Steve Carell's sendoff will get even more attention now.
Courtesy photo
Funny guy Will Ferrell is helping out his old bud Steve Carell by signing on to appear in four episodes of the NBC comedy The Office.
After all, what are friends for?
As reported in a Deadline New York exclusive, Ferrell called The Office producers and offered his services to help ease the show’s pain in losing its star. Carell is leaving after seven seasons, though the show will continue on without him in an eighth season
Ferrell will play a branch manager coming from the home office who is “just as inappropriate” as Carell’s character Michael Scott.
Imagine that.
Maybe Ferrell will stick around longer than those few episodes. Bringing him to the cast has the potential of creating rampant hysteria.
The two actors are close friends and starred together in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Take it from someone who once worked in local television — that farce had real moments of truth!
Paul Lieberstein, who leads a double life as the annoying HR executive Toby Flenderson as well as being the show’s executive producer, proclaimed, “We are proud to continue The Office’s tradition of discovering famous talent, and we hope that once America gets a good look at Will, they’ll see what we see, tremendous raw sexuality.”
No word yet on when exactly NBC will air the Ferrell/Carell episodes (it will be toward the end of this season).
A variety of actors have had the good fortune of having career resurgences thanks to someone giving them a chance after they passed their prime, including John Travolta after Pulp Fiction, Keanu Reeves after John Wick, and Brendan Fraser after The Whale. Pamela Anderson is the latest actor hoping to be reclaimed thanks to her starring role in The Last Showgirl.
In the meta-story, the 57-year-old Anderson plays Shelly, an aging showgirl at a third tier Las Vegas casino. The show itself, called Le Razzle Dazzle, is on its last legs, and Shelly finds herself at a crossroads, with no other skills or financial means on which to fall back.
While younger showgirls like Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song) are willing to move on to more sexually-suggestive shows, Shelly is only comfortable with the tried-and-true showgirl way. Three other people in her life — estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), best friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis), and stage manager Eddie (Dave Bautista) — seem to help and hurt her in equal measure.
The effectiveness of the film, directed by Gia Coppola and written by Kate Gersten, depends heavily on whether the viewer is willing to accept Anderson, who’s still best known for her role on Baywatch, as a serious actor. If Coppola and Gersten are trying to show a different side of Anderson, they fail; having her play a character with little-to-no makeup and a dramatic arc does not make up for her poor acting skills and a high voice that borders on shrill.
And because the story is so dependent on Anderson — she appears in literally every scene — it never has a chance of becoming interesting or involving. Her character has personal issues that are objectively sad, but any weight that might have resulted from those storylines are lost along the way. She’s not helped by an over-the-top performance by Curtis, who seems to be milking her Oscar from Everything Everywhere All at Oncefor all it’s worth.
Coppola seems to be going for an old-school feel for the film to match the storyline. The film has a weird, unfocused look to it at times, giving the audience visuals that are definitely not high-definition. Whether she’s actually using an old film stock or manipulating the image to make it look like an old film, the effect is the same, with imperfections appearing on the screen often.
Anderson — who earned a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Female Actor for her role — and Curtis seem to take up most of the oxygen of the film, leaving little to remember from anyone else. Shipka had a breakout movie year thanks to appearances in Twisters and Longlegs, but her role here gives her little to do. The same goes for Bautista, although at least he gets to put on a grey wig and act in a way that doesn’t emphasize his bulky physique.
While actors should never be shunted aside simply because they’ve aged out of an accepted age range, you also have to have the ability to prove you still belong. Anderson can’t get out of her own way in The Last Showgirl, and consequently the film itself never has any dramatic depth, either.
---
The Last Showgirl opens in theaters on January 10.
Will Ferrell called "The Office" for his shot.
Steve Carell's sendoff will get even more attention now.Courtesy photo