Episode 1 - Homer the Whopper
29 September 2009
Review
Synopsis: Comic Book Guy publishes his own comic book called “Everyman” about a superhero who can absorb the powers of heroes from comic books. The popularity of the comic leads to a movie deal. Comic Book Guy insists on casting the lead and of course chooses Homer. Trainer to the stars Lyle McCarthy gets him fit but soon leaves him for other projects and Homer becomes too large to successfully complete the movie.
The Good: The beginning and end of the story were spot on. Comic Book Guy finally puts aside criticism and decides to create some art of his own. His “Everyman” character strikes a chord with the public and he gets the chance to turn it into a movie. In the end he refuses to lie about the movie and sticks to the critical truth which he values so highly.
The Bad: In between what should have happened was Comic Book Guy learning the hard way how difficult it is to make a movie in Hollywood while sticking to your artistic vision. Or how hard it is to remember what is important to you when fame and money are thrown in front of you. Why should that have been the story instead of Homer’s diet issues? Because comedy as they say, is truth and pain. Seeing a story focussing on Comic Book Guy’s journey would have drawn out the struggle he would go through from being the critic, to being criticised. It would have driven the plot forward and provided plenty of opportunities to spoof Hollywood along the way.
Instead Homer struts into the spotlight to deal with his weight. That’s right, Homer’s overweight in case you hadn’t noticed. It made no sense to focus the episode on Homer, who we have seen struggle with his weight in many a better episode than this. There is no story to tell with Homer, when he does lose the weight there is no sense of satisfaction or achievement. The diet is just a prop to provide a situation for the producers of the “Everyman” movie and fitness trainer Lyle McCarthy to play off.
There is little that is dryer than The Simpsons mocking slick producers or agents (see 1101 and 915 for good examples). So we have Maggie and a monkey writing their scripts for them, the creation of a grasshopperaptor for some reason and a bunch of Studio Heads all thrown into the trash. I often think these gags are much funnier to those in Hollywood than those outside it. The test screening of the movie founders on shots of Homer thin and then shots of him far which when spliced together look completely unconvincing. The same joke, but better delivered, was present in the episode “Radioactive Man” (702). That episode had a similar plot, where the whole of Springfield became a movie set and it’s interesting to compare that show to this one and notice how the show has declined. Right down to the Krusty cameo which was surprisingly funny then and now is abysmally predictable. But more than that, “Radioactive Man” focussed on Milhouse’s struggle and that journey was an effective hook for the story, something which was missing entirely here.
The Lyle McCarthy character was a waste of Seth Rogen. The character felt like the same old Simpsons parody of anyone who takes their job seriously. His whole say one thing on the phone and then contradict it to the person in front of him got tired very quickly. I won’t blame Rogen and Evan Goldberg for this episode though (they pitched the story idea and wrote some of it). This has the fingerprints of the current Simpsons writing team all over it.
Best Joke: Homer’s typically short-sighted comment “A lot of things come and go in life but not fame and fitness!”
The Bottom Line: Even if you tuned in to kick back and laugh and don’t care about the story, this isn’t funny. The jokes are so old. The Simpsons writers have been in position for too long and their predictability is damaging the show. This episode has a story which will engage you but it then massively disappoints.
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