Petti Fong, the Toronto Star's Vancouver bureau chief, gets the skinny on George W. Bush later today when she covers his "speaking" engagement in Calgary, so don't miss her reports. He's reportedly pulling in $10,000 for the gig, small potatoes in the ex-president league, but damned hefty, wouldn't ya say, for a guy who likely thought Gitmo was a prison camp in Guantanamera?
I took a nostalgic little walk of my own down memory lane last weekend with a double dose of Bush, including Will Ferrell's broadway show, You're Welcome, America: A Final Night with George W. Bush, and Oliver Stone's W with Josh Brolin. I guess I just can't get enough after covering Dubya and, before him, his pappy, George Herbert Walker, in the White House. About Ferrell, what can I say but, wow! With this guy, you get lulled into the thinking about thumb-suckers like Talladega Nights (money-makers, no doubt, but not my taste) and forget how friggin' brilliant he is. I mean, genius. Says the show's promo:
"Don't miss your chance to discover the man behind the myth, the truth behind the lies, and the logic behind the illogical in this limited Broadway event."
I marked my calendar for 9 pm last Saturday on HBO Canada for Ferrell's show. It's a dark, spiralling ever darker, portrayal that still had me falling off my chair for most of the 90 minutes. He sums up the family dynamic of Barbara Bush and clan in one seemingly ridiculous flight of fancy that absolutely nails it. I've read books and lengthy psychological takeouts that don't come close. I won't spoil your fun. Plus, actress Pia Glenn does Condoleezza Rice as a stripping, dancing sexbomb, enticing Bush around the Oval Office. I've read reviews suggesting, while Ferrell had insightful moments, a lot was simply ha-ha comedy. Don't believe it! You'll surely get another chance on HBO so don't miss it. Or run when it comes out on video. The credits list Ferrell as writer. . . masterful!
W isn't in Ferrell's league, but it is Oliver Stone after all, and he's always interesting. Besides, Josh Brolin has turned into an under-rated Edward Norton, which is pretty under-rated and pretty great. Richard Dreyfus was good as Dick Cheney, even though he later called Stone a "fascist" on The View, and said he did it for the money. The real showstopping performance was Thandie Newton's Ms. Rice. She played her like a female "Step 'n Fetchit." Or Butterfly McQueen as Prissy on valium. Withering. Worth the entire price of admission. Gotta see it too.
* * *
Dear Iris, I'm sorry.
Yesterday, I wrote about a class action suit filed in Ontario Superior Court allleging Ottawa is reponsible for "cultural genocide" over 20 years for removing children from Ontario reserves and placing them in non-native homes where they lost their identity, The Star's Tony Bock photographed plaintiff Marcia Martel (right). I want to share a link I received to a very personal blog post on the subject, written from a very different perspective.
Are you kidding??? That entire Will Ferrell portrayal of Bush was horrible.Not funny in the least. I really do like Will but that show sucked bad!!
Posted by: Paul | March 17, 2009 at 10:45 AM
I don't know what "Paul" is taking about, but I watched the Will Ferrel HBO Special too, & his portrayal of Bush was AWESOME! He's brillian - & I didn't even know that before watching the special.
Posted by: Shell | March 17, 2009 at 12:39 PM
A hackneyed attack on the most unpopular cultural figure of the last decade and he is brilliant, yet you STILL can't see beyond your obvious low irony detector to see that movies like Talladega Nights and Old School are also satirically brilliant? When will the "as soon as it gets popular crowd" understand. Talk about sheep mentality.
Talladega Nights: "Shake and Bake: I like it, they're both verbs"
Posted by: Nope | March 17, 2009 at 07:16 PM