Marci X (2003) - Benjamin slips with awfully scripted class comedy

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+ Career-Killer of the Year: Richard Benjamin 

 

The star duo attempt to lock your interest down on this poster for Richard Benjamin's Marci X

 

A white, Jewish socialite's father incurs serious health problems, as a hiphop act causes a crisis for his record company, so said daughter Marci rolls in to handle the situation.

 

Marci X si written by Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey (1995)) and directed by Richard Benjamin (My Favorite Year (1982)).

Opposites meet in this hard-to-categorize film, which angered many somewhat overly serious critics back in the day, probably because it dares to both lampoon overclass whites and black working class culture (namely hiphop). It does so in a childish manner, which feels as if the script must have been written in 1990.

Lisa Kudrow (The Other Woman (2009)) is fun nonetheless, and the same goes for Jane Krakowski (Open Season (2006)) and Christine Baranski (Happy Family (2003-04)) in particular here as a right-wing virago judge. Damon Wayans (Goosed (1999)) is less fun, but he is embarrassing from time to time in Marci X.

The film in general is a bit embarrassing; the plot is completely grotesque, its structure totally checked out. What on earth were they thinking, one wonders often during Marci X, and where does this idea come from? It fully ignores good taste and common practice, doing so with an at time Mel Brooksian comedic enthusiasm. Marci X is a pretty funny really bad movie.

 

Related posts:

 

Richard Benjamin: 2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair

 

Watch a short clip from the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 1.6 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.08 times its cost)

[Marci X was released 22 August (USA) and runs 84 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The film opened #17 to a 872k $ first weekend in 1,200 theaters in North America, where it only decreased from there, grossing 98.4 % of the film's listed gross at Box Office Mojo, with the remainder coming from 26k $ made in South Africa. Benjamin has directed two TV movies since, but never again a theatrical feature. Kudrow returned in Wonderland (2003); Wayans in Luther Vandross: Dance with My Father (2003, music video), My Wife and Kids (2001-05) and theatrically in Behind the Smile (2006). Marci X is rotten at 8 % with a 3.48/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Marci X? 

30 Rock - season 3 (2008) - Fey, Baldwin, Krakowski and Co. make comedy gold

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+ Best New York Title of the Year + Best Returning TV-series of the Year + Best Sitcom of the Year 

New York is a set on this vibrant, fun poster for the third season of Tina Fey's 30 Rock

30 Rock season 3 is a great satirical sitcom by creator Tina Fey (Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt (2015-19), creator/co-star), who also returns as its New York comedy TV sketch-showrunner protagonist Liz Lemon.

In the first episode, Liz's boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin (Andron (2015))) reacquires his job as NBC executive, following a stint in Washington DC, by employing soap opera tactics. Baldwin is spectacular throughout the season and bags many laughs with his manic energy and strong line deliveries.
Salma Hayek (Midaq Alley (1995))) is introduced as Jack's romantic interest in the season (in episode 7: Señor Macho Solo) as Jack's mother's nurse, while Liz fouls up as she dates a UN employee (Peter Dinklage (Saint John of Las Vegas (2009))). Jenna (Jane Krakowski (Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008))), one of the stars of Liz's sketch show, is chasing a breakout project for herself through the season, a Janis Joplin biopic, and Krakowski's Jenna is one of the show's funniest characters in season 3. Her Joplin dream culminates tragically (episode 18: Jackie Jormp-Jomp).
Jon Hamm (Metalocalypse (2012), TV-series) is introduced as Lemon's love interest in season 3 (in funny/wacky episode 10: Generalissimo). The season has an episode (episode 16: Apollo, Apollo) wherein we see the world from Jack, series regular Southerner NBC page Kenneth (Jack McBrayer (Drive Share (2017), TV-series)) and Jenna's perspectives, - and witness the phone sex line ad that Liz made earlier in her career.
The season is rounded off (with episode 22: Kidney Now!) with NBC throwing a star-studded kidney-donation benefit TV concert (Elvis Costello, Moby, Mary J. Blige, Norah Jones and Cyndi Lauper are among the stars present), while Liz guests a black talkshow that respond approvingly to her 'dealbreaker' catchphrase.

30 Rock's third season is incredibly fun; it hits the spot very often and is only rarely a tooth too wacky.
Guest stars in the season include John McEnroe (Arli$$ (1996), TV-series), Bobb'e J. Thompson (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)), Steve Martin (Bowfinger (1999)), John Lithgow (Shrek (2001)) and many others.

