The Mindy Project, FOX's second comedy pilot now available prior to its official premiere next month, is created by and starring Mindy Kaling. Kaling played Kelly Kapoor on The Office, served on that show's writing staff from the beginning, and is a best selling author. The Mindy Project will be her immediate standard bearer and it's an interesting, thoughtful and often delightful show that holds a lot of promise for the future.
Kaling and The Mindy Project wear their love of the romantic comedies of the last two decades squarely on their sleeves. The pilot alone had shout outs to Sanda Bullock, Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant and Katherine Heigl. Instead of partying in college, Kaling's character, conveniently named Mindy, watched Notting Hill in her dorm room and has a great Eat, Pray, Love joke. The opening shot of the pilot is a television showing When Harry Met Sally and there was every indication it would be the final shot as well. How Kaling chose to end the episode instead was one of the most interesting things about the pilot, and gives me more hope for this series than most others I've seen. The final choice seemingly flies in the face of the Nora Ephron-laced mash note that is the rest of the episode, but it doesn't negate it. It subverts and updates Ephron in a way that Ephron would undoubtedly endorse.
And the Ephron-isms are hot and heavy in the structure of the series. Kaling's Mindy is a competent, intelligent young woman who isn't able to overcome her social flaws. She has an acidic foil in the office, Dr. Danny Castellano, played with prickish charm by The Newsroom's Chris Messina. The two are destined to be together. She also has a sensible best friend, played by Anna Camp who was so good three years ago on True Blood, two years ago on Mad Men and last year on The Good Wife. She isn't given much to do in the pilot, but she has taken what she was given and created a solid supporting performance.
The show is overflowing with characters, to the point that few of them make any impact. This is in direct contrast to NBC's Go On, that tried to give every character (all 12 of them) at least one significant bit. Here only Ed Weeks' smarmy player Dr. Jeremy Reed and Zoe Jarman's bubbly assistant Betsy really pop. Weeks is by all intents and purposes the second male lead of the show and competently plays vapid smarm; I could wish that it were a bit more inspired. Jarman on the other hand seems to be channeling Jennifer Hall's incompetent and sycophantic secretary Missy from NBC's Up All Night. It's very distracting and tonally off.
Even though I laughed fewer times here than I did even at Ben and Kate, there was a lot to really like. There's an inspired bit about a Springsteen show, that has Messina perfectly playing the punch line. Mindy's speech at a co-worker's wedding is a fine piece of writing. Like Ben and Kate, time is spent in a pool, but here the pay off is perhaps the most unique visual I've seen in a comedy pilot in years and speaks volumes not only about the character of Mindy but about what the writing could become as the series firms its voice. It will be a fine addition to FOX's Tuesday night comedy block.
When considering important voices in pop culture, Kaling has to be at least included. When considering only female voices, she shoots to the top of the list. When considering women of color, she could be seen as the standard bearer. Early in the pilot, Mindy says "it's important that you know that this is not who I am, or who I have been is not who I am going to be." The Mindy Project shows such promise that I am anxious to follow Kaling while she finds what this series and who she will be.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder