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August 09, 2007

The Simpsons Movie

Just good comfort food

By Tram

The Simpsons Movie is not a disappointment, nor is it a triumph. It is what it is: a nice air-conditioned outing to the local multiplex on a hot summer's night. I shelled out ten bucks to see the big onscreen adaptation of one of the longest running U.S. television series ever, and got what I received in return: some fine, enjoyable entertainment.

There are some wonderful moments in The Simpsons Movie (the film self-reflexively opens with Homer yawning about the uncalled for big screen treatment of the Itchy & Scratchy television series in the middle of a theater), but none that would ever compare to the brilliance displayed in Seasons 4, 5, 6, and 7. Political satire is well-evident but rife with predictability throughout its main storyline thread. Homer forgoes a long line at the town dumpster, and subsequently disposes his pet pig's waste in a nearby lake. Springfield becomes more polluted than ever before, replete with mutated three eyed-creatures and all. It is only a matter of time before the head of EPA successful convinces a clueless President Ah-nuld to impose a giant glass dome over the entire town. As much as I chuckled throughout the entire movie, the laughs were quite fast and easy - nowhere as razor-sharp as, say, Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's nod to the Three Mile Island incident or Mother Simpson's radical foray into a Weather Underground-esque movement during Homer's early childhood. You automatically laugh once the family friendly characters from Disney's Bambi, Cinderella, and Snow White set the mood for Homer and Marge's lovemaking session in the avalanche-ridden Alaskan cabin, but immediately forget about it when it's over. These references, as funny as they are, lie solely in the moment; they do not enhance the characters, setting, or any future or past episodes. They're pastiche in a very Quentin Tarantino-esque way: eager to please and wholly entertaining but not intended nor presented as much food-for-thought.

Film critic James Berardinelli remarked in his review that The Simpsons Movie is "more of a throwback than a throw-away." And while that is, indeed, true, and to a certain extent, a sigh of relief for longtime Simpsons fans like me who have grown weary of the endless parade of uninspired guest star voice appearances in recent years, The Simpsons Movie remains merely a good extended length feature film with familiar jokes of Homer's stupidity and incompetence as husband and father, Lisa's lovestruckness at any boy - within a ten feet span - who bothers to read a book, and Bart's love-hate relationship with Homer. Put it this way: The Simpsons Movie feels more like a comfort food entree than a full three-course meal.

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