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The Simpsons Movie
Question: Love your column. I know you're not a movie critic, but what are your feelings on
The Simpsons Movie? I felt it was a welcome return to the "classic" era of the show, with rapid-fire jokes (only maybe one or two out of 100 missed the mark) mixed with clever sight gags, meta-references, and the raw emotion that has made the series "different" from other sitcoms and animated comedies. What did you think of the film?
Answer: A big rave from this corner, Steve. I was a little late getting to it, but was delighted to catch up with it a few days ago in an audience that included several supervised groups of kids (apparently on a Times Square field trip). They guffawed like little Bart Simpsons at the silly slapstick stuff (the naked skateboarding scene was a big hit), while I sometimes heard myself laughing out loud all by my lonesome at some of the subtler sight and sound gags. All in all, I thought it was a blast. I'm still smiling at some of the bits: everyone from the church running in a panic into Moe's while everyone from Moe's runs into the church, Homer bonding with the pig, and so on. I found myself wondering if the writers had been holding back on the TV show recently, saving some of their best material for this feature film. No matter either way. While I'm not sure
The Simpsons Movie was necessary, it did remind me how easy it is to take this modern classic for granted, given how long it's been on the air (and how spotty, inevitably, some episodes can be). And since you bring up the "raw emotion," I'll admit I got a little choked up when Homer played back the wedding video. I've always loved
The Simpsons, and am happy this grand-scale experiment appears to be a success.
