JIMINY GLICK IN LALAWOOD
US, 2004, 90 minutes, Colour.
Martin Short, Jan Hooks, Linda Cardelini, Janeane Garofalo, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Perkins, Corey Pearson, Gary Anthony Williams. Interviews: Kiefer Sutherland, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Kline, Pat O'Brien, Sharon Stone, Jake Gylenhaal, Forrest Whitaker, Susan Sarandon, Kurt Russell, Rob Lowe, Steve Martin. Cameos by Emmanuelle Beart, Willem Dafoe, Roger Ebert, Chloe Savigny.
Directed by Vadim Jean.
Comedian Martin Short created a character for a television series, Jiminy Glick. Glick was a television personality from Beaut, Montana, an eccentric personality, decked out in a fat suit reminding audiences of Fat Bastard from the Austen Powers films. He had a boisterous tone, with a voice that registered on several levels. He thinks himself very important – but is not the brightest star in the firmament.
The television series went to several seasons. This is a feature length version of Jiminy Glick.
We are shown him interviewing one of the local stars and then receiving the news that he is to go to the Toronto Film Festival. He takes his wife, Dixie (Jan Hooks) and his two rather large twin sons. This gives him the opportunity to see several of the movie stars on the red carpet where he is largely ignored and then finds himself relegated to a minor hotel and his agent reveals that her main work has been in a video store.
He sleeps through the premiere of a film about Gandhi, with a sendup of the producer introducing the film and introducing the rather dopey star being rather incoherent. The film is a critical failure except for Glick’s review which means that that the producer and the star agree to give him an interview, and Glick becomes a great sensation, people lining up to be interviewed – with a host of very entertaining cameos with such stars as Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Kline, a long interview, with humorous sexual innuendo, with his friends Steve Martin, and Kurt Russell collapsing in laughter. Other stars are glimpsed throughout.
There is a subplot where Glick thinks he has murdered the star of a lesbian drama, the African Queens. She is played by Elizabeth Perkins and her daughter by Linda Cardelini. Their producer is tour-de-force performance from John Michael Higgins (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and the commentator in the Pitch Perfect films). He improvises in a manic way as an arrogant Scandinavian producer.
The murder is solved – and is given parallels with Lana Turner’s experience with her daughter and the death of her lover, Johnny Stampanato.
But the main tour-de-force is the David Lynch introduction to the film, his look, manner, cigarette, intonation, reference to his films, the visuals of Lost Highway, and his solving the mystery – a wonderful impersonation by Martin Short himself.
The film was directed by Vadim Jean, a British director who had made Leon, the Pig Farmer.
1. Spoof comedy? Hollywood? Films, festivals, stars, producers? Critics and TV personalities? The allusions to many films, the corridors in The Shining…?
2. Martin Short, his character, the television series, full-length film? His writing, the jokes, blunt assertions? His wife, sexual relationships? His twin sons? The humour?
3. Butte, Montana, television, homes, Dixie, the twins, the local stars and interviews?
4. Jiminy and his type of interview, boisterous, manner, voice range? Going to Toronto, starstruck? Kiefer Sutherland and calling out: Kiefer, Kiefer, Kiefer, Kiefer? The glimpses of stars? Going to the wrong hotel, downgraded, the staff, the room? His agent, her background in a video store, diffident, wanting to get interviews?
5. David Lynch, the introduction, the Lost Highway, the impersonation, the sendup, his look, manner, hair, cigarette, seriousness? Continuing throughout the film?
6. The Premiere, Jiminy sleeping? The producer and his introduction, the star and his inane comments? The parody of Gandhi? The bad reception for the film? The poor reviews? Jiminy deciding he liked it, the producer and the star reading his review, contact with the agent, the interview with the star after his refusing for years? The acclaim for Jiminy and his getting the exclusive?
7. Miranda Coolidge, Andre Devine? Miranda’s daughter? Her drinking? The interactions with the producer? His European background, his arrogance and disdain, John Michael Higgins and his improvising? The comedy? The Lesbian film, the joke on the African Queen, the scenes, the parody? The acclaim?
8. The interview with the star, getting on everybody’s list, the agent and her being happy?
9. Jiminy, crass, his faux pas, relationship with his wife, the sex? His dream about Miranda, her death? Dixie and her slapping her husband?
10. David Lynch, in the hotel, at the bar, his explanations of what happened?
11. The situation, the background of Lana Turner and Johnny Stampanato, the murder? The parallel with Miranda and her daughter?
12. The daughter, the relationship with the agent? Her mother’s reaction? The knife, the stabbing, dealing with the body?
13. Everybody gathered, the explanation?
14. Jiminy, success, audience response to TV personalities, the hype, their idiotic comments and behaviour?
15. The poking fun at filmmakers, audiences, fans and reviewers?
