Strangers with Candy (2005)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Paul Dinello

Writers (WGA):

Stephen Colbert (series Strangers with Candy) &
Paul Dinello (series Strangers with Candy) ...
(more)

Release Date:

28 July 2006 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Going to high school for the first time is always scary... Especially the second time around.

Plot:

A prequel to the critically acclaimed series featuring Jerri Blank, a 46 year-old ex-junkie, ex-con who returns to high school in a bid to start her life over. |

Plot Keywords:

Prequel | Lesbian | Science Fair | Marijuana | Based On Cult TV Series

Cast

Amy Sedaris	...	Jerri Blank
Paul Sedaris	...	Bus Driver
Chandra Wilson	...	Inmate
Kristy Thomas	...	Inmate
Dee Finley	...	Inmate (as Dee Finely)
Deborah Rush	...	Sara Blank
Ian Holm	...	Dr. Putney
Dan Hedaya	...	Guy Blank
Joseph Cross	...	Derrick Blank
Elisabeth Harnois	...	Monica
Alexis Dziena	...	Melissa
Ivette Diaz Dumeng	...	Melanie
Carlo Alban	...	Megawatti
Greg Hollimon	...	Principal Blackman (as Gregory Holliman)
Hechter Ubarry	...	Nico
Allison Janney	...	Alice
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Henry
Stephen Colbert	...	Chuck Noblet
Paul Dinello	...	Geoffrey Jellineck
Dolores Duffy	...	Iris Puffybush (as Delores Duffy)
Maria Thayer	...	Tammi Littlenut
Timothy Hsu	...	Mascott
Michael Rivera	...	Maniaco
Tom Guiry	...	P John (as Thomas Guiry)
Wallace Little	...	Trace
David Pasquesi	...	Stew
Sarah Jessica Parker	...	Peggy Callas
Matthew Broderick	...	Roger Beekman
David Rakoff	...	Boswell
Cal Robertson	...	Les Tuckles (as Cal Robinson)
Billy Erb	...	Teacher
Callie Thorne	...	Teacher
Chris Pratt	...	Brason
Sarah Thyre	...	Coach Wolf
Kristen Johnston	...	Coach Divers
Justin Theroux	...	Carlo Honklin
Lian Moy	...	Lian
Olivia Oguma	...	Olivia
Jeremy Chu	...	Jeremy
Evelyn McGee	...	Clair Noblet
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alicia Ashley	...	Rolanda (uncredited)
Randy Blair	...	Student (uncredited)
Jonah Bobo	...	Shamus Noblet (uncredited)
Jaclynn Tiffany Brown	...	Flatpoint Preppy Girl (uncredited)
Leanne Cabrera	...	Gym Student (uncredited)
Lionel Anthony Cook	...	High School Student (uncredited)
Angelina Cruz	...	Carmen (uncredited)
Thomas Daniel	...	Parent (uncredited)
Lorena David	...	Teacher (uncredited)
Ryan Donowho	...	Stanley (uncredited)
Lori Finkel	...	(uncredited)
Tony Lagarto	...	Buster Highman (uncredited)
Christopher Larkin	...	Kim (uncredited)
Tony Longoria	...	Flatpoint Faculty (uncredited)
Meghan Maro	...	High School Student (uncredited)
Todd Oldham	...	Mr. Oldham (uncredited)
Sarah Peters	...	Student (uncredited)
Jessica Rothert	...	High School Student (uncredited)
Gina Vetro	...	Prison Inmate (uncredited)

Directed by
Paul Dinello

Writing credits (WGA)
Stephen Colbert		(series Strangers with Candy) &
Paul Dinello		(series Strangers with Candy) &
Amy Sedaris		(series Strangers with Candy) &
Mitch Rouse		(series Strangers with Candy)
Stephen Colbert		(written by) &
Paul Dinello		(written by) &
Amy Sedaris		(written by)

Produced by
Jennifer Booth	....	line producer
Rob Burnett	....	executive producer
Stephen Colbert	....	co-producer
Lorena David	....	producer
David Letterman	....	executive producer
Fred Nigro	....	executive producer
Mark A. Roberts	....	producer (as Mark Roberts)
Valerie Schaer Nathanson	....	producer

Original Music by
Marcelo Zarvos

Cinematography by
Oliver Bokelberg

Film Editing by
Michael R. Miller

Production Design by
Teresa Mastropierro

Art Direction by
Mylene Santos

Set Decoration by
Siobain Flaherty

Costume Design by
Victoria Farrell

Makeup Department
Angela Gallagher	....	assistant makeup artist
Fabian Garcia	....	hair stylist
Kabuki	....	key makeup artist
Steven Kirkham	....	key hair stylist
Mandy Lyons	....	hair stylist
Carla White	....	additional makeup artist

