Page 8 DTH Omnibus
Thursday February 20, 1992
Endearing British comedy celebrates life
Life Is Sweet
Alison Steadman, Jane Horrocks
directed by Mike Leigh
Chelsea
968-3005
Life Is Sweet is an affectionate,
wide-eyed look into the lives
of a lower-middle class family
in England, a glimpse of the
urban lifestyle that is shared
by a healthy percentage of the British
population. It is also a remarkable
comedy, in that it is about funny
looking people who do and say funny
things, but only in the most subtle
sense of the term, and certainly not of
the conventional sort of humor which
American audiences have been con
ditioned to expect.
This endearing effort is undeni
ably cast in the traditional mold of
the situation comedy, but with the
sort of distinctly British feel that has
become somewhat familiar to Ameri
cans over recent years. On the sur
face, at least, the central family of Life
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Is Sweet is reminiscent of the Cock
ney stereotypes made famous by
Monty Python the characters that
spoke with nearly incomprehensible
accents and followed a diet that con
sisted of Spam, Spam and eggs and
Spam casserole. British writerdirec
tor Mike Leigh's newest work is far
removed from the hilariously raucous
satire of that group, however; his is a
vision of unglossed real life slightly
demented, perhaps, but still unflinch
ingly observant. When Leigh com
municates this vision on the screen,
he relies on one simple premise: Life
may not necessarily be enjoyable, and
it's certainly not easy, but it is always
worthwhile for the simple fact of
what it means to be alive.
The film gently chronicles a few
days in a blue-collar suburb of Lon
don, as experienced by its strikingly
rich main characters. Andy (Jim
Broadbent), for example, is the good
natured, fairly lazy and unquestion
ably harmless father who hates his
cooking job and dreams of selling
various grilled foods around his neigh
borhood from a strange run-down
Wayne's World' tender, moving
Wayne's World
Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe
directed by Penelope Spheeris
Ram Triple
967-8284
ayne's World is the best
movie I've ever seen. I
want everyone to see it.
As a matter of fact, I'm
sitting in Sera-Tec
Biologicals donating every ounce of
plasma I've got to raise enough money
to buy every person on campus a
ticket ...
NOT!!!!
0. 0. ALLIN J. 0. BALLARD
THE BEATLES WILLIAM BURROUGHS
STOKELY CARMICHAEL R. CRUMB
ROGER DEAN BOB DYLAN
HARLAN ELLISON FREAK BROTHERS
THE GRATEFUL DEAD RICK GRIFFIN
JIMI HENDRIX ABBIE HOFFMAN
JANIS J0PL1N JOHN F. KENNEDY
KEN KESEY CHARLES MANSON
PETER MAX JIM MORRISON
ROLLING STONES ROBERT WILLIAMS
WOODSTOCK FRANK ZAPPA
the past meets the future
trailerkitchen that, in better days,
could have been a refreshment stand
at the State Fair. His wife, Wendy,
has a job selling baby's clothing but
has no real time outside of her unen
viable commitment to keeping peace
within her turbulent family. The two
twins, Natalie and Nicola, are as dif
ferent asnight and day: Natalie (Claire
Skinner), who seems to be the only
sane character in the film, provides a
much-needed standard of rationality
within the family, whileNicola (Jane
Horrocks) is a mercilessly bratty hel
lion who crudely berates everyone
around her with misdirected socialis
tic jargon and is consumed simulta
neously by paranoid delusions of ne
glect and repulsive sexual fantasies
that involve chocolate and stem from
her bulimia.
As far as plot goes, the film basi
cally consists of two storylines which
develop and come to fruition over the
course of the film. One is the process
of maturation towards Nicola's even
tual self-realization, a much-needed
change finally inspired by a remark
able scene in which she and her
mother open their hearts to each
other. The other is the ill-fated res
taurant venture of the goofy family
friend Aubrey (played perfectly by
Timothy Spall, who is one of the
funnier-looking people to ever come
Mike Long
No film in recent memory has
been more disappointing than the
highly anticipated Wayne's World. I
had feared that the amiable Wayne
and Garth would be dropped in the
middle of a huge plot they couldn't
handle, similar to The Blues Brothers
or the MacKenzie Brothers in Strange
Brew. Instead, they end up in a plot
less film that seems to go on forever.
