TV’s funniest family… now with popcorn!
“Why should we pay for something that we can watch on television for free?” asks Homer Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) while watching an Itchy & Scratchy movie. He then turns in his seat and points directly at us calling us all suckers for buying tickets. We’re just a few minutes into The Simpsons Movie and the number one misgiving we’ve all had about being here has not only been addressed; it’s been turned into a punchline. And it works. The audience guffaws reassured that the next 87 minutes of our lives are in good hands. We’re lucky to even be here. If the TV show had ended after season six the movie might have been some kind of monstrous live action/CGI hybrid made by people completely unconnected to the original show; a soulless cash-in on our nostalgia along the lines of Scooby-Doo (2002) Inspector Gadget (1999) or The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000). In fact the screening I attended was preceded by a trailer for an upcoming Alvin and the Chipmunks movie in which the only featured joke involved a CGI chipmunk eating a pellet of excrement. Thank goodness that The Simpsons Movie is produced by people who know what the hell they’re doing. The classic formula hasn’t changed much; just enough to make it into a feature film. That’s really all we need. Here the town of Springfield gets declared “the most polluted city in America” by the EPA and gets sealed inside a giant plastic dome in order to protect everybody else from its filth. The show’s vast back-catalog of supporting characters is nudged to the sidelines allowing the story to wisely focus on Homer Marge Bart and Lisa. If you haven’t seen the show in a while you won’t have any problems keeping up. The lengthened running time hurts the show not a bit since The Simpsons has always been about witty writing something this screenplay has in abundance. Pedants may grumble that the hit/miss ratio of the gags might not match the TV show at its peak but it’s still head and shoulders above most theatrical comedies out there. Albert Brooks is particularly inspired as the EPA chief who goes mad with power. (“Y’ever try going mad without power? It doesn’t work! Nobody listens to you!”) Quoting the Simpsons has become a global pastime and there are lines here that you’ll be repeating to your friends immediately. If you’re determined not to see this movie be prepared to hear people repeating Simpsons lines at the water cooler over and over until you finally relent and buy a ticket. I give it about a week. The TV show The Simpsons has some of the cleverest writing ever to appear on television. It’s also been on the air for a full 18 seasons causing interest in the ground-breaking series to flag even among enthusiasts. Now the movie has to compete with two decades worth of classic material while trying to win the enthusiasm of an audience that has begun to take the show for granted. Against all odds the finished film is a joy to behold. This might just be the funniest movie of the summer and in light of Judd Apatow’s outstanding Knocked Up that’s one hell of an achievement.
