The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse

I just liked the title of that film. Not enough to rent, but I’d probably enjoy it more than the disappointing Ricky Gervais stand-up special. One neat bit, but mostly it seemed a little too planned and imitative. (I read an interview recently where he talked about his admiration for Louis C.K. I’d say grab some of LCK’s stuff.)

But the mash-up western horror The Burrowers is a helluva good little b-movie — atmospheric, carefully attentive to its standing in both genres, and with a smart, sly cast (and generally strong, if very lo-fi direction). It runs some very nice riffs on the captivity narrative, on the racism of the Western, but I don’t want to oversell–it’s mostly concerned with creepy, clever, carefully-paced fun. Two or three plot shifts caught me offguard, and it was well- and (for a great change) under-written. I suppose noting that it’s about creatures climbing out of the ground to grab humans will throw most of y’all off the scent, but it is well worth a gamble (and not too gory/scary).

3 thoughts on “The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse”

  1. if it’s the same gervais special, i’ve tried to watch the whole thing a couple of times now and have not been able to make it to the end. it starts out really well, but then begins to peter out at an alarming rate.

  2. Shtick that’s solid on his podcast–reading from a flyer, riffing on stories his friends have told–seem too rehearsed and less effective here; some of the jokes seem more written, more readable, and out loud on stage come off as long (long, long, long) set-ups. Some bits seem to channel Eddie Izzard, as Kris noted; others recall others. I just don’t think the structure of a stand-up act suits Gervais’ enormous talents, or at least he hasn’t really cracked the way to use the episodic, to engage either with a persona or with a more improvisational relation with the audience (and the material). He likes too many different kinds of approaches, and it comes off diffuse. And less funny than it might in small doses, or in other media.

    The best bit begins as an account of handing a warm urine sample to a doctor, and gets ‘stuck’ in his anxiety about whether he’s revealed any insecurity about his penis size. But nothing else really holds together as well as a bit, let alone over the course of a set.

  3. i liked the stuff at the very beginning about kids with cancer. he’s good when he takes the audience to the point where they don’t know if they should laugh; not as good with the observational comedy.

Leave a Reply