Glee - season 1 (2009) - TV boosted with infectious musical comedy

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+ Best High School Title of the Year + Best Musical of the Year + Best New TV-series of the Year 

 

Jane Lynch in a blue tracksuit as her outrageous character is amusing on this poster for Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy's Glee - season 1

Glee is a musical comedy youth TV-series created by Ian Brennan (Cooties (2014)), Brad Falchuk (9-1-1: Lone Star (2020-21)) and Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story (2011-21)).

The following contains SPOILERS:

 

Charming Matthew Morrison (Marci X (2003)) plays McKinley High School teacher Will Schuester, who takes over the school's ambitious Glee club New Directions, as its former leader (funny Stephen Tobolowsky (Spaceballs (1987))) gets fired for being handsy. Schuester has a crazy, pregnant wife (Jessalyn Gilsig (Friday Night Lights (2007-08))) and a good eye for the school's germophobe guidance counselor (Jayma Mays (The Millers (2013-15))). He also has trouble attracting students to the club, until he locks heartthrob Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith (Deck the Halls (2006))), using dirty tricks and a bag of weed. The pilot introduces fun, in-your-face type characters with a high pace and lots of music, including a promising performance of Don't Stop Believin'. 

Jane Lynch (Portlandia (2015, TV-series)) is hilarious as New Directions' enemy #1, Sue Sylvester, the school's hyper-ambitious gym teacher/basketball coach, who isn't about to start sharing the school's spotlight without a fight.

The show is guilty of over-sexualizing its supposed high school age cast, (average high schoolers are 14-18 years old in America, whereas Monteith for instance was 27 when the season debuted!) This is pervasive and includes girls dancing in bikini tops, much as strippers, and said Monteith alluring an older woman using a breast piercing (...) In other words Glee plays light and loose with behavior that could result in many years jail time in most US states in real life (sex or something before sex with a minor.) Of course this is nothing new but a decades-old tradition in American cinema.

Some episodes are forgettable, as the dramatic plot-lines evolve and sometimes stall, and the season's length makes it hard to sustain traction: Will's wife gets her ob-gyn to join in on her pregnancy lie (a little hard to believe). Two pregnancies (one only a pretend pregnancy) lead the drama, but Kurt's (Chris Colfer (Hot in Cleveland (2014-15))) coming out and infatuation with Finn also ranks high. Sue's crazed competition gene and poor morals lead things to a melodramatic pitch (strong ep. 12: Mattress), where Will also realizes his wife's big, crazy secret. The melodrama of Glee is often played to theatrical heights, as characters appear to have major epiphanies.

Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies (2007-09)) appears as a guest star as Will's alcoholic ex-girlfriend and is a funny and musical powerhouse. Other enjoyable guest stars include Idina Menzel and Neil Patrick Harris.

The season wraps up with 'regionals', the glee club competition that the entire season for the club aims towards, and here Jonathan Groff's (Frozen (2013)) competing club wins with a performance of Bohemian Rhapsody which even gets Sue to cancel her antipathy and stand up for her school's otherwise hated club, whom she finally saves to great rejoice.

Glee as noted has its flaws, but it is also more spirited and has more oomph than the vast majority of other TV-series. The season has several stand-out episodes and performances, and its over-arching theme of overcoming adversity and participating in a creative community is uplifting. Especially combined with the often outstanding musical and dance performances of big hits, which is the show's core. It surpasses itself time and again, and its charming and funny embrace of its own corniness is part of its refreshing appeal. Glee - season 1 is a wonderful, thrilling show.

Best episodes:

 

2: Showmance - Written by Brennan, Falchuk, Murphy; directed by Murphy

The girls fight over Finn, as Will learns that his wife isn't really pregnant. The family mother as an in fact power-mad super-bitch gets painted to hilarious effect here. Musical numbers include Golddigger, Push It and Say a Little Prayer.

