Movie of the Week: Oh, Hello

Alexa: My love for John Mulaney and his wonderful awkwardness runs deep. So deep that I even tried to watch his ill-fated sitcom a few years back (it’s still tough to talk about). But naturally, I was instantly intrigued by “Oh, Hello” because of his involvement. I knew nothing about the characters of Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland that anchor the show. Apparently this kooky duo of elderly gentlemen was popularized on “Kroll Show,” which I’ve never watched (I know Nick Kroll primarily as The Douche and Ruxin). And while I felt a little out of the loop in a few instances, overall this filmed version of their Broadway show offers plenty to enjoy for people who are not familiar with the characters. Kroll and Mulaney have great chemistry and impeccable comic timing, and the appearance of two surprise celebrity guests whose identities I won’t spoil here only adds to the hilarity. This adaptation translates pretty seamlessly from stage to screen, and the absurd jokes consistently land outside of the live theater context. If “Oh, Hello” is any indication of their potential, I would love to see more collaborations between Kroll and Mulaney – as Faizon and St. Geegland or new characters – in the future.

Joel: It’s a little tricky to actually define what exactly what this is. When you look up Netflix original productions, they put Oh, Hello along with their line of stand-up specials, but that’s not really what it is. You can also say it’s a filmed version of a Broadway play, but while that may be closer, it still doesn’t feel quite right. In some ways it was a feature length adaptation of a late night comedy sketch (such as Wayne’s World or Coneheads) that went to the stage instead of a movie. But again, while that’s not necessarily wrong, it feels like it’s missing something when trying to describe exactly what this is.

But despite struggling to put this into a specific genre, what I can say is that it’s incredibly funny.  As a stand up comedian, John Mulaney works so well because he has incredibly mastery over his word choice and timing his delivery. That skill is on full display here. And while I’ll admit to having a personal preference to Mulaney, I don’t mind saying that Kroll also seems to be at his comedic best in this role.

These are characters that these two have clearly worked on for a very long time, honing every mannerism, every mispronunciation, to make the characters come to life. And it’s clear that they love doing these two characters. (They’ve been performing some variation of these two on various shows for close to a decade now)

I almost don’t know how to explain why this show ended up working so well.  It has the most threadbare plot possible and relies entirely on the gag that these two guys are funny. Plenty of the humor is focused in some way or another on Broadway and theater culture. From jokes about the history of the theaters on Broadway, to jokes about obstructed viewing sections for the audience. There is clearly some catering the show to the Broadway audience going on here. But the amount of humor and the variation of humorous styles almost guarantees you’re going to find something funny at some point during the runtime. Don’t go into this one expecting any one, specific thing because it’s probably not that, but it is definitely something worth seeing.

Chris: I think I'm the only one out of our writers that actually enjoyed The Kroll Show and I was the rare one out of our group that was a fan of Nick Kroll long before I heard of John Mulaney. Of course now I'm a huge fan of both men, I admire Mulaney's way of telling a telling a story and am always impressed with Nick Kroll's ability to go all-in on whatever absurd character he's playing. Now, being a fan of Kroll Show, Too Much Tuna was by far my least favorite regular sketch, I was more of a fan of anything involving Bobby Bottleservice or the PubLIZity (It's based off our names) sketches. How in the world Kroll and Mulaney created a full show that kept your attention and was consistently funny throughout the entire thing blows my mind and is a testament to the talent of both men. It's off-the-wall, it's satirical, it's meta and it's absurd comedy (Jason's following review is just incorrect, you'll see) and somehow it works completely. Now it might not be your cup of tea and it might not line up with your sense of humor but what I do like about this is that it opens up the possibility of other stage shows coming to Netflix and that's an exciting thought to have. Now, here's Jason being wrong...

Jason: I have spent the better part of the day trying to figure out how to review this… what was this? It wasn’t a movie. It wasn’t a play. It was barely a comedy routine. I know absolutely nothing about these actors or characters. I suppose they have a regular bit on different shows? Or something? The Netflix description describes the show as “absurd comedy”. I love absurd comedy. I have watched Monty Python since before I could speak. Homestar Runner is my favorite website of all time. This was not absurd comedy. This was highly relevant, referential sketch comedy that never hit the mark for me. The best part of the whole thing for me was the candid interview with their guest in the middle and the surprise cameo. Everything in between those high points was bland. There are so many parts of this that I have no problem with in general. The stupid humor, the referential jokes, the intentional mispronunciation of simple words, the physical gags. None of these are bad by themselves. But with these two, I just couldn’t be made to care enough. Seriously, it took me four sittings just to be able to get to the end of this thing. I am amazed that they have a theater on Broadway and that Netflix thought it a good idea to film them.

Now, in my life I’ve been called pretentious (mainly by my mom and brother-in-law) about many things. Music, wine, food, whiskey, art, theater, and comedy are all in my closely held box of pretension. I know what I like in my comedy and this film (???) did not provide that. It felt like an SNL skit that was allowed to run for FAR too long. And SNL skits these days rarely ever tickle my funny bone.

As I am a part of this thing now, I get to pick movies with Joel, Alexa, and Chris. So just know, because of this pick, you will all be getting a straight up horror movie from me next month. You’re welcome.

Also, my lovely wife, Emily, wanted me to include her review with mine. So here it is: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