HOME |
MUSIC EVENTS |
FAMILY EVENTS |
ART EVENTS
THEATRE |
MOVIES |
UPCOMING EVENTS
ARCHIVES |
ABOUT |
ADVERTISE |
CONTACT |
DISTRIBUTION
entertaining u newspaper: your monthly guide to entertainment
<<
Persepolis
|
Main
|
Spiderwick Chronicles
>>
|
|
by rick grant
rickgrant01@comcast.net
A- Rated R 100 min
This documentary is Vince Vaughn’s vanity project. In September of 2005 Vaughn took five of his favorite comedians from Hollywood to Chicago on a whirlwind 30 day–30 show tour. Produced by Peter Billingsley (the kid in Christmas Story) and Vaughn, who acted as host, this Wild West Comedy Show was directed by Ari Sandel. Justin Long went along to do improv with Vaughn and filmmaker Taylor Hackford also appeared as himself in a skit. Buck Owens (who died in 2006) and Dwight Yoakam had cameos in the film.
|
|
The up-and-coming yuk-meisters included Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo, Bret Ernst, Sebastian Mansicalco and Vaughn’s Swingers co-star Jon Favreau. For the opening night in Hollywood, Vaughn, Favreau and Justin Long improvised a skit. From Ahmed Ahmed’s Leno appearance to Dwight Yoakam’ appearance in Bakersfield, California, Vaughn’s crew is working double-time to promote the film. Wedding Crashers co-star Keir O’Donnell even does an ongoing routine inspired by his character in the film.
Vaughn’s odyssey has tight editing and many on-stage scenes with the five comedians working the audiences, more so than most comedy tour films. Vaughn’s sideshow concept bombed after the first few performances. So he wisely concentrated on featuring his stable of comics, all of whom are funny and original.
Ernst is funny and physical, acting out his bits all over the stage. Mansicalco’s observational humor is topical and witty, especially his roller rink bit. Caparulo is offhand, self-deprecating and works himself blue as he gets continuous laughs from the audiences. Unlike Dane Cook’s “Tourgasm” road trip, everyone on this rolling road show got along. Of course, after fifteen straight days and nights on the road, they were too exhausted to let trivial things get on their nerves. Vaughn was a calming presence and shows he was a strong leader on this adventure.
Director Ari Sandel orchestrated this rolling revue with wise decisions such as having each comic tell their stories of how they got into comedy. He even invited the comics’ parents to make appearances during the trip. The contrast of the comic’s material and their parents’ lifestyles was interesting and shows why these guys become comedians in the first place.
When hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit while they were traveling, Vaughn had everyone hand out free tickets to people living in a FEMA trailer community in Alabama, victims of both Katrina and Rita. For the comedians and crew this was a poignant and humbling segment, seeing so many people who had lost everything during Katrina. Laughter proved to be great medicine for these traumatized people.
Since the film is just being released three years after it was made, up until now it hasn’t had too much of an impact on the comics’ careers. But this release will start to up the ante. The postscript after the show indicated that the comics had already benefited from the film, even before its release, because of the live exposure and industry contacts they made through Vaughn and his production crew.
Overall, as a documentary, it’s entertaining and a continuously funny. Expect to see these comedians doing HBO specials and getting more recognition as a result.
Article Published in the 2-14-08 Issue of EU Jacksonville
|
|