3: Preggers - Written and directed by Falchuk

Kurt is found at home practicing to Beyoncé's Put a Ring on It, and lies about being a football player. It turns out that he can actually kick, - and he teaches the team about self-confidence (and confusing the enemy) by instructing them in the legendary Beyoncé dance. Finn's girlfriend is pregnant, and wants to give birth. Sue becomes a local TV anchor ("How's homelessness working out for you?!?") Kurt finally comes out as gay to his father, and Colfer deserves some kind of major award for his inspiring performance in this episode and the show overall. A genius episode.

9. Wheels - Written by Murphy; directed by Paris Barclay (In Treatment (2008-10))

Kurt competes with Glee club's princess Rachel (Lea Michelle (Scream Queens (2015-16))) about who should get to sing Gravity, and his father receives a nasty anonymous phone call about Kurt and stands up for him. Will stands up for Artie, the club's disabled performer (Kevin McHale (Boychoir (2014)) is good as Artie)), and everyone performs in wheelchairs in Rollin'. Sue surprises by including a Down's syndrome student in her competing Cheerios Glee club, and reveals that her sister has Down's. Feel good, feel good, feel good.

15: The Power of Madonna - Written and directed by Murphy

Glee superior St. James (Groff) changes high school to be nearer Rachel, whom he is in love with - or is it just a sneaky undercover operation? Finn loses his virginity, and Glee surprises with this Madonna-themed episode, in which Sue shows off her major fandom for Madonna: Lynch performs Vogue in Madonna-getup, which is priceless!

Related posts:

 

Ryan Murphy: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Normal Heart (2014) - The early HIV/AIDS tragedy portrayed with appropriate fury and great performances 

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

 

Watch a trailer for the season here

Cost: Reportedly 3 mil. $ per episode, coming to 66 mil. $ for the season

Box office: None - TV-series

= Uncertain

[Glee - season 1 premiered from May 19 2009 - June 8 2010 at Fox and runs 22 episodes of approximately 44 minutes, coming to 968 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles. The season enjoyed high ratings, going from 6.08 mil. (ep. 11 Hairography) to 13.66 mil. (ep. 14: Hell-O). The season was nominated for 20 Emmys, winning 4, won 1/4 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a BAFTA and won an AFI award, among other honors. The soundtrack was a hit with over 7 mil. cast singles releases sold digitally. The cast went on a 13-date concert tour in the US following the season, which was sold-out and grossed 5 mil. $. Brennan, Falchuk and Murphy returned with the cast for Glee season 2 (2010). Lynch raked in 11 (!) other acting credits in 2009; Morrison also appeared in Taking Chance (2009, TV movie). Glee season 1 is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.94/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Glee - season 1?

Wreck-It Ralph (2012) - Original story gets lost in benign but overly flashy animation

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The festive poster with kapow value for Rich Moore's Wreck-It Ralph

 

Ralph (John C. Reilly (Chicago (2002))), the arcade computer game character of the game Wreck-It Ralph, is tired of being a lonely outsider in his world, who only gets to smash things to smithereens. So he leaves his game to win a medal. - But his decision lands everyone else in the arcade game world in deep trouble!

 

Wreck-It Ralph begins as a fresh, original and really funny idea. But it later turns out to have some real problems: Sarah Silverman's (Masters of Sex (2014-16)) girly character and the villain King Candy (voiced by Alan Tudyk (Wonder Boys (2000))) are both boring, and it is as though Wreck-It Ralph gets lost in the candy world which much of it plays out in. It indulges in flashy animation for its own sake and attempts to pull an edifying story out of the mess in the end, which as a result feels cheap.

Before this meltdown, though, Wreck-It Ralph provides enough lavish and computer game-enthusiastic fun to make it worth seeing. Jane Lynch (Rio (2011)) and Jack McBrayer (Bad Night (2015)) are both fun, with the latter building on his Southern-charm trademark.

The film is written by Phil Johnston (Zootopia (2016)) and Jennifer Lee (Frozen (2013)) and directed by feature-debuting Rich Moore (Zootopia).

