The Screengrab : school of rock

Mike White's Amazing Race

Andrew Osborne — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:00:00 GMT

I’ve been a fan of Mike White since his peculiar and memorable performance as a possibly sweet but potentially scary BFF stalker in the peculiar and memorable indie Chuck & Buck. In fact, I remember encountering him in an elevator at the Sunset 5/Virgin Megastore complex in West Hollywood around the time of the film’s release. I didn’t say anything about his awkwardly funny, fidgety performance at the time because I didn’t want to bother him...but Mike, if you’re reading this now, nice job! And good luck on The Amazing Race!

Yes, that’s right...for those of you outside the reality show loop, Mike White, whose acting and/or writing credits include Freaks & Geeks, Year of the Dog and School of Rock (in which he played Sarah Silverman’s pussy-whipped boyfriend, Ned Schneebly), kicked off the first leg of the fourteenth season of the globe-trotting, Emmy-hogging CBS game show last night, partnered with his father Mel.

Mel White is a pretty interesting cat in his own right, as it turns out. Like many Christians (especially of the evangelical variety), he spent years denying his homosexuality, attempting to “cure” it with everything from prayer and psychotherapy to exorcism and electroshock therapy. Unlike the Larry Craigs of the world, however, Mel eventually just admitted, “Yep, I’m gay,” and switched from ghostwriting books for Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson to authoring his own autobiography, Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay And Christian In America. Anyway, Mel and Mike have now joined eleven other teams in a race around the world, competing against familiar Race archetypes like the ditzy blondes determined to prove they’re not ditzy, the dating couple with rage issues and the muscular dwarf stuntman brothers (although, to be honest, the dwarves they’ve had on the show in the past weren’t technically stuntmen...they just fell down a lot).

Like the other racers, Mel & Mike set off from a military base in Los Alamedos, California and proceeded by plane, train and automobile to Switzerland, where they faced challenges like bungee-jumping off a dam and hauling gigantic wheels of Swiss cheese down slippery slopes whilst being relentlessly mocked by mustachioed men in leiderhosen before eventually arriving at the pit stop in the top half of the pack with a respectable fourth place finish.

The Screengrab will continue to provide periodic updates on Mel & Mike’s progress for the rest of the season...but our money’s on the dwarves.

How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm Once They've Seen Karl Hungus?

Leonard Pierce — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Hey, New Yorkers! For those of you to whom the Coen Brothers comedy classic The Big Lebowski is more a lifestyle than a movie, LebowskiFest is coming to your town this weekend. Sure, it's the ultimate celebration of Los Angeles, but that doesn't mean you can't still have a good time. This is the seventh year the slackmeisters behind LebowskiFest have thrown their weekend tribute to all things Dude-ish, and a White-Russian-swilling, Brunswick-pin-crashing good time is guaranteed for all.

According to the official LebowskiFest website, LFNY08 will be held in Manhattan at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza (for the movie party on the 15th) and Lucky Strike Lanes (for the bowling party on the 16th). Your $20 gets you a concert by CCR tribute act Creedence Clearwater Revival Revival and heavy metal Bee Gees cover band Tragedy; an interpretation of Marty's dance cycle by Paul Green, the man who inspired School of Rock; and, of course, a screening of The Big Lebowski. The bowling party is sold out, but there will be a few tickets released at the door for lanes, costume contests, trivea, and other amusements as well as the after-party at Beauty Bar on East 14th Street.

Anyone wondering if it's worth twenty bucks to hang around with a bunch of wise-ass film geeks watching a hair metal band sing "Stayin' Alive", I can only offer my personal testimony that my visit to LebowskiFest Chicago was one of the most fun times I've ever had with a Caucasian, and I still treasure my "A Natural, Zesty Enterprise" t-shirt.

Related Posts:

It's a Lebowski World, We Just Abide In It

The Dude Abides: Ten Years of Lebowski

Morning Deal Report: “School of Rock” Rolls Again

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Hellboy II: The Golden Army raised hell at the box office over the weekend, taking in an estimated $35.9 million. The public’s appetite for digitally rendered Brendan Fraser proved larger than I would have guessed as Journey to the Center of the Earth garnered $20.6 million, good for third place behind Hancock in its second weekend. Eddie Murphy made Mike Myers feel better about things as Meet Dave crashed and burned with only $5.3 million, one of the worst opening weekends in the history of the Murphyverse.

Richard Linklater should really have better things to do than a sequel to School of Rock, shouldn’t he? (I won’t even suggest that screenwriter Mike White does.) Nevertheless, the director is attached to School of Rock 2: America Rocks, as is original star Jack Black as rockin’ substitute teacher Dewey Finn. Variety reports that White’s screenplay “picks up with Finn leading a group of summer school students on a cross-country field trip that delves into the history of rock 'n' roll and explores the roots of blues, rap, country and other genres.” Could be worse, I guess. Linklater could be remaking The Bad News Bears Go to Japan.

In even less surprising news, Jon Heder will play “a Napoleon Dynamite-like oddball who becomes contaminated with a substance that gives him what might arguably be considered superpowers” in Loudermilk, per the Hollywood Reporter. The comedy was pitched to Universal by Heder and his brother Doug, and will be rewritten and directed by Craig Zobel (Great World of Sound). In the funniest sentence I’ve read this morning, Doug Heder proclaims, “Loudermilk is definitely intended to set the tone for Greasy Entertainment.”

Related:
Hellboy: The Letting Go
Eddie Murphy Exhumes "Beverly Hills Cop"

Trailer Review: The Rocker

Paul Clark — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:00:00 GMT

This summer looks to bring the release of a number of high-quality comedies. But judging by the trailer, The Rocker probably won’t be one of them. Admittedly, Rainn Wilson’s snarky-doofus persona doesn’t lend itself easily to leading man roles in the same way as, say, Jack Black. But still, wouldn’t Wilson’s Office popularity lead one to expect better than a shabby mashup of School of Rock and Drillbit Taylor? Worst of all, it’s just not funny, which is pretty surprising considering how easy a target heavy metal makes itself (the flashback sequence here is especially dire). Looking up the movie on IMDb, I was a little surprised to find it was directed by Peter Cattaneo of Full Monty fame- admittedly not a wonderfully-made film, but nonetheless a very funny one. Cattaneo hasn’t done much of note in the past decade, and from the looks of this trailer, that streak won’t be ending this year.