Best episodes:

Episode 2: Believe in the Stars - Written by Robert Carlock (Joey (2004-06)); directed by Don Scardino (The Mindy Project (2013), TV-series)
Liz believes she meets Oprah on a flight out of town to avoid jury duty.

Episode 3: The One with the Cast of Night Court - Written by Jack Burditt (The Kicker (2016), TV movie); directed by Gail Mancuso (Ground Floor (2013-15))
Jennifer Aniston (Bruce Almighty (2003))) guest stars as a nymphomaniac, - and is hysterically funny.

Episode 6: Christmas Special - Written by Kay Cannon (Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)), Fey; directed by Scardino
Jack's mother (Elaine Stritch (Trapper John, M.D. (1983), TV-series)) returns, and Jack breaks both her hips by accidentally backing into her.

Episode 9: Retreat to Move Forward - Written by Tami Sagher (Orange Is the New Black (2018), TV-series); directed by Steve Buscemi (Portlandia (2015-17))
Chris Parnell (The Spoils Before Dying (2015), miniseries) as the recurring Dr. Leo Spaceman is hilarious, here in an episode in which Jenna also has an affair with one of the sketch show's writers, Frank (Judah Friedlander (The Proctor (2007), short)).

Episode 10: The Funcooker - Written by Donald Glover (Mystery Team (2009)), Tom Ceraulo (Jack Donaghy, Executive Superhero (2011), TV-series); directed by Ken Whittingham (Black-ish (2014-17))
Almost too crazy to explain, this episode concerns Jack's taking on naming a new pocket-microwave oven invention!

Episode 21: Mamma Mia - Written by Ron Weiner (Silicon Valley (2014-18)); directed by Scardino
Alan Alda (Same Time, Next Year (1978)) is hilarious, introduced as Jack's biological father, whom he finds and hugs with a great emotional outpouring and the line: "You don't know the half of it! - I need a kidney!

Related posts:

Tina Fey:  Admission (2013) - Despite messy script, Fey is hilarious in Weitz's romcom (starring actor)
Date Night (2010) - Carell and Fey bring out the big laugh guns (starring actor)
Megamind (2010) - Ferrell leads McGrath's hilarious animation superbly (voice actor)
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
30 Rock - season 4 (2009) - Fey, Baldwin & Co. return for long but often hilarious fourth season (creator/executive producer/co-writer/starring actor) 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess 
30 Rock - season 1 (2006) - NY showbiz satire on speed (creator/co-writer/starring actor)
Mean Girls (2004) - Lohan, Waters and Fey's high school satire triumph (writer/co-star)

Tina Fey talks about som favorite things of hers from the show here next to Krakowski and also very funny star Tracy Morgan (Totally Awesome (2006), TV movie)

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV-series
= Unknown
[30 Rock season 3 originally ran on NBC from 30 October 2008 - 14 May 2009 and spans 22 episodes of an average 22 minutes, coming to about 484 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The season premiere drew 8.7 mil. viewers in the US, the biggest premiere in the show's 7 season life. The season's average of 7.5 mil. $ viewers was also the biggest average 30 Rock achieved. The highest-rated show was episode 6: Christmas Special with 8.9 mil. viewers; lowest was the following episode 7: Señor Macho Solo with 5.4 mil.. The season was nominated for 22 Emmys, making it the most nominated show of the year, winning 3, and an additional 2 Creative Arts Emmys, 3/3 Golden Globe nominations and other honors. Fey kept extremely busy around the time of season 3: Besides writing, executive-producing and starring in the season, she had the following projects that year: Starring in Baby Mama (2008), giving a voice performance in Ponyo (2008), playing Governor Sarah Palin in an episode of Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Summer Edition (2008), starring in video Elmo and the Bookaneers (2009) and co-starring in The Invention of Lying (2009). 30 Rock returned with its season 4 in October 2009. 30 Rock season 3 is the highest-rated season of the show on Rotten Tomatoes; it is fresh at 89 % with a 8.46/10 critical average.]

What do you think of 30 Rock season 3?

