Movie Review: Strangers with Candy

Before I begin the review, I must note that I've never seen the original tv show nor did I even know there WAS a tv show.

Strangers With Candy...how can I describe this bizarro movie? Well let me start by saying it's got Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert, the two people everyone should have in your life.


The gist is a super odd nutty ex-convict returns home only to find her mom died, her dad remarried, he's in a coma, her stepmother has the family butcher over for dinner all the time. Her dad's doctor suggests that if Jerry (Amy Sedaris) can un-do her years of crime/suffering then her dad will awake from his coma.

She goes back to high school and decides that if she can win the science fair, she can get her dad out of his coma.

I can't begin to explain how hard I laughed during this movie. I mean, I actually FRIGHTENED myself with how much I laughed. Then again, that was the first half...the second half, Kraig and Chris came home and that sorta ruined my comedy mojo.

There's alot of little hidden jokes in this movie...during one scene with kids in a science class, I realize in the way back corner of the wall the teacher (religious nut Chuck Noblet played by Stephen Colbert) is the periodic table of the elements re-arranged to form a cross. LOVE IT!

Plus this line alone had tears pouring down my face:
Geoffrey Jellineck: You pushed me away!
Chuck Noblet: I wasn't pushing you away, I was pulling me toward myself.

If you have an effed up sense of humor, you will absolutely adore this movie. Then again, since I didn't know anything about it my standards were pretty low, but for a clearly low-budget movie, it was brilliant.

The cast is pretty tightly linked...Amy Sedaris was on Sex and the City, as was obviously Sarah Jessica Parker, who's married to Matthew Broderick...Kristin Johnston also played a small role on Sex and the City...

The true gem of the movie is Principal Blackman. I have no idea who the actor is, but he does a phenomenal job.
Principal Blackman: Why would I doctor the books to improve the overall test scores of the student body just so I could collect bonus funds from the state which I willfully misappropriated in order to pay off large gambling debts? It just doesn't add up!

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!