Movie Review: The Simpsons Movie
The Latest Film From Twentieth Century Fox
When in doubt, play to your strengths.
Matt Groening, James L. Brooks and the 9 other writers of The Simpsons Movie took this maxim to heart when developing Homer and his family’s silver screen debut. By essentially making this flick an extended TV episode, the writers of The Simpsons Movie adhered to the formula that has kept the television show a hit since 1989. They even used veteran Simpsons writers (not Conan O’Brien, though) to develop the script, and packed it with cameos from vintage characters like Bumblebee Guy and Dr. Nick Riviera.
Heck, they even keep the Gracie Films tag that runs at the end of every episode.
In the process, The Simpsons Movie raises a gigantic middle finger to anyone who thought this flick was going to be more than it really is. The writers even go so far as to insult the audience in the first five minutes, when Homer calls us “suckers” for watching something we “could see on TV for free.”
(Name another show that insults its audience and gets away with it. Can't think of anything? Keep thinking, I'm here all week. Try the veal.)
The plot of The Simpsons Movie will be familiar to anyone who has ever watched an episode of The Simpsons: trouble-prone patriarch Homer does something colossally stupid and then somehow wins back the love of his long-suffering wife Marge, anarchic Bart, over-achieving Lisa and baby Maggie.
This time it involves Springfield Lake, a popular dumping-ground for residents of the fictional burg. When environmentally conscious Lisa, in her presentation An Irritating Truth, convinces the town that one more load of waste will turn the lake into a toxic dump, the residents of Springfield devise an “idiot-proof” plan to save their environment.
However, they didn’t account for the idiocy of Homer Simpson. When his new pet pig keeps pooping everywhere, a desperate Homer dumps the manure into the lake, which causes the “tipping point” Lisa warned against. A thousand-eyed squirrel goes on a rampage, an irate President Schwarzenegger orders a Plexiglas dome placed over Springfield, and the entire town turns on Homer. Even his family is mad at him: Marge tapes a message over their wedding tape, Bart turns to Homer nemesis Ned Flanders for paternal advice, and Lisa falls for an environmentalist Irish boy.
Will Homer fall down, get beat up, hurt himself, and in the process somehow manage to save the day? Absolutely. Is this movie just an excuse to hurl joke after joke at the screen? Hugh betcha.
The best part about it is: it works. The flick takes expert aim at consumerism, corporate and governmental stupidity (a Big Brother-esque civil servant celebrates, “With all this technology, we finally found a fugitive!”), and even other animated movies. Walt Disney and parent company Twentieth Century Fox take more than a few hits. Some jokes work better than others, but the majority pull laughs and that’s all we really want from a comedy. It will take hard-core fans multiple viewings to catch all the gags in this flick, and they won’t mind doing so.
Yes, The Simpsons Movie is nothing new for anyone who follows the long-running television show. But when the formula is this funny, who cares?
Trailers appearing with The Simpsons Movie include Balls of Fury, Mr. Bean and Bee Movie.
