A few months ago, I was reading a review of Miley Cyrus' film The Last Song. The reviewer noted that the movie overall was pretty bad, but that Miley has a flair for broad comedy, or something along those lines. I'm paraphrasing, because I cannot for the life of me find that web page again. If it even was on the internet.
So because I'm interested in girls doing comedy and being genuinely funny at it, I wanted to see her in action.
I'm going to digress here because this is something I wanted to talk about, since most girls in most comedy movies just aren't funny. In terms of romantic comedies, Sandra Bullock was only funny in While You Were Sleeping, and Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson, and Katherine Heigel in none of the ones that I've seen. Maybe it's the writers, since I've noticed that rarely does a female character in a chick flick have any good lines or any kind of comedic dominance over any situation they're placed in; maybe they're just not funny.
Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow in Friends weren't bad. My personal jury's still out on Jennifer Aniston. She seems like she has just enough comic timing to make a funny line work, but somehow she doesn't have the extra zazz or whatever that gets the really big laughs. Maybe I'm missing something--after all she has a lot of fans. But it's like the women in the movies I mentioned above: they all seem to be able to deliver a line well, but then you look back and realise, "Hey, that scene was actually meant to be funny, not just have some flow to it."
Moving on, Melissa McCarthy is one of my favourite comedy actresses. She had nearly no good lines in Mike and Molly--but in Bridesmaids (coincidentally written by a woman) she is a force to be reckoned with. She is funny. (If we're talking Mike and Molly, we're only going to talk about Katy Mixon, the stoner sister of Melissa McCarthy's character. I really sincerely wish she had her own show.) Every single lead actress in the BBC Coupling is funny. Raven Symone is funny. Kaley Cuoco can normally hold her own in The Big Bang Theory, especially in scenes with Jim Parsons, but Sara Gilbert, who played Leslie Winkle was far and away my favourite.
I'd also like to add that yesterday I saw some of Margaret Cho's standup comedy. She too is hilarious and deserves every fan she's got, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go down that rabbit hole. Um... no pun intended.
Reading over what I just wrote, TV seems to be holding up better in the comedy stakes. Perhaps it's because shows are so dependent on ratings that they really have to get their casting choices right, whilst not being as dependent on star power as movies seem to be.
Anyway. I need to wrap this laundry list up. Back to Miley Cyrus.
I thought, I have to check this out. So I first of went to Google to get an idea of what I should watch (Season 2 seemed to be the most recommended), and then went and secretly borrowed the correct Hannah Montana DVDs from a certain younger relative of mine.
Took me a while to get around to them, but tonight I couldn't sleep. 'Twas the perfect time to watch 'em.
And so, Reader, I watched them. And, Reader? Miley Cyrus is funny. Emily Osment is funny (possibly funnier). Those two girls who play Amber and Ashley are funny.
Yes, they all overact at times, and Miley sometimes shouts her lines or delivers the serious lines in a tone that screams so loudly "I'm Sincere!" that it feels fake--but. She is still learning. She has enough charisma to make up for these shortcomings. She's not afraid to look really, really stupid. And what's more, she doesn't just have enough ability to time her lines well and get from A to B respectably--she adds funny on her own through facial expressions, voice and stance. Pretty much any technique or body part she can use to add some funny? She uses it. Give her the right lines and Miley Cyrus nails them consistently, because Miley Cyrus is a genuinely funny person, and if she sticks with this kind of thing, she will end up being very good at what she does. She's already doing amazingly well.
I was never a fan. I was even a bit of a hater not so long ago ago (because it's Hannah freaking Montana, and it used to be cool to groan about it, much as it has been more recently to groan about Justin Beiber. Ahh, peer pressure), but I'm ready to take it back. And, well, she's adorable. I know, I know, it's not like she's six.
Hannah Montana as a show has a fair amount of other redeeming factors beyond Miley--among them, Jason Earles and Billy Ray Cyrus (even Mitchel Musso and Moses Arias have their moments), talented guest stars, some stand-out minor characters, humorous song snippets, and the writing. The plots are average at best and ludicrous at worst; the structure of the show allows for little creativity and no fantastic A and B plot collisions--but the jokes for the most part remain genuinely funny (and get a few parental bonuses in too, if you're paying attention. And... I kinda was). It's far, far more than you'd expect to get from a sickeningly plastic Disney package deal--and far, far better than a lot of shows I've seen. I've heard things about Seasons 3 and 4 that mean I'm staying away, however.
So. Yeah. Add another item to the list of very guilty pleasures, cause I'm not sure I'm ready to give those DVDs back just yet.
It's a very smart move on my part to tell the internet about it almost immediately.
5 comments: