DILL SCALLION is a carefully crafted lampoon of the mechanics of fame-- here, in particular, the Country-Music-hit machine. Although the basic contours of Dill's rise from obscurity as a school-bus driver to superstardom and back again are predictable, the jokes are fast-paced and dead-center. The entire cast has a great time with this script, and their hilarity is infectuous. Henry Winkler as the cigar-wielding Big Manager was a real surprise ("Hey, that's the Fonz, isn't it?"): he's unprepossessing as a prepossessing maniac, and he's funny as hell.
There's so much to like here: the hideous breakthrough hit, "You Shared You," with its closing verse about granddaddy's ecstasy when "You Shared You"; Dill's on-stage "Scallion Shuffle," which inspires broken footbones across the nation (and a legion of crutch-waving audience members); Dill's original promiscuous lover, then the quickly fame-sullied roadie girlfriend; sidekick Mr. Pearl, who pretends to be Minnie Pearl's son; and so on.
I would love clarification of Sheryl Crowe's part in this madness: did she really pen these hilarious songs for a lark?
This easily could become a cult classic, and deservedly so. I thought it was funnier than THIS IS SPINAL TAP, with which it is rightly compared. Who wouldn't fall in love with the cow-turd-sized silver belt-buckle?
There's so much to like here: the hideous breakthrough hit, "You Shared You," with its closing verse about granddaddy's ecstasy when "You Shared You"; Dill's on-stage "Scallion Shuffle," which inspires broken footbones across the nation (and a legion of crutch-waving audience members); Dill's original promiscuous lover, then the quickly fame-sullied roadie girlfriend; sidekick Mr. Pearl, who pretends to be Minnie Pearl's son; and so on.
I would love clarification of Sheryl Crowe's part in this madness: did she really pen these hilarious songs for a lark?
This easily could become a cult classic, and deservedly so. I thought it was funnier than THIS IS SPINAL TAP, with which it is rightly compared. Who wouldn't fall in love with the cow-turd-sized silver belt-buckle?