On Tubi, I watched Nora Ephron's 1994 Christmas dark comedy Mixed Nuts, a remake of the 1982 French film Le Pere Noel est un ordure (Santa Claus is a Stinker), with a major ensemble cast led by Steve Martin, and featuring Madeleine Kahn, Rita Wilson, Anthony LaPaglia, Juliette Lewis, Robert Klein, Liev Schreiber, Adam Sandler, and smaller roles by Parker Posey and Jon Stewart as Rollerbladers, Garry Shandling as a landlord, veteran voice actress Christine Cavanaugh as a cop, Haley Joel Osment as a kid in one shot, Joely Fisher as Steve Martin's ex, and Steven Wright as a suicidal caller. The film was a big flop when it came out, especially coming after Nora Ephron's romantic comedy hits with writing When Harry Met Sally and directing Sleepless in Seattle, and coming out with a dark comedy centering around a suicide hotline operating on Christmas Eve, with a screwball comedy style to offset the bleak and dark comedy. I really liked it, for the great cast lineup and its mix of accepting the bleak and depressing and accepting it as part of life with good humor.
The film takes place over several hours on Christmas Eve, in a costal California town as Philip (Steve Martin) runs a suicide hotline business called LifeSavers, and Catherine and Mrs. Munchnik (Rita Wilson and Madeleine Kahn) are his coworkers. They run the business out of an apartment, and the landlord Stanley (Garry Shandling) is going to evict them due to unpaid back rent, giving them until Jan. 2nd to move out. Philip is trying to figure out how to get $5000 together to pay the rent, but his girlfriend dumps him, and their state funding got cut, so they hardly have any options. They answer calls from suicidal people (including a really funny and dark moment from Steven Wright), hoping to get more calls because the holiday season can make people feel more depressed and lonely, and try to prepare for the inevitable of losing their jobs. There is also a recurring fear of a local serial killer called the Seaside Strangler, which has a big payoff in the finale.
One of the callers is from Chris (Liev Schreiber), a transwoman trying to escape her mocking family by getting LifeSavers to reveal their address so she can come see them in person. Despite that now a trans actor would be cast in the role instead of a cis male actor, Schreiber delivers a sensitive and touching performance, and the role is played straight, no mocking, and aside from a brief moment of Philip misgendering her, nobody treats her in a disrespectful way, the characters are welcoming to her and don't reference her being trans in an othering way. She dances with Philip in a fun and playful scene, and is wooed by Adam Sandler (seemingly playing one of his SNL characters instead of talking in his real voice) playing the ukulele and singing a silly love song. So I do like that for a 1994 Hollywood comedy they had a nice and kind treatment of a trans character.
Felix (Anthony LaPaglia) and Gracie (Juliette Lewis) are a struggling couple expecting their first child, where Gracie runs a quirky little shop while Felix is an ex-con with difficulties staying straight, and they argue and get frustrated with each other, with her hitting him in the head with a fruitcake and him being concussed, having initially being brought to a veterinarian (Rob Reiner), then taking an overdose of dog tranquillizers and taken to the hospital.
Mrs. Munchnik (Madeleine Kahn, in one of her final film roles, preceding Nixon, A Bug's Life, and Judy Berlin) is uptight and sticks to the rules, not having much sympathy for Catherine's bleeding heart attitude towards the callers, and clashes with the neighbor Mr. Lobel (Robert Klein) over his dogs. She ends up stuck in a elevator for hours, calling for help, and has a fun moment singing along with a toy karaoke machine from presents she opened up.
A pre-fame Parker Posey and Jon Stewart pop up throughout the film as a Rollerblading couple trying to carry their Christmas tree home, only to have their tree destroyed twice by run-ins with the main characters.
It's a screwy comedy that tackles a lot of dark humor and bleakness with a empathetic understanding, especially when people can be more depressed and have suicidal ideation around the winter holidays, as the forced happiness and family togetherness to erase over blue feelings can make people feel even worse and more lonely. I do like that this film handles those issues with grace, contrasting a serious topic with silly screwball madcap humor, and the film has a great and talented cast to round out this story. I had heard of this film, but never knew what it was about until now, hearing it recommended on the Critically Acclaimed podcast for the episode "The Iron List #47: The Best Non-Traditional Christmas Movies Ever!", and I'm glad I checked it out, it's an interesting comedy.
No comments:
Post a Comment