Strangers with Candy (6 of 10)
Review by James Jones
Comedy Central’s series Strangers with Candy has a brilliant concept. It spoofs the earnest morality plays of ABC’s old Afterschool Specials and adds a splash (well, maybe a full-on squirt) of modern raunchiness.
In the new Strangers film, co-writer and star Amy Sedaris is back and she’s as comedically brilliant as she is physically repulsive in the central role of Jerri Blank, a 46 year-old confessed “user, boozer and loser” ex-con who returns to high school to pick up her life from the point where it went horribly awry.
This supposed “prequel” to the Strangers series seems more like a remake of the show’s pilot. Jerri, newly released from prison, finds out her father (Dan Hedaya) has re-married and is in a coma. A doctor (Ian Holm) decides that the only way to revive Jerri’s father is for her to return to high school and do things right this time (which I guess qualifies as a plot, but with Strangers, the plot isn’t the point).
Jerri is shepherded through the trials of Flat Point High (home of the Concrete Donkeys!) by misguided authority figures like Chuck Noblet, played with comedic genius by co-writer Stephen “It’s French, Bitch!” Colbert. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. You see, as Afterschool Special-like music swells, Noblet always seems like he’s about to give Jerri advice, then he calls her fat and tells her to leave.
It’s hard to put my finger on why, but Strangers with Candy the film didn’t deliver nearly as many laughs as the show. If you’re not a fan of Strangers, you should probably start with the television series. But if you’re a fan of the show, craving more Strangers with Candy, the film should do the trick.