Production Management
Rosemary Lombard	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Daniela Barbosa	....	additional second second assistant director
Jeffrey Lazar	....	first assistant director
Scott Lazar	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Dawn M. Baker	....	scenic artist
Robert Currie	....	assistant property master
Ray Fisher	....	leadman
Isaac Gabaeff	....	set dresser
Adam Goodnoff-Cernese	....	set dresser
Alayna Hughes	....	art department intern
John Peter Melendez	....	stand-by set dresser
Alyssa Motschwiller	....	art department intern
Mark 'Steel Wool' Salinas	....	key art department intern
Josephine Shokrian	....	art department assistant
Adriano Valle	....	art production assistant

Sound Department
Sandy Berman	....	sound designer
Sandy Berman	....	sound supervisor
David Esparza	....	sound effects editor
Anguibe Guindo	....	boom operator
Rick Hart	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paul Pouthier	....	second boom operator
Victoria Rose Sampson	....	adr editor
Victoria Rose Sampson	....	dialogue editor
Victoria Rose Sampson	....	sound editor
Steve Schatz	....	sound effects editor
Steve Schatz	....	sound re-recording mixer
Solange S. Schwalbe	....	sound editor
Noah Timan	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Neil Ruddy	....	pyrotechnician

Visual Effects by
Nick Anderson	....	visual effects

Stunts
Nicole Callender	....	utility stunts
Joanne Lamstein	....	stunts
Tina Mckissick	....	stunt double
Tina Mckissick	....	stunt double: Amy Sedaris
Joanna Shelmidine	....	stunt performer
Manny Siverio	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Cesar Baptista	....	grip
Howard Davidson	....	key grip
Susan Heller	....	electrician
Gary Jackiewicz	....	grip
Jendra Jarnagin	....	company electrician
Anne Joyce	....	still photographer
Hernan Michael Otaño	....	camera operator
Chris Scarfi	....	electrician
Andrew Voegeli	....	first assistant camera
Stephanie Zimmer	....	camera intern

Casting Department
Lauren Grey	....	casting associate
Sandy Holt	....	adr voice casting
Meredith Jacobson	....	extras casting
Barbara McNamara	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Christine Schultz	....	set costumer
Katie Stern	....	costume intern
Michelle Elaine Teague	....	wardrobe supervisor
Julia Van Vliet	....	costumer
Antonia Xereas	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
John Scott Cook	....	first assistant editor
Joshua Duncan	....	assistant editor
Ethan Henerey	....	editorial intern
George Koran	....	colorist

Music Department
David Bondelevitch	....	music editor
Joel C. High	....	music supervisor
Michael Jay	....	music editor
Lawrence Manchester	....	score mixer
Lawrence Manchester	....	score recordist
Daniel McIntosh	....	music playback
Rebecca Rienks	....	music coordinator
Steven A. Saltzman	....	music editor (as Steven Saltzman)
Lodge Worster	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Ashley Bearden	....	production coordinator
John Bloom	....	intern
Donna Cipriani	....	production accountant
Dan Cooley	....	location assistant
John Daro	....	title designer: end credits
Lindsay Feldman	....	assistant production office coordinator
Scott Ferlisi	....	assistant location manager
Trish Gray	....	scout
Mariana Hellmund	....	script supervisor
Micky Hohl	....	production assistant
Joshua Huffman	....	office production assistant
Anslem King	....	key production accountant
Ronnie Kupferwasser	....	location manager
Matt Lappin	....	comedy consultant
Elizabeth MacSwan	....	key set production assistant
Meghan Maro	....	intern
Sean Murray	....	set production assistant
Don Napoli	....	post-production accountant
David W. Schoner Jr.	....	film commissioner
J.P. Summerskill	....	payroll accountant
Amy Teitter	....	production assistant
Max Velez	....	associate to producer
Olivia Wolfe	....	production assistant

Thanks
Tony Lagarto	....	thanks
John Miller-Monzon	....	special thanks
Kathy Sedaris	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Comedy Central Films
• Roberts/David Films
• Silverstar Productions
• Worldwide Pants

Distributors

• THINKFilm (2006) (USA) (theatrical)

Special Effects

• T&T Optical Effects Company (opticals)

Other Companies

• All-Star Animals  animal handlers

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content, language and some drug material.

Runtime:

USA:97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Sweden:7 | Finland:K-11 | Australia:M | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bayonne High School - Avenue A & 28th Street, Bayonne, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Comedy Central Films

Trivia:

Some of the pictures in the lunch room were drawn by Todd Oldham, who also has a part in the film.

Quotes:

Jerri Blank: Are you as real as the Demon with 100 Eyes?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Colbert Report: (2006-07-10)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Schizophrenalize

A disappointing but decent movie based off the brilliant TV Series.

"Strangers with Candy" is basically a prequel to the television series. It tells the story of Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) the 46 year-old ex-junkie, ex-con who returns to high school to pick up right where she left off. During this she has to deal with her crazy science teacher Chuck Noblet (Stephen Colbert), the eccentric art teacher Geoffrey Jellineck (Paul Dinello) and Principal Blackman (Greg Holliman). On top of this she tries to fit which is hard to do but makes friends with Megawatti (Carlo Alban) & Tammi (Maria Thayer). Her friends and her enter a science fair and want to win so that Jerri's father (Dan Hedaya) can be proud and maybe awake from his coma.

Amy Sedaris is Jerri Blank. She play's the ex junkie/prostitute very well. I love the character in general because it's such a unique and weird character that hasn't been done before. My all time favorite character in the film and on the TV series is Geoffrey Jellineck played by Paul Dinello who is also the director of the film. The whole gay art teacher thing to me is very highly amusing and I love how upbeat his character is. It's without a doubt my favorite character on the show but isn't used enough in the movie. Also Stephen Colbert plays Chuck Noblet who is my second favorite character. What I like most about this character is that he is basically borderline insane and just yells and gets upset for no real reason. He also hides that he prefers men to woman even though he is married to a woman. Chuck is a very funny and interesting character. Moving on, it was good to see Greg Holliman back as Principal Blackman and Maria Thayer who plays Tammi Littlenut. Both where very essential characters to the original series and it was nice to see they brought them back for the film along with some of the other characters including Jerri's Mother (Deborah Rush), her mother's boyfriend Stew (David Pasquesi) and a few others.

However what I didn't like was the fact that they changed the dad and Orlando from the original series and in fact Orlando was left out completely. Instead we had Megawatti Sukharnabhoutri played by Carlo Alban who was like a cheap rip-off of Orlando. I didn't find this character very affective but it was OK. Also I would have to say they should have stuck with the original dad. I heard he wasn't an actor but Dan Hedaya didn't say really anything in this movie and didn't really act so I think they should have stuck with the original cast and if they couldn't get the original cast then leave the characters out. I would have rather of done without Orlando instead of dealing with some replacement with a different name but was pretty much the same character. Also the movie had a lot of special appearances by various celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Ian Holm, and Philip Seymour Hoffman however each character was a pretty pointless.

The same three people who wrote the script for the television series wrote the script for the film and those are the three main cast members Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, and Steven Colbert. What I didn't like about the script was the fact that it was basically a tame version of the television show. This was their chance to make these crazy characters do wacky things that they could never get away with on TV. As far as the TV series vs. the movie itself well the TV series is much more edgy, creative and bold. The script had too much of the original episodes written in and when it came to adding new content most of the new content didn't work like the whole science fair thing. That didn't really work for me. Or Matthew Broderick's character, he was a total waste of time. Don't get me wrong some of the script was good but as since it was a TV series first the writing on the series was a lot better and raw. The movie will most likely get an R rating so why not be bold and do things with the characters that Comedy Central won't allow on the air. Also another big complaint is the fact that script didn't have enough of Mr. Jellineck and Mr. Noblet. I really enjoy those characters but they didn't play that big of role and I think they should have been involved more. Like I said I love the characters in the film for the most part, the original characters are fun and quite enjoyable however most new characters were rather dull and pointless. The movie needed to have more conflict then it did, the plot was based too much on this science fair and that didn't go over well. Also some jokes didn't work which is odd since most jokes on the series always work very well maybe it's because most are rehashed from the TV series.

In Conclusion, I liked the "Strangers with Candy" however I think the television show was better because it had better writing, better jokes, and was bolder and took chances. "Strangers with Candy" the movie was a bit disappointing because I am such a huge fan of the series and it's wasn't bold enough and I thought in general the film held back to much. I really wanted to give this film a 9 out of 10 and I am dead serious that is how high my hopes were for the film. However, the movie isn't that great but the movie is still definitely worth seeing and since it isn't out till fall, I am sure some issues will be corrected. I would recommend it; it's worth the price alone for the wacky characters.

MovieManMenzel's final rating for the "Strangers With Candy" is a 7 out of 10. Not as good as the television series but definitely still worth looking at.