Friday, July 27, 2007
A+E

07/29/07 A&E ALEAD: D'oh! The Humanity!

D’oh! The Humanity! ‘Simpsons’ movie can’t live up to its own hype BY KEVIN FOREST MOREAU Unless you’ve been living under a rock—and, really, even then—it’s been impossible to escape the ince...

Lisa, Maggie, Marge, Homer and Bart Simpson in “The Simpsons Movie” CREDIT: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

“THE SIMPSONS MOVIE” Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner Directed by David Silverman Rated PG-13 Wide release

D’oh! The Humanity!
‘Simpsons’ movie can’t live up to its own hype
BY KEVIN FOREST MOREAU

Unless you’ve been living under a rock—and, really, even then—it’s been impossible to escape the incessant buildup to “The Simpsons Movie.” No bomb squads were called out to investigate strange-looking advertisements, as was the case earlier this year when a marketing plan for the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” movie went horribly awry. Still, between a ubiquitous TV commercial, various 7-Eleven convenience stores transforming into Kwik-E-Marts and Homer Simpson delivering the opening monologue on “The Tonight Show” last week, the 20th Century Fox PR machine has been working overtime to place the movie front and center in the public consciousness.

Throw in a rabid fan base of geeks who can quote 17-year-old episodes chapter and verse, and an Entertainment Weekly cover story imploring the film’s creators to “Deliver the Best. Movie. Ever,” and you’ve got a recipe for heightened expectations no film could possibly meet.

So it’s not entirely a slam to report that “The Simpsons Movie” doesn’t quite live up to all that anticipation. (What film could?)

Not that it doesn’t try. Much like 1977’s “Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown,” in which the “Peanuts” gang goes to summer camp and participates in a white-knuckle
raft-race adventure right out of “The River Wild,” “Movie” amps up the spectacle to widescreen proportions. In one dramatic scene, Grandpa Simpson has a prophetic vision of a terrible future; in another, after that vision has come to pass, the residents of Springfield, gathered into a bloodthirsty mob, storm the Simpson home and attempt to lynch dimwitted patriarch Homer.

The reason for that act of civil disobedience? Springfield’s polluted lake, which becomes a toxic nightmare after Homer illegally dumps his new pet pig’s excrement therein. The lake attracts the attention of the U.S. government, which decides to contain the situation by sealing the entire city in a giant dome. Homer and the rest of the family—long-suffering Marge, eternal brat Bart, idealistic Lisa and baby Maggie—escape from the dome, high-tailing it to Alaska in an attempt to start anew. But leaving their old life behind isn’t that easy: Budding environmentalist Lisa pines for her new friend, the socially conscious Colin; Bart, oddly enough, would rather be with the Simpsons’ perennially upright neighbor Ned Flanders, who treats him with the respect Homer doesn’t; and Marge simply can’t abandon Springfield, which quickly descends into anarchy, in its hour of need.

That’s the gist of the plot, but anyone who’s ever watched “The Simpsons”—or understands the rules of good comedy—knows that what happens isn’t nearly as important as the laughs that result from those events (and, more importantly, from the characters themselves). And that’s one area in which “The Simpsons Movie” lags behind its nearly two-decade-old source. The movie’s framework simply doesn’t lend itself to big laughs; most of the funny stuff comes in the form of throwaway gags (Homer playing
a video game called “Grand Theft Walrus,” Lisa giving an environmental presentation titled “An Irritating Truth”), incidental dialogue or quick scenes devised to shoehorn as many of the show’s gargantuan supporting cast into the proceedings as possible. Even clocking in at a hair under 90 minutes, “The Simpsons Movie” often feels stretched to fill its extended running time.

To be fair, the film does earn its share of laughs, from the opening “Itchy and Scratchy” flick (and Homer’s assertion that the audience is stupid for paying to see something they could catch at home for free) to Bart’s nude skateboard ride through town, in which the animators throw up all manner of obstacles to keep us from spying the boy’s private parts—and then expose them anyway.

Even so, one walks out of the theater feeling that “The Simpsons Movie” would have worked much better as an hour-long episode of the television show. That’s not necessarily damning the movie with faint praise. After all, say what you will about its declining quality over the past few years, “The Simpsons” remains a comedic high point
of our popular culture. “The Simpsons Movie” doesn’t do any damage to the show’s rich legacy, but it doesn’t add very much to it, either. It might be unrealistic and even unfair to ask one hour-and-a-half feature to top 18 seasons of subversive and often brilliant humor. But then, with all the hype, can you blame us? SP