LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

 

There are some comedians/actors that for me are just “too much”. They never seem to be able to turn it off or dial it down, and because of this, I tend to avoid their work. Robin Williams and Andy Kaufman were examples. Another is Jim Carrey. I don’t deny that any of the gentlemen I’ve mentioned have immense talent and uniqueness, I’m just saying that I find them to be too much. I say this because it was with trepidation that I ventured into viewing 2004’s Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events as part of my 2022 quest to see all the movies featuring Meryl Streep.

Jim Carrey plays Count Olof, a slovenly scoundrel who seeks to become guardian to three children of wealth who have recently lost their parents and home in a fire. During Jim’s first scene, he does an impression of a dinosaur. This is a schtick he’s been doing since his days on In Living Color back in the 1990s. Is it funny? Yes. Is it tired? Also, yes. Find some new routines Jim… please. Once the introduction of his quirky character has been established, I’m very happy to say that Carrey’s performance was reserved enough for the rest of the film that I actually enjoyed it. His character of Count Olof proceeds to disguise himself to be two other characters during the story and this gives Carrey the range to really deliver. It wasn’t too much!

The story revolves around three precocious children, each of whom has a unique gift. Violet and Klaus Baudeliare are early teenage characters. She has a gift of being able to invent things using whatever materials are available, and he has a veracious desire to read and remember everything he has read. The third child is toddler Sunny Baudelaire. She has four extremely sharp teeth that allow her to bite into all sorts of things! She has not learned to speak yet, but when she baby-babbles, she is given subtitles that are hilarious! An unintelligible noise becomes, “She’s the mayor of crazy town”!

The movie is a dark fantasy film directed by Brad Silberling. As the children attempt to settle into a forever home, they acquire several temporary guardians along the way. Billy Connolly and Meryl Streep play two such eccentric characters and both have great fun with their roles. Other notable actors in the film include Catherine O'Hara, Dustin Hoffman, Jennifer Coolidge, and Jane Lynch. Lynch and Hoffman are more surprise cameos, but Coolidge and O'Hara have small roles that unfortunately completely underutilize their talents. The cinematography is bold and imaginative, and the special effects are superb fun and not over-employed at all. As fantasy films go this one was a great deal of fun and I’m quite surprised to say that I really enjoyed it. I didn’t think I was going to. What better outcome could one desire?