Tag: Judith Ivey

Frasier (1993) s01e04 – I Hate Frasier Crane

This episode has two celebrity guest callers—Judith Ivey is the patient and Joe Mantegna as part of the plot. Mantegna is a Seattle Times newspaper columnist who can’t stand lead Kelsey Grammer’s show. Grammer has a couple great monologues where he reads from the articles and rants about them. Mantenga calls up during the second one and challenges Grammer to a fist fight outside the coffee shop, which causes a whole lot of grief for Frasier and family.

See, dad John Mahoney of course wants Grammer to fight. Mahoney hasn’t lived down the first time Grammer ran away from a fight, when he was ten. Meanwhile, Niles (David Hyde Pierce) stays out of it until the actual fisticuffs are about to kick off and then he’s more interested in hiring the mariachi band—the fight has live music, children with balloons, and people on their lunch breaks.

The episode introduces Mantegna and his column in the first scene, when Hyde Pierce shows up for dinner—and is quite taken with Jane Leeves’s eau de parfum… ranch dressing. It also leads to one of those great “Frasier” layered jokes from writer Christopher Lloyd. The first shot in the scene—before Hyde Pierce even arrives—sets up the eventual punchline for the scene. It’s fantastic.

And there’s some more great stuff from Grammer as he reacts to Niles’s gawking at Leeves. Mahoney’s endless grace is great too.

It’s Grammer’s episode though, with Hyde Pierce and Peri Gilpin around just as tertiary supporting. Mahoney’s got a scant subplot about looking into an old case, which leads to Leeves doing a psychic read on it and a great punchline once Grammer comes in.

The episode also features Hyde Pierce and Gilpin’s first onscreen meeting, though they’ve met at least two times before but Hyde Pierce can’t remember those times. It’s a really funny sequence, with Lloyd getting in a couple big laughs. Hyde Pierce is so good. His quipping ability is bar none.

While the episode does lean a little Grammer-centric, it is his show and his monologues are fantastic. Especially when Mantegna’s column is spot-on. No one indignantly pontificates like Grammer.

Everybody Wins (1990, Karel Reisz)

What a weird movie. Debra Winger cannot act. Don’t know exactly why Terms of Endearment worked, but she cannot act. She’s really terrible in this one. Arthur Miller adapted his play, which was from 1982–except it was a one act play. Somewhere in the adaptation, Everybody Wins becomes a ludicrous attempt at a thriller. It’s set in a Connecticut town, which looks a lot like Pennsylvania in the film, and Reisz gives the setting absolutely no personality.

Winger convinces Nick Nolte to investigate a case, except she’s a total flake and doesn’t tell him anything about the case until the last fifteen minutes. So, right away, it’s unbelievable for Nolte, playing a renowned investigator, would put up with Winger. Most of their scenes involve her hiding something from him, but he sticks around… because if he left, it’d be a one act movie. Will Patton shows up for a bit and he’s fine. He and Nolte have an interesting relationship for a few scenes. Poor Jack Warden stuck in a nothing role, just to pop in whenever you’ve forgotten he’s in the movie.

It’s not really a case of the film being predictable, but once some of the clues come out, it’s unbelievable Nolte the investigator wouldn’t piece anything together. Except he pieces absolutely nothing together–in the entire film–which dismisses it as a mystery or detective film. There’s no real jeopardy involved, so it’s not a thriller either. Winger’s so terrible it’s not a romance. The film’s only interesting with Nolte and Patton and Nolte and Judith Ivey, who plays his sister (the character’s got an interesting history, but none of it, apparently, gets to come through in the film).

I’ve seen Reisz and Nolte’s other collaboration, Who’ll Stop the Rain, and I guess Everybody Wins is better. Everybody Wins is shorter and, for the first half, it’s just boring, not particularly bad. In fact, I think some of the beginning might even be good. Nolte does a good job, but it’s definitely one of his autopilot performances. Reisz has some good moments (just can’t make the setting stick until the end, when it’s too late to fix the film). There’s even homage to Who’ll Stop the Rain, which I can’t believe anyone would pick up on, but who knows, maybe there’s somebody else out there going through all of MGM’s Nick Nolte releases too.