Movie: Jiminy Glick in LaLaWood (2005)

The Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Martin Short is currently on Broadway in a one-man show (featuring a full cast of six). The odds are increasingly likely that I won’t be attending either one. (Although I will be in New York soon ...) To mark both occasions, I watched a Martin Short movie set at the festival.

Jiminy Glick is a self-absorbed, ill-informed celebrity interviewer – where do they come up with these characters? – played by Short in a fat suit. Jiminy briefly had his own Comedy Central series, which I liked. The plot of his first (and, let’s be honest, only) movie is a rehash of the Johnny Stompanato/Lana Turner murder case as conceived by director David Lynch (Short again, in a terrific impersonation), unfolding largely in a hotel straight out of Barton Fink.

I know this film isn’t that funny, and with government funding I’m sure I could prove it empirically. But as a movie buff and a show biz fanatic, I laughed all the way through it. It plays like something my subconscious dreamed up while I was busy watching baseball.

Miscellaneous: Am I Ready For Some Football?

Speaking of sports: is it me, or was NBC about a beat behind when returning from commercial in tonight’s Thursday debut of Sunday Night Football? They better have their cues straightened out in time for this week’s Manning-a-Manning showdown.

In the meantime, here’s the Sports Guy’s NFL preview. If this doesn’t prime you for the season, nothing will.