Sometimes you see previews for a movie and think, assuming they’ve put in all the best bits for the trailer, that the film looks OK, but not much more than that. Then you roll your eyes thinking, “oh no, not another big screen version of a TV show”. And then it’s hot and you have no air conditioning so you and your roommate head down to the neighborhood cinema to cool off and watch the movie anyway. Then there you are in the dark when you realize those were not the best bits at all. Quickly you poke your roommate and steal his respirator, even though you are not asthmatic, but you are laughing so hard you find that you can barely breathe. If you’ve seen Strangers with Candy (2005) this scenario just may sound familiar.

From the wonderfully weird minds of Stephen Colbert & Paul Dinello comes the movie version of the cult TV series by the same name. At this point in time, these two have got to be the funniest men on the planet. The premise of Strangers with Candy (2005) is completely absurd in the tradition of many great comedies. Escape the heat, the pressures of work and reality for the world of Candy Blank, played by the when out of make up, really cute and charming, Amy Sedaris.

While her character of Candy is absolutely as hideous and repulsive as one would expect an ex-crack-ho-junkie to be, Sedaris manages to make her both disgusting and likable at the same time. Both Colbert and Dinello play roles in this screwball comedy. There’s also a cavalcade of celebrities who appear including Sarah Jessica Parker, Ian Holm, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kristen Johnston, Allison Janney and Matthew Broderick.

OK, so here’s the plot line, Candy blank is getting out of jail after 34 years living “la vita loca” as an addict, prostitute, drug-runner, human smuggler and various other criminal professions. She has a moment of self-reflection and decides to pick up her life just where she left off and see if she can’t get it right this time. She returns to find her mother dead and her father re-married and in a coma. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, “the stuff that comedy is made of!” She starts high school the following day and finds herself embroiled in the competitive world of the science fair. Really, what’s plot got to do with any of this anyway?! Strangers with Candy (2005) is simply a series of loosely connected scenes as vehicles for brilliantly funny comic moments. At times is verges on the surreal. Give your brain cells a rest, sit back and enjoy.

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