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I never saw Strangers With Candy, when it was on Comedy Central. Trolling the Video store one afternoon, I decided that I wanted to rent a comedy DVD. So I thought I'd check this one out.
Amy Sedaris (David Sedaris' sister), stars as Gerri Blank, a 46-year-old high school student. Seems that Gerri never got the chance to finish school when she was still a teen, due to her being a drug addict/prisoner. So, after being released from her lengthy prison-stint, Gerri decides to return to high school.
Gerri is also living at home with her catatonic father, surly younger brother, and antagonistic step-mother. Ridiculed by her classmates and teachers at school, Gerri's family doesn't treat her much better. Daily, Gerri struggles to win approval, while those around her consider her to be a pathetic specimen of humanity. She tries so hard to succeed both socially and academically, that the viewer can't help but root for Gerri.
The other characters in this show are a menagerie of off-beat, bizarre, people. Be forewarned, this is not a P.C. show. It regularly pokes fun at minorities, women, drug addiction, etc. It's all clearly done in a tongue-and-cheek way, though. This show is also laced with liberal amounts of vulgar language, and flagrant sexual innuendo. It's definitely not a G-rated sitcom.
Gerri conveys a child-like vulnerability, with her sorrowful, hang-dog face. Though she has quite a checkered past, Gerri is a kindly person at heart, who only wants to be accepted for who she is. That makes her only human after all. She reminds me of Louise Lasser's character in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Like Gerri, Mary Hartman was another child-woman, that's thoroughly bewildered by the world around her.
Strangers With Candy certainly doesn't take itself too seriously. Like Married, With Children, it deliberately pushes the proverbial envelope, as an absurd sitcom. And it works brilliantly.
score 10/10
sonya90028 17 October 2008
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1961967/ |
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25-10-2020 12:03:07