This is my first Harold Lloyd movie. I tend to think of him as the 98 Degrees to Buster Keaton’s Backstreet Boys and Charlie Chaplin’s NSYNC. He’s never been a priority. I’ve mostly enjoyed the Keaton and Chaplin films though, so I figured it was time to finally check Lloyd out. And, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this. It turns out, the more accurate comparison is something like The Kinks (Lloyd) to the Beatles (Keaton) and Rolling Stones (Chaplin).
My very amateur assessment is this. Chaplin is the auteur. He sought to make movies that were bigger than his physical comedy. Keaton is the most daring. His films are much simpler but he has more “Oh my god” moments. Lloyd is the subversive one. His stunts and physical comedy are fine, but what sets The Freshman apart is its wry, sometimes even sarcastic sense of humor. There are so many jokes about college being something for athletes to do in between games that could be written of college still. I wasn’t used to a movie from this era so savagely making fun of its central topic. There’s even a little Forrest Gump to the movie in the way that Lloyd’s character keeps getting shit on by people without realizing it until he’s indefatigable spirit wins them over. This is a thoroughly pleasant movie. It’s nothing special cinematically, and I’m ok with that.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment