How do you feel about Kristen Wiig

whoops, meant for ILE

and now it's on ILE

I like her most of the time, but there's a couple characters I just can't stand

same

which may be a surprisingly positive stance for the creator of worst recurring Kristen Wiig character on SNL but i criticize because i care

(xpost)

I have never seen her in a movie, so I'm gonna go w/ "I hate her, always have"

I like her most of the time, but there's a couple characters I just can't stand

really happy her movie is a hit too

I don't get how you can only like some of her characters if they're all the same character

she has a lot of "everyone stop and watch kristen make a grotesque face and shriek" reoccuring sketches, but there are some exceptions, especially when she's part of a duo bit

I hate her on SNL now but I like her in movies

It's not so much that I hate her on SNL as that I just hate SNL and the unfunny shit they put her in.

I had no idea how good she was until I saw Bridesmaids this weekend. The only other movie I've seen with her in it is Knocked UP and I don't remember her in it at all. I loved this movie and her so much that I'm a convert. I actually did both laugh and cry and I now want to be friends with her.

"everyone stop and watch kristen make a grotesque face and shriek"

I hate shit like that which is exactly why I'd dismissed her until two days ago.

I think she's extremely talented and very funny, but it's all about how those qualities are handled. Clearly, when she has some control over her material (Bridesmaids), she's a powerhouse. I've actively disliked the way she's occasionally been utilized on SNL. I can't stand when sketches are basically a showcase for one of her wacky characters (which, note to SNL: most of your recurring characters/sketches these days are not built for recurrence), often to such an extreme that they're essentially monologues wherein the presence of other performers is completely perfunctory. Plus, I totally disagree with the idea, so prevalent on SNL, that Wiig's strengths are in playing those wacky, fish out of water types. She has a pretty great range, and I always like her more when she's able to bring some pathos into the mix.

oh yeah she was in knocked up I guess I have seen her in a movie xp

her Knocked Up bit was great!

Jill: We don't want you to lose weight, we just want you to be healthy. Y'know, by eating less.
Alison Scott: OK.
Jill: We would just like it if you go home and step on the scale, and write down how much you weigh, and subtract it by like, 20

Who was she in Knocked Up?! The only women I can remember in that are Heigel, Judd Apatow's wife and the Asian stoner girl.

Oh! One of the TV executives?

yeah, the one who was horrified by pregnancy and sat next to her during the "tighten" bits.

Yeah, it was an Alan Tudyk/Kristen Wiig comedy tag team. Would watch a movie with just those two in it.

loved her in knocked up and macgruber. looking forward to seeing bridesmaids. the snl stuff i've seen has been mostly annoying. but tbf my snl viewing is pretty much confined to once or twice a season, and a couple of clips here and there that get internet famous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvP7cnmxlLM

Yeah, Knocked Up was actually the first thing I ever saw her in, and she was such a delightful surprise.

"I peed my jeans. I peed 'em."

I absolutely adored her in KU and will sometimes just watch her two or three scenes.

"I couldn't believe it either."

just like toned and smaller

lol

ok yes I remember now and you're all right - she was great

amazed that there is this much love for the woman who brought the world gilly

I don't think I realized she was the lady who made dumb faces on SNL when I saw it at the time though.

"Don't make EVERYTHING smaller, I wouldn't generalize from that." Alan Tudyk is amazing.

He looks like another actor but I can't figure out exactly who.

amazed that there is this much love for the woman who brought the world gilly

See, this is the thing: most of her SNL characters (yes, including Gilly) would be effing hilarious if you saw her doing them off the cuff for the first time in an improv performance. But then what SNL does is suck all of the life and spontaneity and humor out of those characters by trotting them out over and over and over. Because, let's face it: SNL isn't really made for people who are legitimately invested in comedy.

('What Up With That' is the only recurring sketch I'll give a pass to these days, and that is entirely thanks to Sudeikis.)

(Oh, and I guess I'll let Stefon slide, too.)

