Talkin' Masked and Anonymous

April 30, 2024 00:21:03
Talkin' Masked and Anonymous
The Dylantantes
Talkin' Masked and Anonymous

Apr 30 2024 | 00:21:03

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Show Notes

A Million $ Bash Roundtable

Twenty-one years ago, the whole wide world was stunned by the release of a new Bob Dylan project unlike any before, a feature-length movie of his own creation aimed at a generalish audience.

Led by a future Nobel Laureate co-crafting the satirical script, populated with a brilliantly star-studded cast, and helmed by a maverick director out to compose what he described as “a great Bob Dylan song” in film, Masked and Anonymous was destined to be a masterpiece. It. Could. Not. Fail.

The film had its origins in an inchoate scheme by Larry Charles, of Seinfeld and later Borat fame, and Bob Dylan to create a network sitcom, a slapstick comedy that reportedly drew from the antics of Jerry Lewis and would star that master of physical comedy Bob Dylan. Instead, with only 20 days of production time, they cranked out a film that drew on Hollywood royalty who worked for scale just to be in the presence of the man himself.

Although I have written positively about the film, I have never been fully comfortable with it. It somehow amounts to less than the sum of its parts. The actors are all game—no one holds back in the least, and some may even go a tad bit overboard: I’m looking at you Giovanni Ribisi. There are many moments of comedy that just don’t come off the way they are supposed to. Perhaps the alternate-universe dystopian setting is too off-putting to frame this blend of sardonic wit, philosophical musings, and dad jokes.

M$B Roundtable Panelists:

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