Making jokes, says Mindy Kaling, is how she has made sense of the world around her. From her years writing and starring in THE OFFICE and THE MINDY PROJECT, to LATE NIGHT, her new film with Emma Thompson, Kaling has managed to do more than just survive in the entertainment business - she has thrived, and in one of its more fickle and competitive corners: comedy.
"The script was witty, politically savvy without being pious, sharp as a tack and a lot about me," says Thompson. "She also makes me laugh on at least an hourly basis, which is rare because the frightful state of the world today has had a baleful effect upon my sense of humor."
Kaling stars with Thompson as an aspiring comedy writer. The film takes the idea of the minority hire to its most absurd incarnation, but Kaling lands it because the writing is so witty. Her career has been defined by this ability to tackle age-old clichés in unconventional ways. (Excerpted from Vanity Fair) "Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson are irresistible." -Rolling Stone. "Genuinely funny with something on its mind." -Los Angeles Times
This is how writer-director Jim Jarmusch works: Even before he had written the script for his new zombie comedy, THE DEAD DON'T DIE, he asked Tilda Swinton, "If you were in a small town in America, what kind of profession would you like to have?" "Oh, a mortician," she said. "Bingo! You got it," he promised.
If you're an appreciator of Jarmusch's deadpan humor + all things Bill Murray + Swinton, and the equation = a self-aware dark zombie comedy, then THE DEAD DON'T DIE is your cup of coffee, or chardonnay. Add in the cool-kid cast of Adam Driver, Chloé Sevigny, Iggy Pop, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi and Tom Waits, and, well, how can you possibly resist? "THE DEAD DON'T DIE, and neither does the zombie genre, with Jim Jarmusch's slim but fun hipster take on the format's familiar tropes." -Hollywood Reporter
THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM is worth another week in PT, but I just don't have room for it, so catch this wonderful independent gem in the Starlight before it ends Thursday. And returning for two more Starlight shows this coming weekend, the equally popular THE SERENGETI RULES.
The song and dance extravaganza 42nd STREET has one more showing this Saturday at 11:00, and the Bolshoi Ballet's final presentation this season - CARMEN SUITE / PETRUSHKA will be Sunday at 11:30.
--Rocky