And (not to go too far off topic) this is what's really kind of a shame about SNL's stale approach these days. At least half of the cast are some of the funniest and most talented people to have ever been on the show. Not to mention the fact that they have some really amazing writers right now. It's just that most of these people's talents, to the extent that I'm aware of them, have been presented more fully outside the confines of the show. I think it might be time for Michaels to hand the actual show-runner reigns over to some fresh blood.

we need a "best bobby moynihan characters" thread. i loved his "kid excited about being on a film set but indifferent to meeting robert deniro."

and his snooki. to die for.

what is more ritualized and beaten into the ground, i ask you, your average SNL skit or your average SNL thread

boom

I can't seem to pin down the reservations I have with her, something about an persistent ironic detachment or an unwillingness to totally abandon or debase herself in her comedy. But I still like her a lot. She has definite presence.

lol goole

I can't seem to pin down the reservations I have with her, something about an persistent ironic detachment or an unwillingness to totally abandon or debase herself in her comedy. But I still like her a lot. She has definite presence.

I mean, maybe in comparison to Rachel Dratch

He looks like another actor but I can't figure out exactly who.

― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, June 6, 2011 1:32 PM Bookmark

I get a shorter Stephen Merchant vibe from him, without the glasses.

Not an actor, but he makes me think of Curt Schilling.

Him too.

I think she's extremely talented and very funny, but it's all about how those qualities are handled. Clearly, when she has some control over her material (Bridesmaids), she's a powerhouse. I've actively disliked the way she's occasionally been utilized on SNL. I can't stand when sketches are basically a showcase for one of her wacky characters (which, note to SNL: most of your recurring characters/sketches these days are not built for recurrence), often to such an extreme that they're essentially monologues wherein the presence of other performers is completely perfunctory. Plus, I totally disagree with the idea, so prevalent on SNL, that Wiig's strengths are in playing those wacky, fish out of water types. She has a pretty great range, and I always like her more when she's able to bring some pathos into the mix.

― SNEEZED GOING DOWN STEPS, PAIN WHEN PUTTING SOCKS ON (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, June 6, 2011 2:23 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

i don't know if the variable here is really creative control, she's pretty infamously "Lorne's favorite" and has made public pronouncements about which characters she's decided she won't do anymore, so i don't think she's being forced into performing stuff she dislikes or wouldn't write anything like on SNL

There were some horrible one-note appearances on Weekend Update she did recently (like one as an aerobics instructor) that I can't imagine existing if they weren't in large part her idea.

They had practically nothing to do with the news and basically seemed like shitty Wiig bits they couldn't bother to build a set for.

Sneezed OTM (and not for the first time, I might add). I think the control she has over her characters at SNL is limited to, "What if there was a character who talked like this?" Either the skit is half-written, or the character is half-realized, but apparently films allow her the time to really dig in and develop a character beyond "She sounds like this!"

xxp

Gilly is genius fwiw

Gilly is the character that really made me loathe Wiig on SNL. She's fine in movies though.

You made me excited for a Gilly movie for a second ;_;

I've seen a few really brilliant Wiig sketches on SNL: a couple with the lady who can't keep a secret, and one where she was this sort of gross, vamping high-school teacher. But yeah, some of her appearances on Weekend Update are kind of self-indulgent and wtf.

garth & kat

I love Garth & Kat but they might want to let it go for a while (and not bring people like Gwyneth Paltrow into the mix)

also enjoyed this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrT7JTssH3c

I keep confusing whoever this lady is with Kristen Schaal.

(we dont get SNL here, or if we dont watch it)

Yeah, Knocked Up was actually the first thing I ever saw her in, and she was such a delightful surprise.

― jaymc, Monday, June 6, 2011 2:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

otm

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Neither this thread or Bridesmaids mentions "Walk Hard" which she was predictably good in

Extract is a really iffy movie but has two classic Wiig moments:

-Lounging around the pool in a bikini in the Poolboy's flashback of her seduction.

http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/2009_Extract/009XTT_Kristen_Wiig_002.jpg

-The exchange w/Bateman when he finally confronts her about cheating

"You paid him 15 times!?"

I like her most of the time, but there's a couple characters I just can't stand

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Surprisingly good in the surprisingly good though heavily flawed Skeleton Twins. Hader is great in it.

I thought at the time that Bridesmaids was a good drama hampered/compromised by its desire to be stupid/silly/make money.

This was sort of a "sad comedy" in a way, not really a drama but too dark to be called a comedy even though very funny. Marred by heavy-handed "dramatic blowup argument" moments that felt like a tv movie and a few quirky indie comedy cliches, but otherwise a pretty original and personal story and the two have great onscreen chemistry.

