David Spade hasn’t had an objectively great comedy role in a long time, but that’s all about to change—in theory—thanks to HBO, Diablo Cody, and Jason Reitman. According to The Wrap, Spade is set to star in a new HBO comedy series from Cody and Reitman (the team behind Juno, Young Adult, and Tully) about a washed-up, semi-famous grunge rocker who fell out of the spotlight in the ‘90s after getting addicted to heroin. Now, years later, he’s sober and working as a waiter when he meets a young actress named Bailey who changes his life “in unexpected and electrifying ways.”
The project doesn’t have a title yet, but Cody will write, Reitman will direct, and Spade will somehow try to convince us that he’s a cool, Kurt Cobain-type dude and not a medium-cool, David Spade-type dude. Joe Dirt was kind of a cool dude, right? Yeah, Spade will be fine.
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I suppose these people must be friends?
“Was Just Shoot Me any good? We remember it being good.”You can revisit it on Crackle if you’re curious. My take: that’s what I remembered too, but eh, not really. A talented cast, but pretty hacky writing.He was the best thing about Rules of Engagement though. Admittedly not a high bar to clear, particular with Warburton stuck with the most rote Cro-Magnon male shtick you can imagine, but he made some stuff funny by sheer force of will. He’s a talented sitcom actor; it’s a shame he’s never gotten a worthy vehicle for his abilities (and I don’t have high hopes for this).
I mean, Cody’s last prestige cable dramedy was pretty fucking dope!It put Brie Larson on the map.
I feel Just Shoot Me is an artifact of the last generation of sitcoms before streaming existed. Like, if there was nothing else on, you could have it on in the background and not get pissed at it. You wouldn’t actually laugh much, but you might crack a smile occasionally.
Now, though, there are few good excuses to ever be watching more than two episodes of anything you don’t love, so this old kind of upper mediocre tier of sitcoms seems like hot garbage.
Just Shoot Me had its moments. But Rules Of Engagement stands out for the fact that it was a mid-season replacement three years running. Usually a show only gets one shot at being a backup.
Gonna have to disagree somewhat. Yes, overall very hacky writing, but I’d take hours and hours of Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price over even a few minutes of Spade.Can we at least agree that the other couple was the absolute worst? The younger couple? Good lord. I mean, it’s like they bought the pair of them from Home Depot.
Spade has always been a bit polarizing; his shtick works for me, and he’s always taking swings.
And yes, the young couple was pretty dire, especially her. When she popped up on another show, I was shocked. I never thought I’d see her again. She makes Joyce DeWitt look like Lucille Ball.
Fair enough. Comedy is subjective. Millions of people the world over enjoy The Three Stooges, for instance, whereas I cannot tolerate them. On the other hand, my wife can’t stand the Marx Brothers (a fact I did not learn until after the wedding). And yeah, she was uncomfortably awful. I am stunned to learn she got work after Rules of Engagement. Having said that, no cast would’ve saved that show, given the incredibly poor writing.
She gets topless in some movie. I enjoyed that.
Just to be clear, has Spade ever ruined his ribby deepsnake in front of an unwilling partner?
Now, years later, he’s sober and working as a waiter when he meets a young actress named Bailey who changes his life “in unexpected and electrifying ways.”He couldn’t have the same experience with a woman his own age, I guess?
Maybe she introduces him to her mom?
Ya gotta stick with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl aesthetic
He couldn’t have the same experience with a woman his own age, I guess?I’ll be impressed if she’s anywhere near his height…
Unexpected is code for the child he never knew he had.
“David Spade hasn’t had an objectively great comedy role in a long time…”He hasn’t ever had an objectively great role, since entertainment criticism is entirely subjective.
Oh, god…
No, no. Sam, being an Ayn Rand devotee, means David Spade hasn’t done a Randian comedy since Tommy Boy.
That can’t be true, that movie isn’t hundreds of pages of awful nonsense.
I give him credit for The Do Over, he managed to play against type in a way he hadn’t really gotten a chance to before
I suspect most of us haven’t watched that (I certainly haven’t), so could you elaborate?
it was actually so much better than I expected that it was a pleasant surprise. I LITERALLY did laugh out loud several times, though the first 30 mins are much better than the remaining 60. Its not a bad late-night, munchies-and-glazed over viewing surprise, that you might genuinely enjoy for a brief respite from really deep/serious stuff.
And since it was a Sandler movie, he did it without even trying.
The current working title is Hackneyed
Just Shoot Me does not hold up
Just Shoot Me never held down.
Just Shoot Me did have that episode where Mark Hamill followed David Spade around and kept asking him asinine questions, which was pretty hilarious.
Him mooning the surveillance camera George Segal puts on him, then the cut to the shot of George putting on sunglasses as he watches the monitor was classic.
The episode about Elliot’s brother, Donnie, was pretty funny.
Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot Piiiiiiiiieeeeee
A show about a grunge rock star on the other side of fame and this isn’t titled Just Shoot Me?
I Hate Myself and I Want to Die
Weird, this sounds like the sort of “UGH ANOTHER PROJECT ABOUT OLD WHITE MEN AND THEIR FEELINGS WHILE THEY OBJECTIFY YOUNG WOMEN” thing that should be getting torn to shreds right about now. Is Diablo Cody the element that’s offsetting that? Because she did this already with Ricki and the Flash.
I guess I don’t know enough of her work, but it’s definitely a common element of Reitman stuff. It was nice in Juno because the typical Reitman handsome elder protagonist who is emotionally stunted was called out for being a washed up creep by the actual protagonist and I suspect that was mainly Cody’s doing.
I imagine she’s why it’s getting a pass. She managed to make the cliched “Ugh another story about a privileged, aging white person having a midlife crisis and trying to recapture their wild youth” into something pretty damn good with Tully, so she’s earned another pass or two for now.
Yeah, if you take out everything but Cody/Reitman’s involvement this looks like a total turd, but I liked Tully and Young Adult enough to be interested. (I didn’t see Ricki and the Flash or know Diablo Cody wrote the screenplay until now though)
I didn’t see Ricki and the Flash or know Diablo Cody wrote the screenplay until nowI think I recommend Ricki and the Flash. I saw it on a plane, didn’t fall asleep. I remember it as having more grownup themes than I expected. And I liked Meryl Streep’s singing (as I have since Postcards from the Edge).
She kinda did that with Young Adult too, although that dovetailed into a far darker ending (which I preferred – and I liked Tully too).
The character was a heroin addict and is now working as a waiter. Please tell me more about how privileged this character is.
So, you haven’t actually seen Tully, then. Thanks for making sure to get offended over nothing.
Yes how dare they make a show representing men (half the worlds population) or star a person who happens to be white (over 70% of the US population).All things should now be made by, and star non-white, non-male persons.I mean, it just makes sense people!
Somewhere Rabin is rolling his eyes and dusting off manic pixie dream girl.
Diablo Cody needs her own comeback at this point….
David Spade is a waste of CHON and I hope his series dies immediately.
Seasonal David Spade reference: Just Shoot Me scene where Kelsey Grammer sings “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Finch” about Spade’s character while Spade ruins everybody’s gifts on screen.