by Nathaniel R
La Pfeiffer is finally back in "OH. WHAT. FUN" streaming on Amazon Prime.
We love an accurate movie title. Michael Showalter's latest comedy Oh. What Fun. presents a quandary. Is the title true or false? While we generally hope for "fun" at comedies, the staccato cadence of those periods implies a sarcastic tone or eye roll; this woman Claire Clauster (played by the long-missing Michelle Pfeiffer) and her family (assorted SAG members cashing a check) are not having any fun! This general tonal conceit, deployed in all sorts of holiday comedies, is that we are meant to laugh at and relate to people who are experiencing the universal misery of forced holiday cheer and durationally challenging "quality time" with family. We've presumably all been there even if we actually love both the holidays and our family...
The Clauster family in "OH. WHAT. FUN"
Alas, relatability takes a quick beating. Who even are these people? How are the Clausters both vaguely liberal and congenially conservative simultaneously in this hotly divided country? And in Texas, too. Why do all their jobs / personal lives feel so implausible? Oh. What. Fun. never manages to find its footing while trying to be earnest, sarcastic, and funny as it hammers home its "Appreciate your moms!" message and scrambles for ways to appeal to any demographic that might tune in (just in case!) or trigger any algorithm that could be triggered.
Oh but the set up is interminable. Introductions to each member of the Clauster family (Pfeiffer, Denis Leary, Chloë Grace Moretz, Felicity Jones, Dominic Sessa, etc...), their significant others (Jason Schwartzman, Maude Apatow, Devery Jacobs) and neighbors (Joan Chen & screen family...) stretch on for a full 15 minutes. The next 30 are all about laying enormous breadcrumbs down to find future jokes and the plot itself which is such a climb away it must be a fifth floor walk-up. All of this would have been dispatched with simple multi-tasking in maybe 20 minutes in pre-streaming era films. The inciting incident that will kick off the actual plot -- Claire's family accidentally leaving her Home Alone (get it?) to attend an event that she planned -- doesn't arrive until the 44 minute mark -- no exaggeration! As with too many contemporary filmmakers, Showalter appears to have either never considered the dangerous combo of short-attention spans & remote controls, or has no desire to push the film away from inoffensive holiday screen-saver mode. Feel free to ignore us and look at your phones - we will still be here for you in the background! Why is the prologue (act one if you're being generous) played out in something like real time? Claire from 5 to 7... Tune in for the plot at 8!
A fun scene with Joan Chen is interrupted when La Pfeiffer realizes she's been left behind in "OH. WHAT. FUN"
"Dying is easy. Comedy is hard."
-Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn on his deathbed.
What can be done when a comedy just isn't funny? Few of the cast members manage to generate laughs from their character sketches though most of them can intermittently be seen trying. The performances from Emmy & Oscar nominees alike are lazy or uninspired enough to be broad and dull simultaneously. Broad is actually swell for comic hijinx but Showalter and Pfeiffer herself never quite embrace it enough to generate zany momentum or slapstick laughs. The instinct is there if not the pacing and commitment; a couple of sequences do threaten to up the fun ante -- Claire shoplifting a gift to one-up her neighbor (Joan Chen, sly & fully innocent!), Claire asleep in her car realizing she's being towed, Claire going viral for dancing/swearing on live TV.
Fun was had... by who exactly? The movie suggests that the audience watching "The Zazzy Tims Show" live on Christmas day is having some. But, as with those unimpressed periods in the title, we soon learn that Zazzy herself (Eva Longoria, entirely game, deployed too late) is also forcing the cheer. To be fair I did have fun once or twice during the movie. Joan torturing Claire over her obvious lies comes to mind... and there's a charming date sequence between Dominic Sessa & Havana Rose Liu which Showalter and team cut away from just as its becoming affecting.
Or perhaps I had memories of "Pfun"; As a general cinematic rule, the redder her sleepless eyes or the wilder and more dishevelled her hair gets, the better La Pfeiffer's performances and surrounding Pfilms become. Alas, Oh. What. Fun. pulls back every single time it approaches any dangerous emotion, giddy silliness, or cliff-edge abandon, retreating to twangy 'Everything will be OK' pandering. It's afraid to ask for our undivided attention as we wrap gifts, prepare dinner, or chat with loved ones on the other side of the screen. D+
Pfeiffer goes viral (as well she should) in "OH. WHAT. FUN"
Post Script.
"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness.”
- Sonja, Love & Death
One of the mysteries of my life is why I feel such intense and enduring love for a screen goddess all infinitely out of proportion with how much she'd like to be obsessed over (i.e. not one bit) and the amount of time she likes to spend in front of cameras (i.e. very little) and the frequency with which she'd like to be challenged or energized by material/director/genre when she does deign to appear (every third project or so).
"Maybe I'm tired of being someone's chick!
-Stephanie Zinone, Grease 2
Until next time since I'll always be there for her...
-A Pfan