A new line to step over has been established
When we received the press release for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas I was excited. The comedic possibilities of the gang prepping for a Christmas story were literally endless. Since the show doesn’t have many boundaries (mainly due to the time it’s on), I figured what the heck. They could almost literally do anything they wanted to make a warped, memorable Christmas show that could be replayed over and over like the Grinch film (not the crappy live-action one).
Man, I was wrong.
The storyline goes a little something like this. The gang is split in two as Charlie and Mac love Christmas, while Dee and Dennis despise it. Charlie and Mac, not wanting to get down from Dee and Dennis’ bitterness, go on a trip through their own childhood to recapture the experience of a Christmas morning. Mac’s childhood involved going into their neighbor’s house and opening their Christmas gifts (because everyone did this according to Mac). Charlie’s Christmas day was filled with many Santas ‘bringing’ his mom Christmas gifts (think about that one). What started innocent turns into terribleness as both guys realize they have been wronged at Christmas and want to make it up somehow by giving. Switching gears, Dee and Dennis have horrible experiences with Frank that stem from him not giving Christmas presents to them, but rather buying their Christmas presents for himself. To get back at him, Dee and Dennis propose to find his old business partner and staging ‘A Christmas Carol’ like story in hopes of convincing Frank that he has been wronging them.
So, where to begin? The story isn’t terrible in pieces; it’s just badly thrown together. Generally, this show keeps on track with its storylines. For some reason this Christmas special didn’t hit the mark. Instead of some raw comedy with some cheap tricks on the side, it was cheap tricks leading it all with some comedy to boot. For example, Dee and Dennis take Frank back to his old real estate office to see if anyone is bitter at him for what he did in the past. Instead of hiding back in the shadows, Danny DeVito hides in the couch…. butt-naked. If you can visualize a naked DeVito emerging from a couch like a large woman giving birth to the ugliest child in the world, you get the picture. The camera gets about everything on DeVito’s sweaty, naked body and doesn’t apologize. It is quite possibly one of the most hideous scenes I’ve had the displeasure of watching. It’s cheap tricks with little comedic value. Another example of this is when Charlie realizes that his mother has been ‘boinging’ Santas on Christmas morning. Charlie, while in the mall with Mac, goes nuts on a Santa and ends up screaming over and over again, “Did you (bleep) my mother!?” Yep, he uses that word. He then proceeds to bite off a chunk of Santa’s neck. Again, this type of comedy only produces cheap moments that have no reflection of the original concept for the show.
So, who should be blamed for this?
The blame goes two directions, the writers and the director. The writers seemed to be all over the place with this story. You have five storylines going on at once. For a 30-minute show that’s tough to juggle coherently. Too many storylines that didn’t equal out to anything solid equal the need for cheap comedic moments. Shame on the writers of the show for letting this happen; the boys are better than this. The second issue here is the director, Fred Savage. Savage should probably reevaluate what he considers funny because this isn’t too funny. Having directed nearly 20+ episodes of the show, Savage understands what needs to be done and just doesn’t do it.
This is truly the first time I’ve been disappointed with this show.
Shifting gears, the blu-ray version of this show isn’t bad in visuals and audio. I’ve certainly seen much better HD with less blur, but that’s not really my issue. The blu-ray sports some good quality audio and video. It’s not exactly beautiful on a 1080p set, but it does the trick.
My big problem here with this is that it’s a 30-minute show with almost no solid special features. If I was a hardcore fan of the show I’m not sure I would pay $29.99 for a blu-ray that is only 30-minutes long. This special should have been at least one hour for the price point. To boot, here is a list of the show’s features:
– Young Charlie & Young Mac Deleted Scenes
– Behind-the-Scenes Making of Featurette
– Sunny Sing-A-Long
The deleted scenes are mildly amusing, while the featurette leaves a sense of false hope. I’ve rarely walked away from a ‘behind the scenes’ featurette feeling like the creators missed the mark. Savage clearly wanted this to work, the show that is, and it just didn’t live up to expectations. As for the Sunny Sing-A-Long…. there are no words for it.
