Of course you’ve seen this gal. Janeane tries hard, real hard, and that makes her one one those love her or hate her types. She is an actress, a comedian, and an activist. Janeane was born in Newton, New Jersey and is of Italian and Irish descent, and did I mention she’s an activist?
After winning a comedy talent search contest, then working her butt off for years, Garofalo came into the limelight along with a cast of friends and colleagues that included Ben Stiller, Andy Dick, David Cross, and Bob Odenkirk. Basically the cast of The Ben Stiller Show. She then went on to even bigger things, like being an SNL cast member for a season.
She’s still relevant because Blender magazine says so. Hey Blender…if I have to write ‘magazine’ after your title then maybe you are not big enough to proclaim who is still ‘around’ or not. Moby actually used to subscribe to Blender, and I enjoyed it as I recall, so maybe they’re not so bad.
To be honest, this is a hard one to write for Moby; I really like the movies below but wish Janeane was not such an in-your-face type. I try to write a ‘Happy Blog’, remember? So for those who expect something about politics to be said while talking about Janeane, I offer that pic to the right. About sums up our current political climate. Nya, nya, there I did it, you’re welcome. That’s a funny pic. Anyways…
It should do well enough to say that these two romantic comedies are rated ‘Fresh’ on RottenTomatoes, and they made their budgets back, making them commercial and critical successes.
Included this time is a third recommendation, way down there at the end of the post. Enjoy!
The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996)
This one was supposed to be an indie film, and then Uma Thurman signed on. Janeane plays the role of veterinarian Abby Barnes who hosts a radio show called The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Uma plays Noelle, the tall and beautiful model that lives next door. When a caller to the radio show named Brian (Ben Chaplin) takes a fancy to Abby’s persona and wishes to meet for a drink, Abby’s low self-esteem leads her to ask her new friend Noelle to be her for the meeting, to impersonate her…and the whole thing becomes a bit like Cyrano de Bergerac.
Brian’s about to discover the woman he loves isn’t the woman he loves.”
So Abby talks to Brian on the phone and they get to know each other, but when they actually meet in person Noelle is Abby. And whenever Brian does meet the real Abby, he know her as Donna. Why do us guys make this so hard and play games? Anyways…
The movie is a good romantic comedy that deals with age old questions about love and beauty. Abby is convinced that Brian could never love a short, rather normal and plain, snarky and self confident woman; Not when he has the option of someone like Noelle, the tall classic beauty who’s only flaws are non-physical.
Noelle starts falling for Brian because no one has ever treated her the way he does; for example when he buys her a gift, he buys her a book, something no one else has ever done.
And for some reason, whenever Noelle’s friend Donna is around, Brian finds himself intrigued by this short, cute woman with spunk. It’s complicated…and a good movie.
Guest starring in this one is Jamie Foxx.
Another romantic comedy starring Janeane. This one has her playing Marcy, an assistant to Senator John McGlory, a political hack from Boston fighting for his political life in a reelection campaign that is not going too well. In a desperate PR move, the Senator’s Chief of Staff (Dennis Leary) sends Marcy to Ireland to dig up some genealogy for the candidate, to find some Irish lineage for the schmuck. Apparently the good people of Boston will vote for you if your Irish, and this guy needs to get bonafide ASAP.
The most successful matchmaker in Ireland is about to hit a brick wall.”
The adventure lands Marcy in the small Irish town of Ballinagra, which translates into Irish as ‘Town of Love’, right at the start of a major matchmaking festival. While she has no interest in the festival or meeting her soulmate, two rival matchmakers, Dermot (Milo O’Shea) and Millie (Rosaleen Linehan), cannot resist trying to find a match for young and attractive female.
This is a good movie if your into Irish culture; the scenery is beautiful and the soundtrack is great too. Sure, there’s some cliched humor, but most of the comedy is situational and weaves well enough with the characters. It’s a cute little movie.
Recommended.
Honorable Mention: Mystery Men (1999)
Mystery Men was a real find when it came out, movies like this hardly ever get made. The greatest sin of the movie is that it is ‘clever’. Yeah, it does that thing where it sticks to the story in the original source (a Graphic Novel) and does not get ‘dumbed’ down for general audiences.
A lot of audiences did not ‘get’ the jokes, perhaps because they were not into superhero movies. Or perhaps it was the heaping helpings of irony, watching a group of ‘wannabe’ heroes getting their asses kicked while thinking they are gifted and special.
We’re not your classic heroes, we’re the other guys.”
At the movies start, you have characters who’s ‘powers’ range from throwing silverware and getting angry to using a shovel very well. Later, things do not much better for the group; sure, one guy can turn invisible, but what about the guy who’s power is shooting farts at the enemies? And not little silent but deadly ones, but real crop-dusters. Yes, you read that right.
Just trust Moby, if you like comedies and superhero movies, you need to watch Mystery Men at least once. Trust me.
Janeane is a goddess. Beautiful and super smart! Mystery Men is one of those astoundingly under-appreciated films (like Pitch Black or Legend). The ‘Invisible guy’ you will recall could only turn invisible when no one else was looking at him. And Tom Waits playing the crazy gadgeteer was priceless.
Movie was not terribly true to the comic book though but it was a great film in it’s own right and much better IMO than ‘Men in Black’ (which was also based on a Bob Burden comic I think).
Indeed, Mystery Men is ‘clever’ in a way many high-concept comic book movies are not.
It stays true to the initial reality it puts forth throughout the film, where most comic book movies seem to flow back and forth from comicbookland to the real world. Also the ending seemed contrived to those who were not paying attention, but all is explained in the dialog leading up to the climax. Delusion becomes reality…
A clever and original take on the superhero genre.
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