Simpsons Movie a hoot

In a fit of unusual spontaneity, my darling curled spouse, our dear friend Woody and I left the kitchen table to attempt to make the opening night (last night) of the Simpson’s Movie. We headed to a smaller town and a slightly run-down theater and found, unlike the bigger town and the megaplex, we could sit together without dodging hordes.

The movie was, in a word: brilliant. In several others, bitingly satirical, hilarious, slightly self-referential (a delight to those of us who have actually followed plotlines for the last 18 years), and fun. The pace was dazzlingly fast; no joke was beaten to death or chewed up for the viewer because as soon as any gag or snark was unveiled, on went the storyline, leaving you barely enough time to recover before the next joke arrived. We found that the many bodily-function themed jokes sailed right into the giggle centers of the under 12 crowd, the dating awkwardness of Lisa had the teenagers howling and the crackling finger pointing of satire of this country’s sometimes, er, inept, corrupt and asinine leadership had the grownups plain old cracking up. My usual test for how well a movie works for me is how often I find I experience an awareness of myself sitting in the theater; at this film, I was entirely immersed and wholly entertained. I loved it. And at 8 bucks, it’s worth every penny.

I can’t wait to get my hand on a copy of the DVD because in usual Simpson’s fashion, a tremendous amount of activity happened just peripheral to the main action. Finding out what I missed will be such fun.

Go see this!