Of all the Saturday Night
Live hosts this season, Zooey Deschanel was one of the most anticipated, announced
in late 2011 and hyped in commercials online and on air.
From being the blond actress in Elf to the adorable female component of
She & Him to the quirky New Girl
star, Deschanel has won admiration from both indie and mainstream
audiences without betraying either of these bases. Hipsters and sitcom lovers
alike waited excitedly to see how Deschanel would act on SNL.
One Vulture commenter said that
it was the best SNL episode since the
'90s, and many other commenters agreed that it was at least the best episode of
the current season.
But how much of this was because
of Deschanel, and how much was because of the week's surrounding events --
Santorum's primary successes, the Super Bowl, etc.? Was Deschanel a better host
than others this season?
 |
| Photo: Vulture |
While her monologue may have
been relatively predictable, Deschanel proved that even though she’s the star
of a major network television show, she can still sing beautifully. Her musical
performance was arguably better than that of Karmin, a pop duo whose
performance was lackluster at best. After the Lana del Ray fiasco, though, the SNL producers were probably wise in
choosing a lesser-known artist with few expectations as the episode’s musical
guest.
In general, Deschanel stuck with
the “adorkable” persona during the other sketches as well, straying away from
any performances that might be deemed offensive or mean-spirited. The first sketch
about M.I.A.’s hand gesture during the Super Bowl was the only time Deschanel
hinted at mockery, and even that sketch was fairly light-hearted.
Running sketches like
"Technology Hump" and "Les Jeunes De Paris," while not exclusive
to Deschanel's episode, seemed more innocent with her performance. The cameo by
Jean Dujardin, star of The Artist, was also a nice, unexpected addition
to the latter performance.
In "Being Quirky with Zooey
Deschanel," where Abby Elliott played Deschanel and Deschanel herself
played Mary Kate Olsen, we learned two things: that Deschanel isn't afraid to
laugh at herself and what people think of her, and that she can really act. The
Mary Kate impression was spot-on, and her impersonation was much more
convincing than the Very Mary Kate
series of internet renown. Taran Killam’s Michael Cera impression rounded
out the innocent factor and added levity to an already laugh-worthy sketch.
What were arguably the episode's
most memorable sketches, though, didn't include Deschanel.
Bill Hader's three-part series
imitating Chrysler's Super Bowl commercials with Clint Eastwood stole the show,
simultaneously poking fun at other Super Bowl ads as well as Chrysler's. With
senseless lists of product placement and criticism of traditional American
values such as being able to drive a Chrysler, Hader left a lasting impression
on viewers, even if that impression was simply one of him wearing pants raised
to unnatural heights.
Nicholas Cage's guest appearance
with Andy Samberg on "Weekend Update" was a great wrap-up to Samberg's
recurring Cage impersonation in the "Get in the Cage" sketches. Like
Deschanel, Cage wasn’t afraid to poke fun at his own performances, joking that
all of his movies include speaking at two levels: whispering and shouting.
And the Deschanel sketches with
predictable endings, "Front Page" and "Patio Party," seemed
like time-fillers that were mediocre at best. Kristen Wiig can play many
roles! But we didn’t need to insert a doe-eyed Deschanel into a 1950s-style
newsroom and a Southern crab dinner to know that.
While this episode showed that
Deschanel can act and that SNL front-runners like Jason Sudeikis and Bill
Hader can carry on a great show, it did evoke nostalgia for SNL seasons
past with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, whose performances made any guest hosts’ episodes
shine.
But perhaps that's what the
writers intended, since next week's host is Maya Rudolph.
No comments:
Post a Comment