Silverman, 2007
(Warning: Major grumpitude ahead)
Matt Groening claims that the twenty-year wait to bring The Simpsons to the big screen was merely a matter of waiting for the right script to come along, but I don’t believe him. Movies based on TV shows immediately have three things going for them on the business end (brand recognition) and one thing against them on the artistic end (the notion that the audience is paying for something that they normally get for free). In the first few years of the show, it is doubtless that Fox would have put immense pressure on the Simpsons crew to make a movie based on the beloved show. After all, The Simpsons had already been licensed for every other conceivable merchandising product. But, (and this is just speculation, of course) Groening and company must have taken notice from that a movie based on The Simpsons would have made a pretty concrete shark jumping moment for the show (not that the term jumping the shark existed back then). If the movie had bombed, it would have killed the momentum of what was perhaps the best winning streak in television history.
It was a noble gesture, but the world of the late ‘00s is a much different one than the early ‘90s. Pop culture adaptations have gone from cheap cash ins to Hollywood’s stock in trade. The South Park movie proved that not all TV adaptations were mud. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut was not just a quality flick, but also moved the show in a much more satirical direction. As its Peabody winning credentials rose, the Simpsons’ spiraled down. Considering the caliber of his writing staff, Matt Groening probably didn’t have much shark jumping to worry. But as the show limped into double digit seasons, shark jumping was simply inevitable. By now, the Simpsons has jumped the shark so many times the show now spends most of its episodes making fun of its shark jumping.
If the first two points above give reasons that Groening and Company needn’t have been worried that a Simpsons movie would sink the show, the last point shows that, at this point, a big screen Simpsons couldn’t possibly be anything other than a ninety-minute widescreen episode of the show. The South Park movie, which was released within two years of the show’s premier, largely succeeded because it transformed the show into a grandiose musical parody. The Simpsons couldn't get away with something like that. At least fifty episodes have some character spontaneously bursting into song. With 400 episodes the show has done every conceivable storytelling form imaginable multiple times, from epic battles to short stories to avant garde freakouts. Even if the movie had managed to find some sort of fictional style not picked clean by the show, it would still fail to register as fresh because, by steadily breaking new ground for over twenty years, the show has immunized its audience to innovation.
But then, even a 90 minutes Simpsons episode wouldn’t be anything to scoff at, right? After all, the first ten years of the show are just about the best TV ever. Unfortunately, The Simpsons Movie steers closer to the show’s second decade excesses rather than its first decade genius. All items on the episode template are covered: from an exposition that has nothing to do with the plot to a nondescript government figure with a Springfield-destroying conspiracy to a visit to some far off land. There’s even a cute boy for Lisa to swoon over. The movie’s abandonment of that plot thread would come off as lazy in the show, but in a movie that’s supposedly been labored over for several years, it’s disheartening. There is nothing in the movie that hasn’t been done better by the show. And some of the jokes, such as Homer getting knocked between a giant rock and a giant building labeled “Hard Place, are so ancient that they wouldn’t pass muster in the show’s first season. When Bart wears a black bra over his head to goof on everyone’s favorite soul-sucking corporate mascot, it’s a reminder of how the show’s incisive satire has mellowed into blithe one-liners. In fact, the best humor in the movie comes from the gags that implicitly acknowledge that this is 90 minute episode of the movie (“Thou shalt turn off thy cell phone”). The last decade of the Simpsons has shown the writers doing things with the show just because they can and the movie is no different. So, Otto tokes up, Dr. Nick is impaled, and, certainly the movie’s biggest ush for immortality, flagrant cartoon nudity.
The success of a pop culture movie adaptation is two thirds good filmmaking and one third pandering nostalgia for the fan. It’s not Michael Bay’s direction that lit fire in the hearts of men-children across the country, but his (surprisingly good) chops have made Transformers into this summer’s movieplex rallying point. And sure, when Bart and Homer sail over the Springfield gorge at the end of the movie, I cheered for Homer to make it. But, then I realized it was funnier the first time around.
posted by Jesse @ 1:08 AM
<< Home