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 165 mil. $

Box office: 471.2 mil. $

= Box office success

[Wreck-It Ralph premiered October 29 (El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood) and runs 101 minutes. The concept for Wreck-It Ralph was developed first by Disney in the late 1980s, and was redeveloped and reconsidered several times before the film that came to be. Moore was hired based on his previous work directing animated TV-series such as The Simpsons (1990-93)) and Futurama (1999-01)). Wreck-It Ralph contains an estimated 188 individual character cameos from a wide variety of real and imaginary computer-games. The film opened #1 to a 49 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for a total of 3 weeks and grossed 189.4 mil. $ (40.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 36.1 mil. $ (7.7 %) and Japan with 29.6 mil. $ (6.3 %). Wreck-It Ralph was the 14th highest-grossing film and the 4th highest-grossing animation of the year. Roger Ebert gave it 3/4 stars, equal to a notch better than this review. The film was Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Feature, which it lost to Brave, and for the same Golden Globe, also lost. A sequel is in the works for a 2017 release. Wreck-It Ralph is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Wreck-It Ralph?

The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005) or, Let the Sunshine In

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+ Best Debut Movie of the Year + Best Comedy of the Year 

What happens if it just never happens? That is the question in Judd Apatow's The 40 Year-Old Virgin

40 year-old Andy owns toy figures for upwards of 100,000 $, works in an electronic store (which he rides his bicycle to), - and is still a virgin.

Thank God, this movie is not as stupid as the title could lead you to believe. It is not a dumb package of frat boy humor, crazy comedy or a tacky sex comedy. In truth, The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a loving, very funny and intelligent romantic comedy, (which, however, might appeal more to men than women in general.)
Some of the funniest comedians of today are in it: Feature-debuting New Yorker master writer-director Judd Apatow (Trainwreck (2015)) regulars like Seth Rogen (The Night Before (2015)), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man (2015)) and Apatow's wife, Leslie Mann (This Is 40 (2012)), but also Jane Lynch (Paul (2011)) is hilarious as the extremely foul-mouthed store manager, and Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)) also has a very fun tidbit in the film.
Star and co-writer Steve Carell (Curly Sue (1991)) plays the protagonist Andy like a real human being, and he makes the film moving and (more) real, as he courts the lovely Catherine Keener (Into the Wild (2007)).
A few scenes in the film go on for too long for my taste, SPOILER especially the gross chest hair removal scene. SPOILER The Hair (1979) 'homage' during the end credits, on the other hand, is outrageously funny and surprising, a great feel-good final few minutes for a VERY funny movie.

Related posts:
 
Judd Apatow: Trainwreck (2015) - Amy Schumer's breakthrough is a lot of fun
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Bridesmaids (2011) - Subversive comedy with laughs a-plenty (producer)

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
The Cable Guy (1996) - Stiller's dark comedy is a riot (producer) 

If nothing in the trailer for the film here makes you laugh, The 40-Year-Old Virgin might not be for you

Cost: 26 mil. $
Box office: 177.3 mil. $
= Huge hit (returns 6.81 times the cost)
[The 40 Year-Old Virgin premiered 11 August (Los Angeles, California) and runs 116 minutes. Filming took place in LA and Pasadena, California around January 2005. The shoot reportedly involved lots of improvisation and used over 1 mil. feet of film, prompting Technicolor to send free Champagne to the set. The film opened #1 with a 21.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America and spent another 4 weeks in the top 5 (#1-#2-#2-#4), grossing 109.4 mil. $ (61.7 % of the total gross), and becoming the 19th highest-grossing film in North America of the year. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 13.5 mil. $ (7.6 %) and Germany with 7.5 mil. $ (4.2 %). Apatow returned with Knocked Up (2007). Carell returned in Little Miss Sunshine (2006). The 40 Year-Old Virgin is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The 40 Year-Old Virgin?