TVSquad

(S33E06) Let me preface this entire review by saying that I've seen Juno multiple times and greatly enjoyed each viewing. I think Ellen Page is a talented actress and Juno would not have been as successful without her. I'm saying this because I'm worried that my review of this episode might make it look like I'm part of the online Juno backlash.

Man, this was a terrible episode. The writing was weak, but Page's awkward performance(s) didn't help the situation. I found myself almost instantly annoyed with Page's voice. "There's going to be another hour and fifteen minutes of this?!" I thought during the monologue. It's like Page can't help but talk like a rough-around-the-edges teen in skinny jeans all the time. It makes me wonder if that's all she's going to be able to play in films. Perhaps she was just really nervous and it made he scream a lot. Either way, it totally made my ears want to bust out of my skull, home skillet. Honest to blog. Obviously.

Cold Open: First off, Brian Williams never struck me as the imitable type, but Will Forte's impression totally proved me wrong. Granted, it was a little wacky, but the overall inflection was spot-on. Darrell Hammond's eyebrows, however, were definitely not spot-on. I know Tim Russert has some expressive eyebrows, but it looked like Hammond accidentally burned off his eyebrows a few seconds before the sketch and had to hastily draw them back on with a grease marker before going on-camera. Also, Fred Armisen's Barack Obama impression (which has stirred up a bit of Internet controversy) changed dramatically from last time. In the Tina Fey episode, his Obama looked a little grumpy and had a fairly deep voice. This time he was borderline Spongebob Squarepants' Patrick. To make this sketch even more wacky, Vincent D'Onofrio showed up to do a few Law & Order sound gags. No, I have no idea why he was on the show either.



The real Hillary Clinton then popped up to comment on the Cold Open, which was quite lovely. She did a nice job, especially towards the end. I guess it's only fair that she get a bit of this attention since Obama made his appearance a few months ago. Now, if only someone could get either Clinton or Obama to host. Hey, McCain did it!



Monologue: Ellen Page looked super nervous as she was giving her monologue and her voice went crackly often enough to make it difficult for me to ignore. Thank goodness Andy Samberg showed up as Diablo Cody to distract me. I was eagerly anticipating some jokes about Cody's dreadful "hip" writing that made the first ten minutes of Juno absolute torture. The final "I was a stripper!" was beautiful as well.

"The Dakota Fanning Show": Miley Cyrus' voice is painful to listen to, but Page portraying her made everything even worse. It was like she couldn't control her inflection and volume. Anyway, the interaction between Amy Poehler's Dakota Fanning and Kenan Thompson's Reggie are always incredibly simple and almost formulaic, but Thompson's reactions are usually good enough for me to laugh along. I must also encourage someone out there to actually create a band called Wanda Rwanda and record an album called "A Jam Sesh Called Wanda". Perfect.

"Saturday TV Funhouse: The Obama Files": Holy crap! When was the last time the Funhouse dog ripped the SNL bumper in a way that maintained the "Saturday" (the way it should be done, so as to show the "Saturday" in "Saturday TV Funhouse")? The nitpicker in me is happy. This piece was funny, but seemed really different from Robert Smigel's usual contributions to the show. It was like an outrageously elaborate skit that would have been too expensive/difficult to produce with real actors, as opposed to a humorous manipulation of old audio or something. Even the "X-Presidents" weren't this driven by a well-rounded story. I would also like to remind everyone that "c'mon, Reverend, lions are cool".



"College for Excellence": Tacky late-night college ad. Pretty straightforward.

"The Other Boleyn Girls": Ellen Page, her voice! Why did she have to shout everything? That goes for most of her performances that night, actually. Anyway, this sketch was worth a few chuckles, but nothing more.

"An SNL Digital Short: The Mirror": The absolute bizarre surreality of this piece was awesome. I mean, they really pushed the weirdness on this one. If they had held back at all, it would have fallen on its face, but I think they succeeded. The quick cut from the werewolf to Dracula in bed was awesome.

"Weekend Update": Rudy Giuliani felt the need to make an appearance. Good for him and Mike Huckabee, making fun of themselves like that. Fred Armisen reprised his Nicolas Fehn political comedian character, which is always beautifully played. It's so natural, I sometimes wonder if Armisen really does it off the top of his head. As for the rest of WU, the jokes were all right. My favorite was German napping.





"Shopping with Virginiaca": I'm usually okay with Virginiaca, despite its formulaic format. I guess I'm a sucker for when Kenan Thompson's characters pronounce things incorrectly (see: Virginiaca's "nuggrets" and Charles Barkley's "Ohh, Bork!") Ellen Page continued to scream, but this time with a white girl 'fro and occasional booty shake. The subtle reference to Juno at the very, very end was cute.



"The Continuing Adventures of Peter Pan": I absolutely loved that Bill Hader, super master of voice disguise, used such a boring speaking voice for Captain Hook. Beautiful touch, I must say. Will Forte's enthusiasm was also perfect.

"Post-Ethridge": As if to purposely fuel the online speculation of Page's sexuality, this skit was all about a guy's girlfriend going gay at a Melissa Ethridge concert. The writing was really funny in this, but, geez, it had the worst ending EVER. Seriously.

Next time: Amy Adams and Vampire Weekend! I wonder if Amy Adams is going to be one of those celebrities that sing during their monologues.