“INSIDE MONKEY ZETTERLAND”– a cast full of laughs

“Inside Monkey Zetterland”

A Cast Full of Laughs

Amos Lassen

“Inside Monkey Zetterland” with its ensemble cast (including Sofia Coppola, Debi Mazar, Sarah Bernhard, Martha Plimpton and many others) is one very funny comedy which stars its very cute writer and producer, Steve Antin. It is performed by an ensemble cast of wild characters in crazy situations who give us a movie about the most universal theme of all—people. You will laugh and you will cry from laughter even with its paper-thin plot. The humor is outstanding but be warned—this is a movie that you will either love or hate. Personally, I loved it.

From the beginning, you have no idea of what is going on. I suppose it is about man’s search for love and happiness but then again it could be about the quest for something a little less—career and satisfaction. However, given a few scenes, things begin to fall into place and the movie flows like water. The humor comes from the family and from friends. The acting is perfection and what seemed shallow at first takes on a great deal of meaning. It is a movie that is somewhere “out there”.

I have heard it called “indulgent”, “meaningless” and “boring” and this just made me wonder if I had seen the same movie as the person who said that. There is so much going on and the cast is so fantastic that I am forced to argue that assessment.

Coming of age and accepting one’s sexuality is never an easy subject to tackle even though so many do. The problem is that they do so unsuccessfully. If the plot is thin and the script is weak in “Monkey”, I feel that the cast and the acting made up for that many times over. It is nowhere near a perfect movie nor is it even a better than average movie. It is a fun movie and isn’t that quit enough?