30 Rock - season 4 (2009) - Fey, Baldwin & Co. return for long but often hilarious fourth season

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+ Best Sitcom of the Year

Our five entertaining New-Yorker media personality friends are back for the 4th season of Tina Fey's 30 Rock

The following season run-through contains SPOILERS:

Life and work remains full of hurdles for sketch show producer Liz Lemon (Tina Fey (The Invention of Lying (2009))) at NBC in New York: Actress Jenna (Jane Krakowski (Open Season (2006))) remains a whole lot of fun; as the season opens she is busy making a country-eschewed tennis promo, which is supposed to promote the sport in the South. And Alec Baldwin (Saturday Night Live (2007-17)) is still phenomenally funny in the show's best scenes as station chief Jack Donaghy.
Liz herself suffers stage fright ahead of beginning her Dealbreakers Talkshow, and her main show's diva man-child Tracy (Tracy Morgan (Top Five (2014))) decides to aim to join the exclusive EGOT club in the slightly disappointing episode 7. In really strange but also funny episode 9, Liz enjoys a visit from her gay cousin Randy, while Jenna dates James Franco (Spider-Man (2002)), who turns out to be in love with a Japanese pillow.
An ongoing plot strand concerns the network's getting bought following its owner Don Geiss' death.
Jack invents women's porn (handsome men who listen), and Liz keeps meeting Michael Sheen (Home Again (2017)), an annoying Brit she met at her dentist. Jack dates both his old Irish Bostonian Nancy(Julianne Moore (Still Alice (2014))) and new, snappy Avery (Elizabeth Banks (Power Rangers (2017))), and suffers under the pressure of his deceit. Meanwhile Jenna may have found happiness in a man who is also a drag performer who imitates her (Will Forte (Nebraska (2013))).
Liz undergoes some realizations and proposes to Sheen, while voice-performing in Garfield 3 makes Tracy remember his traumatic childhood.
In the season's cooky final episode, Liz falls for a pilot (Matt Damon (The Martian (2015))) and dumps Sheen, while Forte changes his drag act into half-Jenna/half-Cher. Jack decides to go with old flame Nancy, but then changes his mind for Avery, who is pregnant! Kenneth (Jack McBrayer (Conan (2013-16))) gets fired and gives a 'hard' slamming-the-door-on-his-way-out speech.

Season 4 of the beloved backstage satirical sitcom from creator-star Fey is fun and wacky but has too many episodes that only sometimes - though more often than not - do the trick of raising risible laughter.

Best episodes:

Episode 3: Stone Mountain - written by Fey, John Riggi (The Comeback (2005-14)), directed by Don Scardino (Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt (2017, TV-series)
Jack and Liz travel to Georgia to find a new cast member who represents 'middle America.' With Jimmy Fallon (Jem and the Holograms (2015)) and Betty White (Boston Legal (2005-08)).

Episode 10: Black Light Attack! - written by Fey, Steve Hely (Veep (2017, TV-series), directed by Scardino
A darkly funny highlight: Jenna faces her advancing age, while Jack and Liz vie for the same cast member's favor, and Tracy settles a clash in his entourage.

Episode 13: Anna Howard Shaw Day - written by Fey, Matt Hubbard (Joey (2005-06)), directed by Ken Whittingham (Black-ish (2014-17))
The funny Valentine's Day episode in which Liz has root canal surgery at very funny dentist James Rebhorn's (Homeland (2011-13)), and Jack meets business talk show host Avery.

Episode 20: The Moms - written by Fey, Kay Cannon (Girlboss (2017, TV-series), Robert Carlock (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)), directed by Riggi
Crazy-funny Mother's Day episode: Jack gets advice from his mother; Liz realizes that she has to settle, and Tracy casts a mother. With Buzz Aldrin (The Simpsons (1994, TV-series)) and Will Ferrell (Daddy's Home (2015)).

Related posts:

Tina Fey: Date Night (2010) - Carell and Fey bring out the big laugh guns
Megamind (2010) - Ferrell leads McGrath's hilarious animation superbly  

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
30 Rock - season 1 (2006) - NY showbiz satire on speed
Mean Girls (2004) - Lohan, Waters and Fey's high school satire triumph (writer)

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV-series
= Hit - ratings high enough for another season
[30 Rock season 4 had its original release at NBC from 15 October 2009 - 20 May 2010, spanning 22 episodes of an average 22 minutes, totaling approximately 484 minutes. The season's ratings fell from the show's peak with season 3's 7.5 mil. average to a 5.9 mil. average. Baldwin won a Golden Globe for his work in the season, and the show was nominated for 15 Emmys but didn't win any. The show went on for another 3 seasons. 30 Rock S4 is the lowest rated on Rotten Tomatoes: It is nevertheless still fresh at 67 % with a 7.57/10 critical average.]

What do you think of 30 Rock season 4?