I enjoyed Skeleton Twins. This last batch of SNL stars has turned to drama pretty early on in their movie acting careers. The 'Wiig dances and lip syncs to 90s (late 80s?) pop song' bit is probably done now, though. It was weird how Hader uses that to cheer her up given that we have a reference for Wiig and not her character enjoying that sort of thing. Also Hader saying 'Maggie' in the 'Gilly' tone kinda threw me.

She was excellent in Skeleton Twins as was Hader. I actually always disliked him and now I am a little in love with him.

He was so good throughout but, I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZzS8a29XfI

You hated Bill Hader? MONSTER!

I like Kristen Wiig okay (Arrested Development cameo!), but I'm dubious about her involvement in this upcoming mental health rom-com: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Me Be careful Kristen...

x-post - I hated him a lot! I don't know why. It's like how I hate Lithgow. There's no real reason, he just really bothered me. Until now. I think he's great now!

TBH I think it's this one particular face he makes that bugs me which he did not make in TST.

She and Hader are good, considering, but that Skeleton Twins script is a desiccated collection of Sundance cliches. Oh no, Joanna Gleason as an Evil New Age Mother! Suicide attempts all around! Lipsyncing a shitty '80s tune cuz gay!

yeah, the sibling chemistry between Wiig and Hader made it worthwhile for me, though.

I basically agree with Morbs' assessment except I would flip the things on either side of the "but," i.e. the performances outweighed the cliches for me. Also thought Ty Burrell was very good as the teacher.

I also didn't know sundance movies were full of suicide attempts, guess I just don't see enough of them.

if you liked that Starship scene, there are like 3 or 4 more just like it in the movie

She and Hader are good, considering, but that Skeleton Twins script is a desiccated collection of Sundance cliches. Oh no, Joanna Gleason as an Evil New Age Mother! Suicide attempts all around! Lipsyncing a shitty '80s tune cuz gay!

Yeah, there's this totally mad libs indie quality to it, like "Little Miss Sunshine." He's a depressed gay Proust professor just ... because! The ornery old coot is teaching her to dance to Rick James! Suicide abounds!

At least I assume there was suicide in "Little Miss Sunshine." God, I hated that fucking movie.

I guess there was the grandpa heroin od thing? I don't remember if there was suicide otherwise.

We should actually write a movie like this collectively, mad-libs style. I need a quirky or unusual occupation.

music critic

ok now I need a non-major-city US location

i've never really understood that "mad libs" are improv. I guess I grew impatient the wat TSt tried to be dark dramedy + SNL sketch.

it's definitely not one I'd watch again

Honestly I go to movies so little now that I think my standards might have lowered. I haven't actually disliked any of the last handful of movies I saw in theaters, although worst in the last couple years was probably Silver Linings Playbook -- now THERE'S an indie madlib.

BTW trailer for new Cooper/Lawrence film looks ATROCIOUS

St. Joseph, Michigan

Ok, I feel like the music critic in St. Joseph's michigan has probably moved there to escape something in his past...what?

A music critic and his estranged twin brother, a failed professional musician, reunite in St. Joseph, Michigan, for their father's funeral, only to discover from their mother that their actual father d is a former rock star who lives alone in an empty mansion in the Los Angeles hills. They fly out to meet him, teach him how to rock again and, more importantly, teach him how to love.

St. Joseph scenes will be filmed in LA, natch.

But when they get there, they discover that he's committed suicide and that they have a precocious seven-year-old half sister who writes a romantic advice column in the local alt weekly.

this probably functions as a biography of andrew bird

I feel like pretty soon after that they're going to get some kind of unusual/exotic pet dumped into their lap

Estranged brothers must quickly learn to be grownups, then team together to get her into an elite LA private school.

needs a shot of the caravan peeling away frantically from lower-class folk they accidentally riled

From the real father's estate, his pet aye-aye named tenzin gyatso

They host a benefit by forming a band to cover the songs of their father, which suddenly shoot up the iTunes chart, get them a financial windfall, and get them a record deal. Then the school decides to let their little sister in afterall, but they tell the school to take a hike.

Movie ends with the girl all grown up, finishing the book about her crazy family.

Post credits, she gets a phone call optioning the crazy story for a movie.

