An Open Letter to Parker Posey

Dear Parker,

I used to like you. I mean, not in a sexual way…well, in a bit of a sexual way. I mean, you’ve been in like every Christopher Guest film, so you obviously do some serious rocking, and I’ve often (OK, maybe once or twice) found myself thinking, “I appreciate Parker Posey’s eccentric brand of quirky comedy.”

But now I have a question for you Parker. Have you suffered some traumatic injury recently that has damaged your ability to understand humor?

That is the only possible explanation that might adequately explain why you would say this:

There’s so much frat boy humor out there now. This whole Judd Apatow craze – I don’t like it. It excludes girls, and it doesn’t do anything particularly great for our culture. Getting wasted, throwing up, ignoring your girlfriend, who gets that? I consider myself funny, and I don’t (get it).

First off, let’s just put aside the whole “Judd Apatow” comment for a minute and consider your own work. Christopher Guest could film a steaming pile of dog shit for two hours and I’d gladly pay 10 bucks to sit my ass in a dark theatre to watch it, but last time I checked, mockumentaries about failed community theatre actors and washed up folk singers didn’t exactly “do anything particularly great for our culture.” It’s not like you people were making Schindler’s List for fucks sake!

OK, now let’s consider you’re assertion that Judd Apatow is frat boy humor. First of all, have you even seen 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up or Superbad? My guess is that you’ve seen the trailers, but not the films. Do they include gross and drug related humor, yes. Does that automatically make it frat boy? If you haven’t seen them, then, sure why not.

40 Year Old Virgin, for instance, has a main character who is 40 years old and a virgin! Not exactly you’re frat boy poster child. He is a character that is more concerned with finding a woman to love then one to fuck. Good god! That’s a fucking revelation! His, ahem, “friends” are certainly in the frat boy mold, but guess what, it’s called “character.” It would have been a seriously boring and unfunny film without the Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, and Romany Malco characters.

Knocked Up, whether you want to admit it or not, does include a strong female character. I’ve read reviews that called the Katherine Heigl character flat, but I didn’t find her any more disingenuous then, say, an overly schizophrenic weimaraner owner with a chew toy obsession…but that’s just me. And you can say what you want about the humor in that film, but it’s ultimately about a guy who, heaven forbid, accepts his responsibilities as a soon to be parent and straightens out his life. You know what, that shit Apatow really needs to stop making this stoner bullshit!

And what about Superbad? Well, that’s actually not an Apatow directed film, but I’m sure that you’d throw it in with the others. Maybe you didn’t understand it because you were never a 17 year old boy, but let me tell you that it was one of the most sincere, heartfelt, and flat out funny movies of the past decade! No joke. And you know what, the Michael Cera character could have slept with his dream girl when she was completely shit-faced, and yet he didn’t because he actually HAD FEELINGS FOR HER!

Seriously, have you seen any of these films?

You know what? Don’t bother with them. Do yourself a favor and go rent…no, just go buy it, you’ll thank me…Freak and Geeks, watch the whole thing, and then tell me that Judd Apatow hasn’t done something worthwhile for our culture

Love,