A Reversed Review -- Saturday Night You Bull Sessions

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Date Posted: 18:42:00 08/20/05 Sat
Author: Jim Bevan
Subject: A Reversed Review
In reply to: Patrick Lonergan 's message, "REVIEWS: Ewan McGregor 08/20/05" on 14:26:04 08/20/05 Sat

All right! We've got another solid episode with a lot of great sketches. I enjoyed practically every bit in this update. Regretfully, I didn't have the opportunity to submit some other pieces I had planned that didn't flesh out on paper. One was a potential CO spoofing the novel "Animal Farm" that featured the animals on President Bush's ranch asking Dubya for help in removing dictatorial pigs from power. My second abandoned piece, which I still have hopes towards using in a future episode, is a Weekend Update commentary from Bernard Goldberg, the author of "100 People who are Screwing Up America" (BTW, a great book). He'd be listing more people who he feels are ruining the fabric of American society, as well as getting some personal jabs in at Al Franken and John Stewart. I am rather upset that I didn't get to give these pieces life, but at least my cannibal sketch has finally seen the light of day, and I can be grateful for that. On a side note, if anyone has any suggestions for my "People screwing up America" commentary, please feel free to let me know.

Now, for my review, I'm going to try something a little different - I'll be critiquing the sketches in a reverse order. So the final skit of the show will be reviewed first, and the CO will be the last one. Weekend Update reviews will come later. Understand the rules? Good. Ready to play? Excellent. Let's go.

Napoleon Dynamite: Hollywood Goldmine - First off, the sketch didn't need "fuckin'" in it, that really detracted from the bit. I'm glad Jon Heder agreed with me on that point. Secondly, the character of Ari Gold was too spastic and hostile at times, and he didn't appeal to me at all. He should have been a little calmer while annoying Heder. Still, this was a nice jab at the lack of Hollywood creativity, and Goldman Mitchell's bizarre suggestions were a clever touch. One last thing, I don't think the Urkel jokes were that necessary. Please show some respect for the (career) dead.

Chit Chat - Utterly hilarious. Another great men's room piece following up Prateek's from the Johnny Depp episode. It wasn't as bizarre as PRateek's was, but it definitely delivered. The whole concept of including the guy in the stall on a stranger's phone conversation was incredible, and Mrs. Duncan had some great lines.

I'm Not a Bum, I'm a Businessman - this was another very interesting sketch. I enjoyed the interactions between the homeless man and the people he dealt with, you gave him such an interesting personality. And the fact that he was selling priceless artifacts for pocket change was incredible. However, if I make make a suggestion, if you're going to have a character messing up foreign words by pronouncing them phonetically, since we can't hear them speak, perhaps you could write out how he's pronouncing it, like "fillette mihgnohn". IT was a good sketch, but the ending left a little something to be desired. For one thing, I would have liked an explanation as to how the bum managed to acquire all these treasures. Secondly, the strange newspaper headlines didn't really add to the humor, they just dragged the sketch on after it should have ended.

Let it Out - it was so-so, but I felt that this would have been better as a visual sketch. But hey, who am I to talk. My submission this week has a lot of material that would have been funnier if it was seen rather than read. Stanley was a very amusing character, the way he takes such abuse and won't let anyone go without showing some sorrow is great. I loved the little list of mourners he read off at the end, it ended the sketch on a high note.

Hard Times: This was great. I loved seeing Emily's ignorance as to what her husband was doing behind bars, even though the evidence was coming at her from everyone. This sketch had great dialogue and incredible set-ups. The ending was a little sub-par, I wouldn't expect Emily to be so nonchalant about Joshua's impending rape since she was completely unaware of his oral activities. Aside from that, this was one of the best sketches.

Monologue - a very creative monologue; subtle jabs at a movie that the host bombed in, confusion between who's real and who's the clone, plus a good drug joke. The use of spouting out song lyrics at the end wasn't that good, but this was great. One question, though - why Steve Buscemi?

Bigger Fish - another CO poking fun at SNL, and it delivered well. While I never saw "Big Fish", I understood the concept of the film, and I thought the tall tales McGregor told his daughter were quite nice. Patrick, you did a great job slamming Lorne and Horatio, as well as pointing out the gross injustice of Darrell Hammond's role on the show being virtually eliminated. Superb work.

Well, that's it for me and my reversed review. I'll try to have the WU done by tomorrow. Later all you catch.

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Replies:

Note to Jim Bevan... -- jennings, 23:59:04 08/20/05 Sat
- Thanks for the clarification, Mark. -- Jim Bevan, 10:47:23 08/21/05 Sun
  - Aargh! I screwed up my casting again! -- Jim Bevan, 11:01:45 08/21/05 Sun
    - Accessing the chat -- Prateek S., 12:14:24 08/21/05 Sun
      - I think I may be able to access it tonight (yay) -- Jim Bevan, 13:08:19 08/21/05 Sun
        WU Review -- Jim Bevan, 18:57:09 08/22/05 Mon
        Will anyone else review? Don't make me beg! (NT) -- Jim Bevan, 19:20:58 08/26/05 Fri
        Next person to review will get... (NT) -- Their hands on a copy of Britney Spears baby shower tape, 23:26:30 08/26/05 Fri
        All right, I'm begging now. Someone else PLEASE review!!! (NT) -- Jim Bevan, 20:17:52 08/29/05 Mon
        I'll review some time in September. This is a promise. (NT) -- Name, 22:22:05 08/29/05 Mon
        Pfff.... -- Stupid, 04:47:38 08/31/05 Wed
        But that's the joke man no one would want a tape... -- But the fact the it was offered may spark reviews, 20:17:46 08/31/05 Wed