My best friend doesn't like The Simpsons. Sure, he gets irony and razorsharp politically winded satire, not to mention skateboard gags and vile old billionaires. He just can't buy into the bright yellow crudely drawn characters, and that makes me profoundly sad. Because he is -- as perhaps some of you may be -- missing out on the single greatest pop culture phenomenon of our generation. (Actually, at 18 years and counting, we ought to include the previous and next generations.)
And just because you want Disney'd prettiness? Doh!
The Simpsons is not merely a very funny show, it's a timeless ochre mirror to America, to movies and television, to our life and times, to family and relationships... And a glorious, idyllic celebration of all that gets in the way of perfection. Yes, it's the greatest television show ever made -- so what if the last few seasons have struggled somewhat?
Here's where the yellow empire strikes back. Six years in the making, The Simpsons Movie could have been an epic bash, a mega sendoff for the residents of Springfield. Matt Groening's creations, however, aren't used to gearing up for the big time. And thus The Movie unbuttons its jeans, exhales to let out the beer gut, scratches itself and reaches for a cold can of Duff beer. This film is an underachiever, and that's precisely how we like our Simpsons.
Therefore, The Simpsons Movie, while possessing a coherent disaster movie plot, isn't anything more than a big-screen, 87-minute version of the inimitable Springfield circus. It could well have been a luxuriously animated TV special, so seamlessly does it fit into the slothful nothing-ever-changes feeling that envelops the show, making it comfortably reliable. And because it doesn't try to aim too high at brilliance, it gets there -- with stunning consistency. The writing is acres ahead of anything else out there.
The hallmark of the Simpsons humour has been its offhandedly spectacular nature. A Stanley Kubrick reference would share space with a Republican jibe, and off-center Homer Simpson would be hit in the groin with a football. You laugh at all three, and rewatch reruns to pick up four and five, the subversive gags you missed the first two times.
Why haven't we really talked about The Movie at all yet? Because everything, my friend, can be called a spoiler. Every little thing they do is magic, and I'm stifling a massive grin as I force myself to not give a single moment away. You deserve not to know.
The film is a marvel, a laugh riot that sneaks up on you, like little Maggie, and you can't resist. Sitting there in the dark as Green Day plays Danny Elfman's iconic theme, and being part of a real-life laugh track while watching Marge and Bart argue, way larger than life, is a surreal trip. It's the ride we never thought we'd have, and it stays marvellously true to form.
Over the years, even the most minor of Springfield's citizens -- Disco Stu, Moleman -- have established an identity for themselves, and the film includes them all, while wisely electing not to give each of them individual screentime. It makes for a mammoth population, and enough remains unseen to keep us hooked, while it's assured that each of us would want more of our particular favourites. The film steers clear of the guess-who glut caused by too many celebrity voice cameos in recent seasons -- though I could really have done with some Sideshow Bob.
Images: Meet the Springfield gang
Of course, the gang lampoons everybody. Right-wing politics, Bono, religion, movie stars, the FBI, censorship, old episode goofs, advertising, and the FOX network -- why, Homer even wags a finger directly, and accurately, at us. Oo-er.
Which brings us to our big, yellow, All-American leading man. We've seen Homer Simpson grow -- from a big doofus to a struggling father to an astronaut to a hero -- but god bless the lug, he remains the dimwitted, selfish everyman we can't do without. Calling him fictional seems almost unfair, a little bit of the doughnut-loving Homer resonating across each of us. He's a jerk, but never malicious; an ignoramus, but he tries. He's developed into a severely layered and textured character, arguably literature's best protagonist of the twentieth century.
A salute then to the voices. To Dan Castellanata, whose repertoire includes Homer, Krusty and Mayor Quimby; Julie Kavner, who does Marge; Nancy Cartwright, who does Bart, Nelson and Ralph; Yeardley Smith, for her Lisa; Harry Shearer, who does Mr Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner; and Hank Azaria, for Apu, Chief Wiggum and Comic Book Guy. They have endured, and like the show's many writers, are responsible for the insanely great town we'd all want to live in, and loathe. Springfield, we'd gladly chomp on your collective shorts.
What's actually in the movie? Pretty much everything, but I'm not giving a single line away.
Director David Silverman ensures the gags come in neatly, two-packed where there's room for one, and while connoisseurs will rightfully say that the film doesn't match some of the show's highest points, there's really nothing to complain about if a movie makes you spill your popcorn laughing. Big belly-laughs, people, and throughout the film. It's insane, life-affirming, racy, romantic and delightfully un-pc. And it leaves you wanting more, urging you to revisit classic episodes and hunt for a Spiderpig t-shirt.
All I will say is: sit through the credits to the very end, and Maggie's likely to make you ecstatic.
As Homer would say: Best movie of the year... so far.
Rediff Rating:
