A Very Luthor Wedding
May. 22nd, 2003 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Sometimes we all need a laugh. Funny thing is, I'm not much for comedy. Never have been. You have to practically force me to watch a movie if it's a comedy. I've seen "Sorority Boys" three times now, but not because it's funny. Perspicacious readers of this LJ can do doubt guess why. Haven't voluntarily watched a sitcom since "M*A*S*H" went off the air - and I'm not sure I ever watched a whole episode of that. Okay, I confess, I watched a whole pile of episodes of "My Family" but it doesn't count. Right? Right.
Not that I'd want anyone to think I didn't have a sense of humour. I do, really. (Really?)
Anyway, all this preamble is just to recommend a story: A Very Luthor Wedding by Ellison Wonderland. When I started it I thought it was just too silly to read and I didn't think I'd last more than a couple of pages. Then I couldn't put it down.
See, Lex is getting married, and there's a party, and everyone (except Clark) gets drunk, and everyone says something indiscreet - usually to the wrong other person. It's a sex farce that never made it to the stage - though it has the right kind of set pieces: the balcony scene, the ballroom scene (spotlight: Martha), the second ballroom scene (spotlight: Lionel). The story covers late evening and the next morning from various overlapping points of view - most stories are told chronologically and this is a terrific change of pace. It's a romp. It's fun, and unlike sex farces on stage, it even has some sex it it.
I thought the funniest line was the one about Lucas, which can't be told out of context. Other hilarious bits were in the characterization: Lana as seen through Lionel's eyes, Chloe's angsting over her relationships ("The hair! It's my hair, isn't it?") and - best of all - the snide sniping between Lionel and Lex Luthor.
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Date: 2003-05-22 09:52 am (UTC)As far as I'm concerned, there'll never be another sitcom like "The Charmings"! (1987-88)
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Date: 2003-05-22 09:58 am (UTC)Re: The Charmings
Date: 2003-05-22 10:19 am (UTC)Not to everyone's taste, of course, and really silly, but it was also clever, especially if you knew your fairy tales. The actors all played well together, and did a terrific job portraying all the screwups involved as fairy tale characters tried to navigate successfully life in contemporary America.