Anderson roast DVD sets new low standards
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Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy star in The Man.
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By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
Something really bad, something just okay and something sweetly nostalgic are in this week's DVD column.
The Pamela Anderson Roast
In case you missed it when it was first broadcast, Comedy Central has released an uncensored version of the roasting of marginal actress Pamela Anderson.
Now as I understand it, the tradition of show business roasts came from the Friar's Club, an entertainment fraternity. They would honor members by having a private dinner at which the honoree's friends and colleagues would subject them to a torrent of insults. The rule was that you only roast the people you really liked.
This tradition was put into the mainstream in the 1970s when Dean Martin had a series of roasts in which celebrities would be "honored" by their peers. It was just a television show and didn't carry any prestige unlike the private Friar's Club event.
Thirty years later Comedy Central has revived roast broadcasts, first with several Friar events and now with a program that is on the level of the Dean Martin programs.
The result is a cheesy, insincere, generally unfunny roast of an inarticulate pin up girl that reaches new heights or depths in profanity. I didn't see the broadcast version but it must have been a parade of bleeps.
I'm not a prude, but this show was beyond any boundary of acceptable taste. Besides the profanity, this show wasn't about anything. By their own admission, many of the people involved didn't know Anderson. They were there just there to promote themselves and tell a dirty joke.
And since the extras reveal that much of the show was scripted, there isn't even the satisfaction of seeing comics ad-libbing. It was all canned and it's was rotten to begin with.
Yeech.
If you must, log onto www.paramount.com/homeentertainment.
The Man
I like Eugene Levy and I like Samuel L. Jackson, but I only kind of liked this fish out-of-water comedy. I really wanted to like it a lot, but this was the sort of film that elicited smiles instead of laughs.
Levy is a out of town dental supplies salesman who is mistaken as a buyer for a million dollars worth of stolen guns. Jackson is the ATF agent who was supposed to be the undercover buyer. To make the arrest Jackson needs Levy to be "The Man," a role the upbeat salesman is reluctant to do.
Jackson's character is a trust-no-one street kind of guy and he abuses the salesman physically, mentally and emotionally. It's sort of funny, but at the same time, we're being asked to laugh at extreme police abuse.
Of course, there's some warmth in the picture as Levy is able to show Jackson some of the error of his way.
It's not a great film, but I've seen far, far worse.
And, by the way, no one cusses with more authority on camera that Jackson. The filmmakers even prepared an "extra" on Jackson's ability.
For more information go to www.newlinecinema.com.
The Tiger Woman/Perils of the Darkest Jungle
Sigh. There's nothing quite like coming home after a day worth of being an adult and bathing in the cool silliness of a 1944 Republic movie serial.
At least that's what I think.
This new release from the Roan Group and Troma Entertainment is one of the best chapter plays Republic had to offer. Of course it doesn't make a lick of sense, but who cares?
Linda Stirling plays The Tiger Woman, the leader of a group of Indians, I think, somewhere in South or Central America, I suppose. The details are never made clear, but they are not important. What is vital to know is that Allan Lane is a good guy trying to find oil on the land owned by the Tiger Woman's tribe and that George L. Lewis is the henchman for evil Leroy Mason who are trying to kill Lane and discover the Tiger Woman's secret.
This serial was an inspiration for the Indiana Jones movies and has plenty of perfectly choreographed fights, rousing stunt work, and heart-pounding cliffhangers. Lane made a good hero (later he would get his own western series and be known as Allen "Rocky" Lane) and Stirling was a perfect choice for the Tiger Woman.
For serial fans, this production is just about perfect.
For more info, go to www.roangroup.com.
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