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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

TV DVD Review: A Very Sunny Christmas

Posted by Ned Lannamann on Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 3:38 PM

sunnyxmasdvd.jpg
Apparently, you won't be able to see the hilarious It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Christmas episode on FX this year. It's a little too risque, even by FX's lax standards. But A Very Sunny Christmas has been released as a standalone DVD, which you can pick up right now.

I don't want to say that the Christmas special is that much more offensive that the TV show—it isn't, by much, really. There's one scene that centers around Charlie asking Santa a question over and over, a question that includes the F-word, and the conversation devolves into something a little more gruesome. (It's hilarious; they previewed this scene at The Nightman Cometh live stage show in Seattle in September and it went over like gangbusters.) And there's a scene with Danny DeVito and a sofa, which would probably require a blurry spot to be shown on TV. But otherwise, it doesn't really go that much further—how could it? The show already takes it as far as you can go with a live-action sitcom.

A Very Sunny Christmas has a plot, about the magic of Christmas or something, but whatever. It's kind of a perfect marriage between subject matter and the tone—Christmas cheer vs. the characters' borderline psychosis. Perhaps thankfully, Jesus is left entirely out of the mix, except for a cameo by David Huddleston (who was the titular character in Santa Claus: The Movie, but who you probably know better as the other Lebowski in The Big Lebowski) who plays Danny DeVito's born-again former business partner. And Pablo Schrieber (Nick Sobotka from The Wire) has a good cameo as a classmate of Charlie and Mac's.

The double-length episode (roughly 45 minutes on the DVD) stretches the show's freneticism for a little too long, and childhood flashbacks of the gang's Christmas pasts fall flat, but otherwise most of the jokes work. Best bits: Charlie plays Simon (the game). Frank and the sofa (I won't say anything else about this). Charlie confronts Santa. A Very Sunny Christmas is funny enough to fit in with the canon of the show, and it's good enough to warrant a repeat viewing at Christmastime next year. It probably won't become a tradition like Charlie Brown or the Grinch, but hey, you never know.

(Bonus: the "Christmas sing-along" bonus feature is one of the weirdest, most disturbing things I have ever seen.)

 

Comments (6) RSS

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1
in b4 blabby and d and their being stupid.

Hey smirk, whatever happened to you writing for Bitch? It's hard to internet-stalk you when you're not publishing outside of the Merc.
Posted by Graham on November 24, 2009 at 4:35 PM · Report
2
Damn it, somehow I posted on the wrong thing. Now this looks stupid and I whatever. Fuck it.
Posted by Graham on November 24, 2009 at 4:47 PM · Report
3
Fuh-ail Gra-ham
I do need to see this tho. Love the show.
Posted by Abusive on November 24, 2009 at 5:03 PM · Report
4
Netflix does not have. :(
Posted by Joneser on November 24, 2009 at 5:08 PM · Report
5
Oh hey! What's this? I'll just leave it here:

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5163879/It…
Posted by Graham on November 24, 2009 at 5:53 PM · Report
6
I will have to look at that site and write the editors a strongly worded note about protected content.
Posted by Joneser on November 24, 2009 at 8:40 PM · Report

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