Fans of superstar comic Dave Chappelle who’re celebrating his show’s big return to Netflix can celebrate in-person with him this month. The comedian announced three performances of Dave Chappelle and Friends at House of Blues March 23-25.
Tickets for Chappelle’s show tend to sell out in minutes; they go on sale Friday, March 12 at 10 am, exclusively via Ticketmaster.
Much like his previous Houston shows, safety is a priority. Masks will be required at all times while in the venue. Ticket holders will receive a mandatory rapid COVID-19 antigen test prior to entering the venue. Those who test negative will be allowed entry; refunds will be available for those households who test positive.
Chappelle previously visited Houston in November, and subsequently made headlines when, during a performance of Unforgiven, he explained why he requested that Netflix stop streaming his Chappelle’s Show. (In February of this year, both parties made nice.) Chappelle also drew major media buzz when he hosted Saturday Night Live in November 2020.
The legendary comic has performed more than 1,600 concerts worldwide in the past four years. Time will tell if Houston can expect another bomb-dropping revelation from Chappelle, known for popping a cigarette and grandly popping off.
Horror comedies tend to be a good entry point for non-hardcore fans of the genre, as they provide for a good amount of levity amongst the carnage shown on screen. Examples like the original Scream, Shaun of the Dead, and Get Out keep the spirit of horror alive while still giving the audience plenty of laughs.
Writer/director Osgood Perkins, who wowed some genre fans with Longlegs in 2024, is back with a much different type of film in The Monkey. Based on a Stephen King short story, the film features a villain who is not a person, but rather an organ grinder monkey toy that inexplicably causes the death of someone nearby when activated.
The toy changes hands a few times in the film, but always seems to come back into the lives of twin brothers Hal and Bill (Christian Convery as a child, Theo James as an adult). No matter what they do, they cannot rid themselves of the monkey, and few in their orbit are safe from its unexplained wrath.
The high points of the short, 95-minute film are unquestionably its many kills, which are heightened to a degree that laughter is pretty much the only response if you’re willing to go along with it. The deaths seem to increase in absurdity as the film goes along, and the inventiveness of each one makes it feel like Perkins drew inspiration from the Final Destination series.
The problem for the film comes in Perkins’ storytelling outside of the violence. There’s little that’s compelling about the lives of Hal and Bill other than the tragedies they witness along the way. Their times with their mother (Tatiana Maslany), aunt and uncle (Sarah Levy and Perkins himself), and others fail to have any meaningful impact, and their own twisted relationship is too odd to be fully involving, as well.
Because of the disparity between the violent and non-violent parts of the film, the film never maintains any kind of momentum. To be fair, Perkins spends a lot of time with his main characters, but because their stories fail to inspire, it feels like the film is just twiddling its thumbs until it can get to the next over-the-top kill. The mystery of the monkey is okay, but could have been enhanced.
Despite some high-profile roles (the Divergent series, The White Lotus), James is somewhat of a blank slate as an actor, and he feels miscast here.. The dual roles can be tricky to pull off, and he never makes either twin brother pop. Maslany is given the showiest role and it’s fun to see her ham it up to a degree. The oddest casting goes to Elijah Wood, who shows up in a cameo that leaves many questions about his character going unanswered.
It’s unclear why Perkins didn’t commit fully to the comedy part of The Monkey, as the scenes that go all-in in that respect are the best ones in the film. But anytime he veers away from them, the movie gets less interesting, and ultimately the balance goes too far in the wrong direction.
