One of the most prominent, and interminable, thinkpiece sagas of the last 4 years has been how comedy can cover or should cover a Trump Presidency, After various fumblings and much hand-wringing, many who needed some form of righteous laughter settled on Sarah Cooper and her lip sync videos - or enough of them did to get her a Netflix special, anyway.
While Cooper is a charismatic and compelling presence, even she clearly knew that 50 minutes of lip-syncing was not going to fly. As a compromise, we have her claim to fame alongside what amounts to a bog-standard SNL episode, written and produced by various SNL alum, and giving central supporting roles to two (Fred Armisen fares better than Maya Rudolph, as he is at least given a character to play rather than the meme-ready outbursts the very talented Rudolph seems to frequently settle for).
If you are not compelled by Cooper, or by the central gimmick, you can pick your way through a sea of cameos, ranging from Aubrey Plaza giving an incandescent performance, to Winona Ryder showing how she has kept her vibrancy even through 35 years of Hollywood hell, to Megan thee Stallion basically playing an overextended self-parody, to Helen Mirren's star power being mired in the most tryhard moment of the special, to Tommy Davidson making a welcome appearance in spite of brutally dated material, to Jon Hamm gamely grinning through middling sketchwork in the way only 50 SNL cameos can teach you how to do, to Jane Lynch being handed some of the worst writing of her career, to Marisa Tomei trying and failing to lift the slapdash last act - a nihilistic shrug of an outcome so clunky it made me go from apathetic to dissatisfied.
My strongest praise goes to Marcella Arguello and Eddie Pepitone, who give some layers and hard work in spite of having the hackiest roles (essentially, living, breathing Twitter 2020 jokes).
As a vehicle to introduce Cooper to a wider audience, she feels somewhat left behind, even though she is the main star. The one moment that attempts to define her - when she has to combat workplace accusations of being the "angry black woman" - is buried, but at least gives hints of what she might do if she gets another, and ideally, much better put together chance.
While Cooper is a charismatic and compelling presence, even she clearly knew that 50 minutes of lip-syncing was not going to fly. As a compromise, we have her claim to fame alongside what amounts to a bog-standard SNL episode, written and produced by various SNL alum, and giving central supporting roles to two (Fred Armisen fares better than Maya Rudolph, as he is at least given a character to play rather than the meme-ready outbursts the very talented Rudolph seems to frequently settle for).
If you are not compelled by Cooper, or by the central gimmick, you can pick your way through a sea of cameos, ranging from Aubrey Plaza giving an incandescent performance, to Winona Ryder showing how she has kept her vibrancy even through 35 years of Hollywood hell, to Megan thee Stallion basically playing an overextended self-parody, to Helen Mirren's star power being mired in the most tryhard moment of the special, to Tommy Davidson making a welcome appearance in spite of brutally dated material, to Jon Hamm gamely grinning through middling sketchwork in the way only 50 SNL cameos can teach you how to do, to Jane Lynch being handed some of the worst writing of her career, to Marisa Tomei trying and failing to lift the slapdash last act - a nihilistic shrug of an outcome so clunky it made me go from apathetic to dissatisfied.
My strongest praise goes to Marcella Arguello and Eddie Pepitone, who give some layers and hard work in spite of having the hackiest roles (essentially, living, breathing Twitter 2020 jokes).
As a vehicle to introduce Cooper to a wider audience, she feels somewhat left behind, even though she is the main star. The one moment that attempts to define her - when she has to combat workplace accusations of being the "angry black woman" - is buried, but at least gives hints of what she might do if she gets another, and ideally, much better put together chance.