Strangers with Candy

Strangers with Candy ***1/2

I loved "Strangers with Candy" beyond all reckoning, and it came at a perfect time too, because I was in a bitter mood when I sat down, and I left with the biggest grin on my face. Not a grin to look at the wonders of life, such as the grin I had when I left "A Prairie Home Companion," but the kind of grin that you have when you just saw something so damn funny you can’t stop thinking about it. It’s based on a television show, and the beauty is that I’ve never even seen the show to compare. It works on its own, and it’s much better than Comedy Centrals last television movie, "Jiminy Glick is La La Wood, which I do sometimes stick up for.

"Strangers with Candy" stars Amy Sederis as Jerri Blanc, a forty something year old ex-stripper/junkie, who just got out of prison after 37 years. She goes back to her home to learn that her mother has died, and her father remarried and they had a son. However, her father slipped into a coma as a result of the sadness and misfortune that fell upon the family. When Jerri comes back and gives her comatose father a hug, he moves slightly, giving the doctor hope that he can get out of it. The doctor tells Jerri that she should try and remind her sleeping father of the happiness that they once had. She comes up with the idea of picking up her life where it left off, and she makes the return to high school. She’s automatically cast out by the popular girls, but makes friends with the Indonesian student and the cute nerdish girl. However, the school is having a bit of trouble. Principal Blackman(who is actually a black man) needs to prove to the school board(with a cameo by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Allison Janney) that the students in the school are exceptional, and that the school deserves to get more funding. The opportunity to help the school comes in the form of the science fair. Principal Blackman hires a nine time science fair winner(and cameo by Matthew Broderick) to help win the fair. When he hires Jeffery, the school’s art teacher, to be his right hand man, it doesn’t sit well with the science teacher, who just broke off his affair with him. So, the science teacher organizes his own group of students to win the science fair, with consists of Jerri and her two best friends. And they form a group called the Fig Neutrons, and set out to win the science fair, so Jerri’s dad can come out of her coma.

Sure, it’s silly, but it’s a lot of fun, and some parts really were genius. And it most certainly has a hell of a lot of lines that could be quoted anytime. It’s good to see on the big screen, because the directors pay very careful attention of small detail. There could be a sign or a poster in the back that is funnier than whatever the characters are talking about. One thing I loved was that there were photos of Principal Blackman all over the school. I think at one point there was a statue of him on a file cabinet. Steven Colbert is here as the science teachers, and while I don’t normally find him funny, his persona was classic. He’s much better here than he was in "The Great New Wonderful," that’s for sure. I have to recommend "Strangers with Candy" because it really is a fine comedy. I know that some might be shocked at the high rating. . . hell, I almost gave it four stars, but it’s really funny and really smart. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and you shouldn’t either.