Saturday, June 7, 2008

Spaced


(Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes, 1999, 2001)

Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, (two of my absolute favorites) priorly teamed up (with many other wonderful comedians) to make a sitcom about life in London at the millennial turn under the influence of American culture. The show begins with Simon Pegg and co-writing co-star Jessica Hynes pretending to be a couple in order to obtain a flat. This isn't a huge part of the show, as only their landlady is duped into believing them. Instead, the rest of the series revolves around the outlandish characters and their outrageous misadventures.

This is the funniest show I have ever seen. The humor is brilliant and the timing is perfect. No cheap shots. No clichés. And what I love about the Pegg/Frost/Wright Entente is that their projects aren't just a lot of stupidity thrown together, but always offer positive, redemptive themes. In this sitcom, I think its generally as simple as all the friends looking out for each other. Spaced is now my favorite television show.

An American remake pilot was recently filmed, but was quickly shot down by Fox! Hip-hip! Hurray! Spaced releases on [Region 1] DVD this summer (July 23). Finally. In the meantime, if you want to check it out... well, if all else fails, YouTube has all fourteen episodes.
5/5 stars

Above: You and I, splitting up, looking for survivors, and getting out of Raccoon City.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

AMEN, brother. I'm glad you appreciate it as much as you do, because it is pure brilliance. And, I am glad you found it. When you're down, just watch Tim, Daisy, Mike, Brian, Marcia, and Twist, and you're sure to be happy again! :)

Uncle Jim said...

Also Tyres. His crosswalk grooves teach me how I ought to live my life.

Anonymous said...

Of course Tyres. If you look closely in Shaun of the Dead you can see a zombie Tyres grooving his way across the crowd.