Donald Glover to Guest Star on Girls
Girls creator and star Lena Dunham has responded to criticisms of a lack of diversity on the show by tapping Community’s Donald Glover to guest star, as evidenced by his presence in set photos from the filming of season two, which began this week in Brooklyn.... read more
Found in: TV, NewsGirls Review: "The Return" (Episode 1.06)
Forget the Mayans: 2012 will now be remembered as the year we all saw Peter Scolari’s penis.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsGirls Review: "Hard Being Easy" (Episode 1.05)
The girls of Girls live in the biggest of big cities. They like to project the image of urbane creative types who write and work in galleries and think they’re above mundane day jobs. But they’re also only a few years removed from high school, and young enough where a five-year relationship spans the entirety of their adult lives. Marnie and Charlie have been together since 2007 and now have to end the most (and probably the only) serious relationship they’ve ever had. “Hard Being Easy” deals with that seriously without sacrificing humor and while reaffirming some of the show’s... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsGirls Review: "Hannah's Diary" (Episode 1.04)
I don’t know if camera phones existed when I was 24, but even if they did I never would’ve taken a dick pic with one. Well, maybe if I was as well-endowed as Adam apparently is. That’s the type of detail that the shows Girls is often (and often inaccurately) compared to never had the opportunity to explore. Although, again, I don’t see George Costanza sending Susan a photo of his junk even if he had an iPhone.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsGirls Review: "All Adventurous Women Do"
Okay, so I’m getting past the whole unlikability issue. I may never like these women as people, but their self-absorption isn’t as prominent as it was in Girls’ first episode. Lena Dunham doubled-down on the negativity in that first episode to establish the show’s voice and themes, but has thankfully dialed down the obnoxiousness since.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsGirls Review: "Vagina Panic" (Episode 1.02)
I’d already watched this episode of Girls when I wrote last week’s review of the pilot. Much of what I wrote there applies to this episode, and to next week’s as well. “Vagina Panic” improves on the pilot, though, mostly because of a few scenes of black comedy, one of which is so dark that I don’t really want to think of it as comedy.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsGirls Review: "Pilot" (Episode 1.01)
In her new HBO series Girls, writer/director Lena Dunham plays a young writer who hopes to publish a book of essays. Perhaps Dunham should pursue that direction in real life. Her smart and idiosyncratic comedic voice would probably work better on the page than on the screen, without real people embodying her intensely self-absorbed and unlikable characters.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsNot Just For 'Girls': Lena Dunham And Judd Apatow On Their Provocative New Series
Tiny Furniture navigated the post-graduate world of bad jobs, worse sex and free-floating confusion. Girls is in many ways the series version of Furniture, with sharper jokes, more characters and a slightly different adrift-in-the-adult-world plot points. read more
Found in: TV, FeaturesWatch The Trailer for HBO’s Apatow-Produced Girls
The combination of Lena Dunham and Judd Apatow for a new TV show makes a lot of sense. Dunham became one of the top up-and-coming comediennes with her breakthrough writing/directing/acting effort _Tiny Furniture_ and Apatow focused less on male-centered comedies my producing this summer’s hit comedy _Bridesmaids_. With _Girls_ the two combine to create a new comedy for HBO. read more
Found in: TV, NewsTiny Furniture review
On paper, Tiny Furniture—Lena Dunham’s slice-of-postgraduate-boho-life, don’t-call-me-mumblecore DIY sophomore effort that won the Narrative Feature Award at South by Southwest—is right up my alley. It’s a talkie, low-fi dramedy with witty dialogue and lots of static shots. Dunham cast her mother (the artist Leah Simmons) and sister as her character’s mother and sister, shot in her mother’s SoHo loft and cast friends as most of the other characters. And the film is about—wait for it—Lena’s character’s attempts to navigate life after film school. It’s a formula that would drive many viewers screaming from the lobby of the indie theater, but... read more
Found in: Movies, Reviews
