Now me and Woody go way back. I think White Men Can't Jump was the first R-rated movie I ever saw that didn't have any historical relevance. I smoked pot with him at an African restaurant back in 2005 and he strangled me when I tried to take his photo after the filming of Zombieland. As his close homeboy I had to see what he was up to.
I got to apologize right now for being a hater. Let it be known: I never hate for hatred's sake.
When the play started it sucked. The actors were overacting so bad I couldn't follow the dialog. There was this white kid in a suit with no tie with a very racist name saying the N-word and MF-word like they were direct and/or indirect articles and I was just sitting there, stoned as a goat in my chair thinking about how my high school's performance of Damn Yankees was kicking this play's ass six ways from sundown. That play was aiite. Jon Scott's fake boob exploded by accident. I almost pissed myself laughing.
The characters were the main point of the show. Harrelson admitted during a question and answer ceremony following the performance that the Hitler-gun-mystery-plot was slapped on as an afterthought. Not what I would assume to be the most effective approach to writing a script, but there have probably been plenty of great stories throughout history where the writers were concerned primarily with who the events were happening to, not what the events were. Definitely.
It took until the second act for the male cast to actually think and behave like their characters, with the exception of David Coomber (who played Clint). From his first scene he stole the show and made up for what the other actors lacked. The female actors did their job, not forgetting lines or anything. Still, either their delivery or the script made sympathizing with the characters quite a task for the audience. They lacked individuality and relevance to the plot. Throughout much of the play it seemed as if their presence had little more purpose than to make the cast less of a sausage-fest.
The accents sucked. Brandon Coffey, who played Zach, a Texan character based on Harrelson, sounded like Gomer Pyle, USMC. The Nazi-dad, played by Thomas Gough, sounded as convincing as Denzel Washington in The Mighty Quinn. He could have used some direct influence from Hogan's Heroes. I'll say it right here, right now: he should wear a monocle.
By the second act the play got a lot better. The downside is it turned into a potheaded whodunnit. Potheaded is cool but whodunnits are lame. I don't want to spend $32 on an amateur episode of Murder She Wrote even if they might be smoking real pot on stage. Still, a lame mystery is more interesting than people arguing over why it's bad to use the N-word (see Act 1). And I got to hand it to the cast, the comedic elements really flourished after intermission and the phony accents became less and less distracting.
The ending was not memorable. The characters had to do more work for the German guy and everything was OK. Hitler had nothing to do with anything really and the German guy already didactically explained everything having to do with the subtext enabling the audience to watch without the need for individual thought or inner reflection.
All in all I give the play a 2 out for 5. One point for Harrelson being my boy and one point for Coomber playing his role impeccably.
If the producer's wish to quote me saying something complimentary, they can quote this:
"...One point for Coomber playing his role impeccably!"
Every other aspect of the play needs serious work.
Best of luck to the cast and crew during the rest of the show's duration.
Your pal,
John
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