R.I.P. Ivan Reitman

[Mister Tee]

I haven't thought much of Gleiberman's writing for quite some time -- his article last week about how the Academy used to nominate fun movies was ludicrous (his list was either movies whose inclusion horrified critics, or else movies that would easily still be nominated today) -- but this is a pretty dead-on capturing of Ivan Reitman.

For me, Reitman's greatest "contribution to cinema" was producing Animal House, a movie I unabashedly loved in my 26th summer. (I don't blame him for all the bad movies that followed as a result.) Being a Bill Murray fan (and still young), I went to Reitman's early directorial efforts, but found them pretty shabby. (I remember a friend and I agreeing, after Meatballs, that we'd never seen an actor try so hard to animate a stiff.) I know Ghostbusters is viewed as A Classic today (on the "politicians, whores and ugly buildings" standard), but I remember its being more big and loud than consistently funny -- a style that has unfortunately taken over Hollywood comedy. The rest of his directing career was more of the same -- Dave, by virtue of its Oscar screenplay nomination, would probably be seen as his artistic peak, but it's a pretty wan thing.

[Sabin]

Something of a legend with my generation, and presumably the one before. A bit before my time but really funny stuff. Anyone who wants to hail him as a legend is more than welcome. I'll link to Gleiberman's appreciation here: https://variety.com/2022/film/reviews/i ... 235180915/

For the bulk of my life though, he was a comedy God whose name attached to the project was a warning that the film would not be funny. His last good film was probably Dave, which was released before I started watching movies. I only knew him as the guy that big stars were comfortable with because of successes decades prior that he was still dining out on. His son is on a similar path. He hasn't made a good film for ten years.

His last meaningful project was directing the Liz Meriwether screenplay, which circled the industry under the name "Fuck Buddies." I've read it. It was hilarious. To say that the pairing of 60-something Boomer director to a 20-something Millennial woman writer was an understatement. Considering what she did afterwards and what he did afterwards, it was something of a generational torch-passing moment.

[anonymous1980]

Story.

This one is kind of surprising. He wasn't that old. RIP.