This week's must-watch TV includes a fresh take on high school, a fierce second season, and some unlikely partners against crime.
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Title: Bart Got a Room (2008)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Steven Kaplan | ... | Danny (as Steven J. Kaplan) | |
| William H. Macy | ... | Ernie | |
| Cheryl Hines | ... | Beth | |
| Alia Shawkat | ... | Camille | |
| Ashley Benson | ... | Alice | |
| Brandon Hardesty | ... | Craig | |
| Kate Micucci | ... | Abby | |
| Jon Polito | ... | Bob | |
| Jennifer Tilly | ... | Melinda | |
| Dinah Manoff | ... | Mrs. Goodson | |
| Michael Mantell | ... | Dr. Goodson | |
| Chad Jamian | ... | Bart (as Chad Jamian Williams) | |
 |
Bambi la Fleur | ... | Destiny |
|
|
Sam Azouz | ... | Uncle Walter |
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Betty Knowles | ... | Aunt Rose |
Danny Stein is a high-school senior and class vice president; he's in charge of the prom, along with Camille, his best friend for years. Everyone including Camille and her parents assumes that Danny will ask her to the prom, but he wants something less platonic and more romantic - more memorable. His choices include the sophomore cheerleader he drives to school, a friend of a friend, and a quiet Chinese girl in his classes. With his parents' help (they're going through a divorce), he gets the tickets, rents a tux, reserves a limo, and, over his mother's objections, gets a room at the prom-site hotel. This, everyone believes, is the way to establish memories. Will anything work out? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
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Looking back at this film, there are quite a number of scenes that seem as if they, and the movie that they are in, should be superb. Actually watching the scenes, and watching the film as a whole however, the effect is rather lackluster. Objectively, I can't say that the movie is a bad one, and some people will probably love, it, but for many or most people, I suspect that the film will not live up to its potential. Its difficult to say exactly why, but I can nominate three potential reasons.
1.
Comparative lack of comedic follow-through. In many comedic scenes in film, you can see an embarrassing situation emerging a few seconds or minutes before the specific situation ends. Rather than playing each scene through from beginning to bitter end, 'Bart Got A Room" tends to lay out the scene, and clip off the last uncomfortable moments. This device does not render the scenes unfunny, and it could make the film a bit more subtle. "Bart Got A Room" is not the most exciting or unpredictable film however, and the closely trimmed scene endings make the movie more boring.
2.
A vast proportion of the world's humor comes from people and the world as a whole not living up to expectations. Much humor represents an idealistic implicit criticism of these failures and imperfections.
The creators of this film seem to embrace, rather than criticize imperfection however, particularly in the ending, and not so much by defiantly embracing an alternate standard of perfection, but by saying that "hey, settling for ______ is okay." Obviously the difference between different sorts of acceptance (of imperfection) are subtle, but but this film seems to be more "settle for it" than usual, and the implicit lack of idealism leads to less ideal-driven humorous criticism.
3.
This film has a very clear Florida setting and cultural identity, and ordinarily this would be a strict virtue, adding a bit of realism instead of pretending to a placeless universality. Unfortunately, the film is so subtle/dull overall, that the setting and specific characterization overwhelms the overall story and other elements to a degree. Most likely the filmmakers should have made the story and characters a bit more interesting, rather than make the background less interesting, but something should have been done.