Estranged brothers must quickly learn to be grownups, then team together to get her into an elite LA private school.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, January 7, 2015 3:35 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Is this a Dave Eggers reference?

Oh shit, forgot about him. Eggers sort of is the embodiment of a whimsical indie movie cliche.

they feed the aye-aye human flesh. it develops a taste for it, and they use the crazed human-eating aye-aye to avenge their father, who committed suicide because he never successfully defended his podcast patent.

(the aye-aye eats marc maron in the movie)

post credit shot of the aye-aye knocking on adam corolla's studio door dressed as a pizza delivery man

mid-film side plot -- after the real Dalai Lama suddenly dies, a group of exiled tibetan buddhist monks find them through a facebook page listed in the aye-aye's name, mistakenly thinking they may have found the next incarnation. After laughs over their misunderstanding, they agree to do guest throat-singing vocals on a track for the covers record.

T-shirts with the aye-aye and a movie catchphrase would work well, maybe "Are you sure you didn't order anchovies?"

man, I've been waiting to be able to say this, but Dr. Morbius otm with his assessment of Skeleton Twins.

That said, I did like Hader's performance. Didn't really like Wiig, but I have an unusually low tolerance for he anyway.

I found her convincing somehow as the person trying but failing to hold it together as a norm.

a shitty '80s tune

I think you mean one of the greatest songs ever tbh.

lol

I do like that one part where she first reluctantly starts lip-syncing, very cuet

feel like that 'heart-to-heart' dance move has been done by Wiig in a movie before...

It totally has. That said, it is a pretty good move.

also i find the boucing around from suicidal depression to lipsyncing to playing fartgames on nitrous oxide just a little too 'resilient' even for characters in an indie dramedy.

that blond actor who played her Aussie scuba teacher was well worth a fuck tho (apparently he's Elisabeth Olsen's bf).

yeah there is a certain bathos to the way amerindie films deal with these subjects, always putting this slightly unbelievable *positive outlook* spin on things, same with Silver Linings Playbook and mental illness.

Oh shit, forgot about him. Eggers sort of is the embodiment of a whimsical indie movie cliche.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, January 7, 2015 8:38 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark

lest we forget

http://www.seat42f.com/images/stories/Movies/Posters/Away-We-Go-Movie-Poster.jpg

oh lord, did anyone here actually see that turd?

lol, the character names

John Krasinski as Burt Farlander
Maya Rudolph as Verona De Tessant
Carmen Ejogo as Grace De Tessant
Jeff Daniels as Jerry Farlander
Catherine O'Hara as Gloria Farlander
Allison Janney as Lily
Jim Gaffigan as Lowell
Maggie Gyllenhaal as LN
Josh Hamilton as Roderick
Melanie Lynskey as Munch Garnett
Chris Messina as Tom Garnett
Paul Schneider as Courtney Farlander

That reminds me, a film version of You Too Shall Know Our Velocity (or whatever it's called) starring Harry Potter is due for Festival Season '15-'16.

Munch Garnett

poor Paul Schneider, he really deserves another good movie, someday

Office dude has some big feet

points to anyone who can find me a modern american person named "de tessant" -- every link I can find gives me the movie or a french person from another century

Munch Garnett

― $80 is absurd and very ridiculous! (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, January 7, 2015 4:40 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

She and Hader are good, considering, but that Skeleton Twins script is a desiccated collection of Sundance cliches. Oh no, Joanna Gleason as an Evil New Age Mother! Suicide attempts all around! Lipsyncing a shitty '80s tune cuz gay!

― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, January 6, 2015 11:31 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

I basically agree with Morbs' assessment except I would flip the things on either side of the "but," i.e. the performances outweighed the cliches for me. Also thought Ty Burrell was very good as the teacher.

― man alive, Wednesday, January 7, 2015 12:21 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I also didn't know sundance movies were full of suicide attempts, guess I just don't see enough of them.

― man alive, Wednesday, January 7, 2015 12:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

also i find the boucing around from suicidal depression to lipsyncing to playing fartgames on nitrous oxide just a little too 'resilient' even for characters in an indie dramedy.

that blond actor who played her Aussie scuba teacher was well worth a fuck tho (apparently he's Elisabeth Olsen's bf).

― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, January 7, 2015 4:12 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah there is a certain bathos to the way amerindie films deal with these subjects, always putting this slightly unbelievable *positive outlook* spin on things, same with Silver Linings Playbook and mental illness.

― man alive, Wednesday, January 7, 2015 4:19 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Silver Linings Playbook drove me insane with its marrow deep phoniness and manic pandering insistence that u love it and message that we're all part of the same crazy human tapestry so don't sweat it if you're a psycho who puts dudes in the hospital. Awful film

The Skeleton Twins was a lot better. It has contrivances, it has melodrama, and it certainly has an element of Wiig & Hader being so great (Wiig gives a top 3 performance in 2014, as she did in 2011) that they bring uninspired-on-paper scenes up to their level. But the miserablist throughline being so genuine and right really took it a long way, and I give the director/writers credit for having just the right sensibility a lot of the time, underplaying the right things, the disinterest in schtick, the comedy is naturally extracted so when it comes it's a dizzying relief instead of trying to oppress u with its antic irreverence. There's nothing revelatory but it mostly feels 'right'... especially compared to fellow 'Sundance Style Comedies' like The Kings of Summer or w/e, boy does it really excel in that company

Hader could've been a too easy desexed tragic homo but his passive resilience is apt... the film isn't putting a fake 'positive outlook spin' on suicide, it's just being real... sometimes u try to kill yourself and sometimes u get up and dust yourself off but you're still a miserable piece of shit. The movie gets why depression is funny, how it's almost like a great feeling to know you're about to kill yourself out of loneliness and dissatisfaction, so it doesn't have to overcorrect at the end and ladle on "they're gonna be ok"-isms. They're still lonely pieces of SHIT at the end. For some reason I'm now thinking about how Ida was a more 'unflinching' film that studiously avoided melodrama, and it ended up saying something a lot more phony about its characters...

Also its a miraculous Luke Wilson comeback vehicle! Has he been this good in anything since Bottle Rocket? That Laura Dern tv show maybe, but that's it

good post, and thx for backing up my memory that Skeleton Twins was at least significantly better than Silver Linings Playbook.

And I enjoyed Luke Wilson a lot in it too.

I groaned when I heard the distant off-screen right-channel *splash* during the climax. I was expecting it, but still.

Office dude has some big feet

Office dude had big shoes to fill. First guy was a Hobbit apparently.

xxpost H4A otm. I really loved this and reading all the hate here made me feel like I'd watched a totally different movie. I was going to say something but I get really intimidated talking about movies once the doc shows up on a thread. Yes, I realize that's more my thing than anything having to do with him but it's true. FTR SLP was one of the most disappointingly awful movies I've seen in years. O'Russel is one of my favorite directors and that was just awful in pretty much every way.

Fuck, I just now remembered crits etc. trying to make Kings of Summer a thing.

O'Russel - i can't stop laughing at my typo. oops.

haha. I'm not sure I knew that it wasn't O'Russel until now.

Post-Huckabees it's been ohhhhhhhhh Russell

Yeah, he's unfortunately traveling down the same road as Alexander Pain.

oh just shut up

sorry - that was mean

I thought SLP had a lot more going on than ST. Hokey 3rd act aside.

good post H4A. not that i've seen the wiig movie in question but man did SLP rub me the wrong way. just awful.

i think Luke Wilson hasn't been in anything good because he's not that good an actor

I will always love him if only for Rushmore and the "O, R they?" line. It kills me. Still. I feel like he's the better looking but generally less charismatic Wilson bro. I did like him in this though.

but he does not deliver said line

lol you're right
i mean the scene

Jesus christ I'm tired.

my favorite luke wilson line

I've never seen BR. I am guessing I should watch it?

I think it's worth watching, yeah

it is on amazon prime, i think

I have that! Ty. :)

Yeah, Skeleton Twins was all right. It is a heaping mound of indie cliches (feel-good! dark and edgy suicide themes! people in their 30s coming home! blunt symbolism! etc. etc.) but ultimately likeable. Wiig and particularly Hader did great jobs. I forgot that Luke Wilson was in this and loved this throwback/likeable doofus role.

everybody otm about skeleton twins. had a lot of flaws but wiig and especially hader were great. hungry4ass right on about the fact that they are still miserable pieces of shit despite some happy moments and a generally happy ending

"Josh Hamilton as Roderick"

Albert Pujols as Fred