I felt sorry for Paul Dano’s character. I was hoping at least he would get a happy resolution, even if no one else did. Nothing cheesy, maybe just an ‘oh all of a sudden he’s only a bit colour blind’ kind of thing.
I like the pic from the poster.
Jack 26 October 2006, 05:28 AM
2
Not wanting to take anything away from Steve Carell, because I loved him in this - I feel like the writers deserve some credit for the character not being a “camp cliche”. In the film, the fact that Frank is gay is irrelevant, and I find it refreshing to watch a film where a character just happens to be gay, and for the film not to make an issue out of it. If we are going to pat anyone on the back for breaking down stereotypes, surely it should be the authors. I don’t think Carell’s performance was any better than the rest of the cast. Although that being said, everyone was excellent.
I can’t imagine Rob Schneider being anything but camp however. Thank god he wasn’t cast.
andy 26 October 2006, 06:58 AM
3
The writers got plenty of credit in the credits. I think the Key Grips did a wonderful job.
Jack 26 October 2006, 07:10 AM
4
Define plenty. Bigger font? Names repeated for the same job? You don’t even know what a key grip does. And don’t say he grips the key.
Tom 26 October 2006, 07:24 AM
5
I’d disagree that Frank being gay is “irrelevant”. There’s at least three jokes about it for a start. Also, when I imagine his love triangle as involving a young female student and him being straight, it just doesn’t seem quite as tragic. Not sure why though so don’t go after that.
I suppose it’s a conceit of reviewing to give the credit for acting decisions to the actors when it’s quite plausible that decisions were made all the way down the process. There’s a line of Frank’s: “No one gets left behind! No one gets left behind! Outstanding soldier! Outstanding!” that I reckon would be quite open to a more stereotyped interpretation, for one. Ultimately I was thinking more about avoiding stereotyped mannerisms and body language which I doubt is in the script either way (but could be).
Though, Frank does run in a silly way.
Carell’s character made me care about him more than most of them did — not that all of them weren’t great, but I really felt like Carell did an awesome job of playing someone with peculiar and disturbing problems like a normal person. Of course, presumably you can do that by just acting normal, so perhaps I am giving him too much credit.
On another point, I forgot that the Grandpa was Yossarian from Catch 22 while watching, unfortunately.
Jack 26 October 2006, 01:11 PM
6
I just meant it’s not really relavent the plot or any of the themes. Making a joke about doesn’t really make it important any more than mentioning it does. The fact he is gay is probably less pertinent than the fact he is a Proust Scholar.
I didn’t mean for you to defend your position. You are entitled to think Carell is awesome. I just didn’t think he was. I was more hoping for general agreement about how it’s nice to have a gay person in a film that isn’t an archetype. Yay!
Tom 26 October 2006, 02:40 PM
7
Are you kidding? I’ve had it up to here with gay Proust scholars. What a cliche. No, no, I quite agree.
It’s not strongly relevant to the plot or themes that he’s gay, or at least not essential to them, but you were saying that the script should get all the credit for the character not being an archetype and I don’t think that’s the case. As I pointed out, the writer had a gay character say “soldier”. That’s risky, that is. It seems quite likely that Carell and/or the director had a big say in how Frank ended up on screen.
Jack 26 October 2006, 11:13 PM
8
Of course. I agree. I wasn’t trying to take everything from the actors - obviously they do a lot to shape the characters. I never said I wanted the writers to have all the credit. Just some.
The soldier line is risky. His funny walk is extremely funny. Although I should point out that you you don’t have to be guy to have a silly looking walk. Just look at Matt.
andy
26 October 2006, 03:17 AM
I felt sorry for Paul Dano’s character. I was hoping at least he would get a happy resolution, even if no one else did. Nothing cheesy, maybe just an ‘oh all of a sudden he’s only a bit colour blind’ kind of thing.
I like the pic from the poster.
Jack
26 October 2006, 05:28 AM
Not wanting to take anything away from Steve Carell, because I loved him in this - I feel like the writers deserve some credit for the character not being a “camp cliche”. In the film, the fact that Frank is gay is irrelevant, and I find it refreshing to watch a film where a character just happens to be gay, and for the film not to make an issue out of it. If we are going to pat anyone on the back for breaking down stereotypes, surely it should be the authors. I don’t think Carell’s performance was any better than the rest of the cast. Although that being said, everyone was excellent.
I can’t imagine Rob Schneider being anything but camp however. Thank god he wasn’t cast.
andy
26 October 2006, 06:58 AM
The writers got plenty of credit in the credits. I think the Key Grips did a wonderful job.
Jack
26 October 2006, 07:10 AM
Define plenty. Bigger font? Names repeated for the same job? You don’t even know what a key grip does. And don’t say he grips the key.
Tom
26 October 2006, 07:24 AM
I’d disagree that Frank being gay is “irrelevant”. There’s at least three jokes about it for a start. Also, when I imagine his love triangle as involving a young female student and him being straight, it just doesn’t seem quite as tragic. Not sure why though so don’t go after that.
I suppose it’s a conceit of reviewing to give the credit for acting decisions to the actors when it’s quite plausible that decisions were made all the way down the process. There’s a line of Frank’s: “No one gets left behind! No one gets left behind! Outstanding soldier! Outstanding!” that I reckon would be quite open to a more stereotyped interpretation, for one. Ultimately I was thinking more about avoiding stereotyped mannerisms and body language which I doubt is in the script either way (but could be).
Though, Frank does run in a silly way.
Carell’s character made me care about him more than most of them did — not that all of them weren’t great, but I really felt like Carell did an awesome job of playing someone with peculiar and disturbing problems like a normal person. Of course, presumably you can do that by just acting normal, so perhaps I am giving him too much credit.
On another point, I forgot that the Grandpa was Yossarian from Catch 22 while watching, unfortunately.
Jack
26 October 2006, 01:11 PM
I just meant it’s not really relavent the plot or any of the themes. Making a joke about doesn’t really make it important any more than mentioning it does. The fact he is gay is probably less pertinent than the fact he is a Proust Scholar.
I didn’t mean for you to defend your position. You are entitled to think Carell is awesome. I just didn’t think he was. I was more hoping for general agreement about how it’s nice to have a gay person in a film that isn’t an archetype. Yay!
Tom
26 October 2006, 02:40 PM
Are you kidding? I’ve had it up to here with gay Proust scholars. What a cliche. No, no, I quite agree.
It’s not strongly relevant to the plot or themes that he’s gay, or at least not essential to them, but you were saying that the script should get all the credit for the character not being an archetype and I don’t think that’s the case. As I pointed out, the writer had a gay character say “soldier”. That’s risky, that is. It seems quite likely that Carell and/or the director had a big say in how Frank ended up on screen.
Jack
26 October 2006, 11:13 PM
Of course. I agree. I wasn’t trying to take everything from the actors - obviously they do a lot to shape the characters. I never said I wanted the writers to have all the credit. Just some.
The soldier line is risky. His funny walk is extremely funny. Although I should point out that you you don’t have to be guy to have a silly looking walk. Just look at Matt.
ben
29 October 2006, 05:22 AM
This is what the job of a (Key) Grip is
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