Simon Pegg, the inexorable decline
Discussion
Just seen 'How to lose friends and alienate people'.
Good grief it was bad. And then it struck me if you were to graph Simon Pegg's main TV and film work over the last decade in terms of quality, its pretty much a straight downward line.
Big train -Worked with some emerging comedy quality, Mark Heap, Kevin Eldon etc. Patchy but fresh.
Spaced -Brilliant stuff, 2 great series, one of the comedies of the decade.
Shaun of the Dead -Pretty good but didn't deserve the hype and was starting to go for obvious laughs. Clever, knowing film references don't make a comedy significantly funnier.
Hot Fuzz -Personally, I thought this lurched into Vicar of Dibley mundane cat piss too often. Same as above with the references.
Run Fat Boy Run. -Starting to go downhill quickly although the odd laugh here and there. Seemingly the film makers (and possibly the man himself) were thinking that it was Pegg who was funny rather than the script and the set pieces.
'How to lose friends and alienate people' -Jesus this was confused, 'lite', nonsense. If the film makers thought that Hollywood needed a British Adam Sandler, they were wrong. They didn't really need an American one in the first place. Did Pegg not see the irony? Determined englishman goes to America to enter the celebrity world, gives in to safe 'kiss-ass' media culture and becomes shallower and more superficial as a result.
What next Simon? Kindergarten Cop remake?
Good grief it was bad. And then it struck me if you were to graph Simon Pegg's main TV and film work over the last decade in terms of quality, its pretty much a straight downward line.
Big train -Worked with some emerging comedy quality, Mark Heap, Kevin Eldon etc. Patchy but fresh.
Spaced -Brilliant stuff, 2 great series, one of the comedies of the decade.
Shaun of the Dead -Pretty good but didn't deserve the hype and was starting to go for obvious laughs. Clever, knowing film references don't make a comedy significantly funnier.
Hot Fuzz -Personally, I thought this lurched into Vicar of Dibley mundane cat piss too often. Same as above with the references.
Run Fat Boy Run. -Starting to go downhill quickly although the odd laugh here and there. Seemingly the film makers (and possibly the man himself) were thinking that it was Pegg who was funny rather than the script and the set pieces.
'How to lose friends and alienate people' -Jesus this was confused, 'lite', nonsense. If the film makers thought that Hollywood needed a British Adam Sandler, they were wrong. They didn't really need an American one in the first place. Did Pegg not see the irony? Determined englishman goes to America to enter the celebrity world, gives in to safe 'kiss-ass' media culture and becomes shallower and more superficial as a result.
What next Simon? Kindergarten Cop remake?
Edited by captainzep on Friday 19th June 09:24
ked it all up. The book was great, the film was bloody terrible! Spaced: Brilliant.
Shaun of the Dead: Good but overrated.
Hot Fuzz: Oh dear. Awful.
Run Fat Boy: Not Great but better than expected.
How to Lose Friends: Possibly the worst film I have ever watched.
So, to recap, he hasn't done anything great since he stopped writing with Jessica Stevenson, who may well have been the brains behind Spaced.
Shaun of the Dead: Good but overrated.
Hot Fuzz: Oh dear. Awful.
Run Fat Boy: Not Great but better than expected.
How to Lose Friends: Possibly the worst film I have ever watched.
So, to recap, he hasn't done anything great since he stopped writing with Jessica Stevenson, who may well have been the brains behind Spaced.
Shaun of the dead good, subsequently Hot fuzz very very bad. it was way to bloated and it was almost as if they wanted to pack every single idea they have ever had, or ever wanted to act out into one film, and the fact that shaun of the dead was good enabled them the licence to do it, nobody has made the mistake since really.
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