Word: deadpan
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Most of the absurdity comes from the dialogue and props, while the acting remains deadpan. Clement, as Chevalier, recycles his character from “Flight of the Conchords” (which basically involves as little emotion as possible), simply adding feathers, weird leather ensembles, and an earpiece to become the science-fiction god. The rest of the actors follow suit, with the notable exception of indie veteran Jennifer Coolidge, who plays Benjamin’s bubbly, excitable mother. The unabating deadpan irony, when combined with the ludicrous plot, serve to estrange the characters from us rather than endearing them...
...characters come to recognize that they must be content with their failures, they cope in frustratingly deadpan ways, lending the narrative a puzzling emotional flatness. Tony Gardner explains the seemingly tragic dissolution of his marriage to Lindy in sterile, practical terms, saying, “I’m no longer a major name. Now I could just accept that and fade away. Live on past glories. Or I could say, no, I’m not finished yet.… You have to be prepared to make a lot of changes, some of them hard ones. You change...
...Call New Orleans, though the star's intensity as a ? cop deranged by painkillers is fun to watch. But The Informant!, starring Damon as a paunchy, middle-aged, real-life corporate whistle-blower with some weird secrets, deserves the approval of Oscar ? voters. In its oddball, deadpan fashion, Steven Soderbergh's comedy-drama says as much about the chicanery of the American business establishment as any Michael Moore diatribe...
...local TV-news interview - to show that they were "just a normal family with a virus," as Patrick puts it. Then the national shows started calling. "What was it like when you found out you had swine flu?" a CNN anchor asked Hayden. He replied, in a teenager's deadpan, "I mean, it's just the flu. I just went through it normally." Producers asked the family to wear face masks on camera, even though health officials had told them that wasn't necessary. Meanwhile, regular people, some of them friends, started acting strangely toward the Henshaws. Their immediate neighbors...
...lonely up there at 6 ft. 2 in. and at the pinnacle of athletic achievement--and a writer could spend her whole career trying to craft a line that says so while also being deadpan hilarious. This is Keegan's debut, and she doesn't even hang out at the pool. ("I don't like chlorine," she says in a promotional video clip about the book. "It makes my eyes sting.") Nevertheless, she has written an ambitious and exhilarating novel about a girl for whom swimming is as vital as breathing...