30 Rock - season 1 (2006) - NY showbiz satire on speed

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+ Best New TV-series of the Year + Best Sitcom of the Year

A nice promotion photo with the main stars of Tina Fey's 30 Rock

The New York address 30 Rockefeller holds the stage for NBC's comedy hit, the best Manhattan show since Sex and the City, Tina Fey's (Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt (2015-16)) 30 Rock.  

The entry point is the hiring of the new channel boss, Jack Donaghy, who has great experience from micro-oven-programming and thinks in dynamic corporate terms and buzz words. Another challenge for the lead in the show, sketch show writer Liz Lemon, is his demand to incorporate the popular but very difficult African-American comedian Tracy Jordan into her live comedy show as its main act. 

The meta/alter ego of Liz Lemon and comedian persona Fey, (who has based the character and plot on herself and her own experiences as the head writer for Saturday Night Life from 1997-06), the self criticisms and irony is thick in 30 Rock, (and you will benefit as a viewer from knowing a bit about the lead actors.) It's funny and often sharp and fresh, and it has the feel of a modern, frantic backstage musical, (though it is mostly without the music.)
Lemon's love life, or lack of one, also takes up a big chunk of the show; her relationship to 'beeper-king' Dennis, an inevitable flirt with boss Donaghy, and the flower-man, Floyd (Jason Sudeikis (We're the Millers (2013))). Donaghy, on the other hand, dates Condoleezza Rice (off-screen), gets engaged to Phoebe (Emily Mortimer (City Island (2009))), and has an ex in Isabella Rosselini (Blue Velvet (1986)). The show is also filled with surprising celebrity appearances from the likes of Ghostface Killah (When in Rome (2010)), John McEnroe (Jack & Jill (2011)), Whoopi Goldberg (The Associate (1996)), Rip Torn (Men in Black (1997)), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea (1999)), Will Arnett (The Lego Movie (2014)) and Sean Hayes (Sean Saves the World (2013-14)).
Alec Baldwin (The Departed (2006)) has, in my opinion, the funniest character as Jack Donaghy as well as the funniest lines, as when he shouts at wig-wearing show writer Pete (Scott Adsit (Fan Girl (2015))); "Who is this leader of men? - You handsome man!" Baldwin's dead-pan chops and comedic and acting width is utilized perfectly in his larger-than-life Donaghy character.
Generally the episodes that are written by Fey are the funniest. The liberal New York sassiness and enduring focus on race can be tiring, and it's not without its hypocritical aftertaste sometimes. Sometimes punch-lines fall totally through.
The Southern character Kenneth (Jack McBrayer (Cooties (2014))) is for me over-wrought and unfunny throughout. Fey, Tracy Morgan (Cop Out (2010)) and Jane Krakowski (Ally McBeal (1997-02)), on the other hand, are as most of the show very amusing.
30 Rock is a very funny sitcom with a crazed, new millennium-type pace.

Best episode:

17 : The Fighting Irish: written by Fey and Jack Burditt (The Mindy Project (2013-15)); directed by Dennie Gordon (White Collar (2009-11))

Donaghy's Irish ancestry is explored. With Nathan Lane (The Birdcage (1996)).

Related posts:

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Watch a clip from the season here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV
= Unknown
[30 Rock S1 was first broadcast October 11 2006 - April 26 2007, and it spans 21 episodes, with 19 being 22 min. long and 2 being 26 min, coming to around 470 minutes total. Fey pitched the show in 2002 at NBC, but it took her a few years and a pregnancy before it was really in the making. Filming took place around in New York. The pilot premiered to 8.1 mil. viewers, which shrunk to 4.7 mil. by the finale, the season averaging 5.8 mil., which was considered to be not too strong, although it was likely a profitable production behind NBC's heavy curtains. The season was critically well-received, with a Metacritic score of 67 %. The season was nominated for 10 Emmys, one Golden Globe, which Baldwin won, and 6 Primetime Emmys, winning 2: For Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Elaine Stritch (Small Time Crooks (2000))). Fey continued to write for SNL and also did cameos in Beer League and Man of the Year in 2006; Baldwin was busy in 2006, also starring in Mini's First Time, The Departed, Running with Scissors and The Good Shepherd; Morgan starred in Littleman, Mind of Mencia (TV-series), Where My Dogs At? (TV-series) and Totally Awesome (TV movie). 30 Rock S1 is fresh at 71 % with a 7.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What other showbiz satires are lots of laughs?
What do you think of 30 Rock's first season?