Okay, here’s my review. While this episode sure seemed like
it was rather “middle of the road” for this season, it had its fair share of
fun moments here and there. In terms of Jonah Hills hosting gigs, I would rank
this second behind his ’08 episode and ahead of his 2012 episode. He wasn’t as
strong of a host as some others this season, but he added to the show when he
could. Still, the writing is about on the same level and most of the new cast
seems to be being used more sparingly compared to the preceding two shows. A
little more of the new FPs as well as more of Bobby and Jay couldn’t have hurt
this episode.
Full disclosure: I ended up watching this episode in a big
lounge/common room with a small group of other people who wanted to see it. I
think it’s worth mentioning because it may have affected my ability to view
this episode as critically as possible. This review will most likely be less
objective than most or all of my others. Anyway, here it is.
Heterosexual Olympic Skating - This cold open was pretty
well done. It was a cleverer premise than most of the stuff they've done this
season and it was executed well. Bobby, Jay, Beck and Kate were particularly
good. It was a nice touch seeing them subvert their typical over use of gay
humor as a tired trope with STRAIGHT humor as a tired trope at least. C+
Monologue – Jonah was funny here. Leonardo Dicaprio was a
pretty good get for SNL at this point, too. It was pretty cool of him to come
on, but he could've seemed a little more interested in the whole thing. I did
like how Jonah trashed him and immediately changed his tone once he walked out.
The Titanic bit at the end was cute and I liked how it made decent use of Noel
and John. Taran's Brad Pitt was also a nice touch. B-
Six Year Old III - I'm not really surprised that they did
this sketch again with or without Hader (since they added Vanessa) because this
is kind of exactly what I thought they would do anyway. Even though it was more
of the same this time, Jonah had some decent lines and his back and forth with
Vanessa at the end was endearing. They also made good use of Sasheer. C+
The Hit - This short film about the snow stakeout went on a
little too long and felt like the type of sketch SNL has done before but it had
an endearing quality to it. The cinematography was good and the ending was
funny even though I did see it coming a mile away. Taran also did well here. B-
Couples Quiz - That game show sketch was a really weak
premise, but I did like how Jonah, Cecily and even Kenan were committed to it. C-
Update was kinda all over the place. People are laughing at
everything but the only good lines were Seth's first Bieber joke and Cecily's
tea party speech joke. Kenan had some good lines in his Miami police bit, but I
think his delivery may have oversold it. Cecily's delivery continues to be more
entertaining than Seth's and her Scottish fish joke was great. Seth's Massachusettes
owl joke was an example of a real news story funnier than the lame punchline
and his call back to Cecily's Scottish fish joke gave me a heavy Tina annd
Jimmy vibe for better or worse. I'm surprised they decided to reprise this
specific Kate Russian meteor character (but for the Olympics) but it's still
pretty entertaining. I did like her dog lawyer, Haiti/middle of ocean and warm
rehab jokes. It's getting huge laughs from people around me right now, so I'm
gonna go out on a limb and say they just saw this for the first time. B-
Horse Stable - This sketch may have been one joke run into
the ground, but in a way it felt a lot like a throwback to something they
would've done back in the '90s. Cecily was all right. In fact, I thought it was
Kate at first instead of her from her voice so I guess that shows she has some
range as an actress. It was something a little different for this season, I'll
give it that. C+
Me - This “Her” parody was another piece that really made
all it could out of a rather lame and uninspired premise. I laughed at the
testicle line and the back and forth with Vanessa in the elevator. The Micheal
Cera cameo felt unnecessary and made the sketch go on a little too long. C-
Dinner w/Boss - This dinner scene is also pretty repetitive,
but Jonah's screaming is making me laugh for some reason. I particularly liked
the Infant Penis Syndrome/black guys wife lines. The ending fell kinda flat,
but at least they knew how to keep it from going on too long. C+
Good Neighbor: Inside SoCal - This short was a lot better
than last week's "I Know" short. I liked seeing awkward Kyle and Beck
make their way back onto SNL (and I also appreciate Beck’s character being coincidentally
named after me). I also notice how this was another one of their bits from
YouTube that made it onto the show (I believe that a version of this sketch
made it onto Kyle Mooney’s Christmas special from 2012…look it up on YouTube if
you don’t believe me), so good for them that they mined something else that's
safe for broadcast television out of their repertoire. I liked the transitions
between all the awkward bro-ish dialogues and the use of the words “sick” and “gangster”
with a hard R. Taran, Jonah and Bobby's performances also made this sketch for
me. B-
Lamborghini - I think they've gotten all the mileage (no pun
intended) out of the former porn stars. Even shoehorning the host into this
sketch felt a little uninspired, but I did like the Seal Team Six/16 Seals and
funeral lines. D+
Well, that show also turned out better than what my lowered
expectations led me to think but not as much as last weeks’ episode w/Drake. I
hope the same thing happens next week with Melissa McCarthy even though they write
completely differently for her than they do for any other host.
Now, my updated rankings…
1. Kerry Washington/Eminem
2. Miley Cyrus
3. Lady Gaga
4. Bruce Willis/Katy Perry
5. Tina Fey/Arcade Fire
6. Paul Rudd/One Direction
7. Drake
8. Jonah Hill/Bastille
9. Josh Hutcherson/Haim
10. Jimmy Fallon/Justin Timberlake
11. John Goodman/Kings of Leon
12. Edward Norton/Janelle Monae
See you next month!
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