Sunday, December 30, 2007

For Your Consideration: Anna Faris in Smiley Face

.
It doesn't get more hopeless than this call to awards-consideration -arms, does it?

But oh, to live in a world where Anna Faris was the biggest star alive. I'm picturing her in all of Will Smith's roles - gunning down CG vampire-things, wooing the male equivalent of Eva Mendes (that'd be Chris Evans, right?) - a world where she would be recognized for her lunatic genius and the awards would shower down upon her for giving the funniest performance of the year in Smiley Face. And Smiley Face wouldn't get a two-week run in one theater in NYC but would be playing like Superbad, all Summer long to packed houses.

Maybe that's who Faris needs to hook up with: the Apatow team. Watching Smiley Face last night I realized the problem is the problem that faces most actually funny female comedian types - there's no big roles for them out there. Really, Faris wouldn't even fit into the Apatow mold since those girls are allowed to be funny, sure, but above all HOT and UNDERSTANDING, and never as wacky or hell, far wackier than their male counterparts. Faris is hot, sure, but just too WEIRD for the big female roles out there. And god bless her for it.

Smiley Face as a film is 2/3rds of a terrific comedy; like most stoner comedies it has the thinnest of plots - heck, what little plot it does have is laid out by Faris' character in her 4-point plan for the day which, as she dissolves into a totally stoned mess, is constantly revised at the spur of the moment. And the film loses it's momentum towards the last half an hour or so and then ends on the totally wrong note. Not that I blame Gregg Araki for wanting to make a silly stoner comedy after the heavy-lifting drama of Mysterious Skin, but Smiley Face does feel like a step backwards for him as a filmmaker.

But Faris. Oh bless you, Anna Faris! Araki knew that even this small, insubstantial story would be something special with her as the lead, and damn was he right. From the very first shot she's ringing the laughs out of this character's constantly agape mouth, and never lets up. And thankfully Jane F., the girl she plays, isn't a one-note stereotype: underneath those glassy eyes lay a very smart girl, and Faris drains every drop of hilarity imaginable from the disconnect between her slack-jaw and the words tumbling out of her. Never have I so believed in the simple, true love story of a girl and her bed - the World's Most Comfortable Bed, at that! Faris sells the silliness with a manic fervor one can only bow down to.

I went into this film stone-cold sober and I left it with an overwhelming need for a very large bag of Doritos. So when this film hits DVD, I suggest having plenty of chips by your side. Anna Faris will convince you you're higher than you've ever been in your life.
.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great. Thanks.
For images and wallpapers of Anna Faris: http://www.sexyimages.us/category/Anna+Faris/

http://www.sexyimages.us - Sexy Images and Sexy Wallpapers for free download.