Look at all these legendary movies, and now How's That?! can be the big TV hit for Stage 24. The documentary camera zooms in on the shows listed on the plaque under 'television,' including Mike & Molly, Full and Fuller House, and, most conspicuously, Friends.
When "Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein" debuted on Netflix in July 2019, plenty of people had no idea what it was. Legend has it that star and executive producer David Harbour wanted it to come out that way. The actor parodies himself twice in this baffling 32-minute mockumentary, born from a Twitter conversation with writer John Levenstein, about a tortured man (Harbour), his late father (Harbour), and a made-for- TV play that holds the key to their relationship. Maybe. Sort of. Probably not.
Yes, the faux documentary format is overdone, and where "Stumble" hits wrong notes, it's because of its chosen format. We don't need to blur out dolls because the fictional toymaker doesn't give permission, or pretend like Courteney's own college cheer coach is refusing to participate in the show because of ill will between them. That's just manufactured silliness, and it reads as such.
In the 41 years since This Is Spinal Tap was released, David St. Hubbins ( Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel ( Christopher Guest), and Derek Smalls ( Harry Shearer) have experienced no shortage of career highs and lows, playing major festivals before splitting up, seemingly for good, over a decade ago. However, the music industry loves a comeback story. So director Marty DiBergi (played by actual director Rob Reiner) is back to document the boys with Spinal Tap II:
Set at the Dunder Mifflin paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, it was very much in the spirit of the original, at least initially: a deadpan mockumentary centred on a megalomaniac manager (Steve Carrell's Michael Scott), who like Ricky Gervais's David Brent before him was a friend first, and a boss second and probably an entertainer third. The Office: An American Workplace ran for nine seasons, setting aside some of the original's cringe comedy aspects in favour of something with a little more heart.
This was the big bang moment for cringe comedy and spoof mockumentary, and it was an American classic whose every superb gag came to be savoured and replayed through its massive 1980s popularity on home video, securing for the and their international treasure status. Now it is rereleased in anticipation of the forthcoming sequel, prising open the chrysalis doors for the band to emerge once more into our lives.
Seeing the committed educator Janine Teagues call Dee Reynolds a 'total fucking cunt' provides both a shocking moment and a brilliant character expansion for her character. The delivery by Quinta Brunson is confident, while Tyler James Williams captures Gregory's astonished reaction perfectly, adding depth to the humor of the situation.