In case you are unfamiliar with
this pair from Saturday Night Live,
Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth
(Dana Carvey) are two metal-head
teenagers who live in Aurora, Illi
nois. They have their own local cable
access show, called "Wayne's World"
which is broadcast from Wayne's base
ment. The show basically consists of
Wayne and Garth exchanging quips
in dude speak and interviewing people
from the neighborhood.
The film begins with sleazy pro
ducer Benjamin (Rob Lowe) catch
ing an episode of "Wayne's World."
He decides that the show would be
perfect to buy and exploit. Mean
while, Wayne and Garth cruise their
favorite hangouts (a heavy metal bar
and a donut shop) and revel in teen
age life. Wayne meets Cassandra (Tia
Carrere) and immediately falls in love
with her. Benjamin convinces the
owner of "Noah's Arcades" (Brian
Doyle Murray) to purchase "Wayne's
World" and use it for advertising.
The pair cheat Wayne and Garth out
- Jff
Wendy (r, Jane Horrocks) comforts
out of England). Life Is Sweet relies
little on plot in succeeding, however;
the greater part of the film's structure
is constructed entirely around the ways
in which these people relate to each
other, and around their constant bick
ering and mutual realization of the
family's inherent absurdity. This is
the reason that the film has received
international acclaim (even making
Gene Siskel's list of the top 5 movies
of the year). The film begins and ends
of their show and Wayne loses
Cassandra. Our young heroes must
now fight to get the things that they
love back.
Well, that's the plot. It can be
summed up as: Boy has show. Boy has
show and girl. Boy loses show and
girl. Boy hurls. Boy gets show and girl
back. Not real hard to follow. This is
truly a shame. When characters that
are usually only allotted 5-10 min
utes are given an hour and a half, they
should at least expand on the charac
ters. I was hoping to learn who Wayne
and Garth are, why do they have a
show, how did they get it, and why
does Wayne still live with his par
ents. Instead, all we learn is that Garth
is an introvert and extremely shy.
Most disappointing of all, the
movie is not funny. The opening se
quence in which Wayne and Garth
and friends perform Queen's "Bohe
mian Rhapsody" while cruising in a
souped-up Pacer is truly hilarious, but
the film goes straight downhill from
there. Wayne and Garth looking into
the camera and saying cute things
gets old really fast. Some of the refer
ences are far too obscure to be funny.
Those that aren't are far too predict
able to be funny. There are 4 or 5
laughs, but that doesn't constitute a
successful comedy in my book.
Myers and Carvey are impressive
in their roles. They both have little
quirks to show that they really care
about the parts they are playing.
Wayne always tucks his hair behind
his ears in promising situations and
Garth talks out of the side of his
mouth, due to his shyness. Carvey
steals the film with a fantasy perfor
f A (-
MUjskf;
her daughter Nicola (Alison Steadman)
with its characters, and never aban
dons them in favor of a tricky story or
embarrassing situation.
What sets the film apart from oth
ers doesn't even have much to do
with comedy. It's the honesty of its
genuine approach, its almost inno
cent celebration of life which allows
the characters to laugh at what hap
pens around them and at themselves.
Rarely has a film so easily justified its
title as Life Is Sweet.
film ... not!
mance of Hendrix's "Foxy Lady." Rob
Lowe is perfect as the sleazy pro
moter. He slimes his way across the
screen in true pedophile style.
A lot of the blame for the film's
blatant badness can be blamed on
director Penelope Spheeris (The De
cline of Western Civilization, Part 2,
Suburbia, Dudes), who does not try to
hide her worship for heavy metal
guys. She makes every long haired
male in the film a god and every
female a poorly dressed floozy. Even
Cassandra, who is portrayed as a head
strong woman, must rely on Wayne
to save her from Benjamin.
The thing about Wayne's World
that really gets me is the fact that it
could have been so much more. There
are several scenes in which the film
makes some excellent points on what
suburban teenage life is like. These
are intelligent kids who have grown
up with TV and computers and who
have too much time on their hands.
If the film could have studied what
Wayne and Garth were really like as
people, instead of trying its hardest to
make us laugh, it would have im
proved the film vastly. I wasn't ex
pecting to see Slacker 2, but if a movie
isn't going to be entertaining, it
should at least try to make a point.
wait for the video
go to the dollar theater
only pay matinee price
pay full price
take your sister, too