Word: postmodernism
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ONCE IT WAS THE UN-GENRE; now it is in danger of overpopulation. We speak of the postmodern comedy of manners, in which hyperarticulate twentysomethings talk--and talk and talk--about the imminent threat of becoming thirtynothings. They are the Sons of Seinfeld, and among the brightest of their number is Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming, the little fable of half a dozen or so college grads. It's an upmarket Clerks, a less fraught Jeffrey, Barcelona with a faster pulse--or maybe Friends on PBS. Grover (Josh Hamilton) doesn't want his girlfriend Jane (Olivia...
...upmarket "Clerks," a less fraught "Jeffrey," "Barcelona" with a faster pulse or maybe "Friends" on PBS, "Kicking and Screaming" is a postmodern comedy of manners in which hyperarticulate twentysomethings talk about the imminent threat of becoming thirtysomethings. Writer-director Noah Baumbach's characters wear cool like a dinner jacket, says TIME's Richard Corliss; their offhand wit is so studied that their bull sessions seem like a final they crammed for. "But Baumbach is canny enough to salt the stew with poignance, so that by the end these attitude machines have become human beings, more than the sum of their...
...upmarket "Clerks," a less fraught "Jeffery," "Barcelona" with a faster pulse or maybe "Friends" on PBS, "Kicking and Screaming" is a postmodern comedy of manners in which hyperarticulate twentysomethings talk about the imminent threat of becoming thirtysomethings. Writer-director Noah Baumbach's characters wear cool like a dinner jacket, says TIME's Richard Corliss; their offhand wit is so studied that their bull sessions seem like a final they crammed for. "But Baumbach is canny enough to salt the stew with poignance, so that by the end these attitude machines have become human beings, more than the sum of their...
...show ends with a postmodern touch by appearing to circle back to the opening scene: Bobby's surprise birthday party. Every year he shows up and pretends to be surprised, but this time there's no Bobby. He leaves the couples content to blow out the candles alone, while Robert stands by, hidden in the shadows. The abrupt ending seems suprisingly insubstantial, resisting clear answers or profound revelations. Still, in an age where the ponderous pseudo-drama of "Les Mis" still packs the house most nights in New York (and, terrifyingly, in London, and Dallas, and Des Moines...), Sondheim provides...
...Lodge has an endearing way of falling in love with his characters. In Nice Work (1991) he did a complete about-face, starting at a satirist's typical distance from his creations and finishing besotted with them. In Therapy (Viking; 321 pages; $22.95) he describes a classic case of postmodern depression. Laurence ("Tubby") Passmore is 58, securely married, the chief writer on a hit TV sitcom. But he quickly finds he has a trick knee, a fed-up wife and a bad threat...