| By Montykins | pg 1 of 16 |
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Martin & Lewis is a compelling look at an insecure personality willing to do anything to get attention and acceptance. Why, Sean Hayes was even willing to star in this fairly boring two hours of television movie if it meant people would say his name without adding "you know, the monkey boy from Will and Grace." From now on, people have to say "he also played Jerry Lewis, a much more talented monkey boy, on CBS." And Jeremy Northam, I guess, just wanted the free tuxedos. Let's get going, because we've got two solid hours of smoking, drinking, and pandering to the Emmy voters.
After the tasteful "Sean Hayes. Jeremy Northam" ego-boosting credits, we open on an extreme close-up of a cigarette and a glass of booze. A blurry guy in the background is putting on a suit while it sounds like somebody is telling jokes over a microphone. I can't make out what he's saying, and his audience probably can't either, because there is no laughter. In what appears to be a dressing room (because it's got one of those mirrors with the light bulbs around the edge), Sean Hayes As A Young Jerry Lewis paces back and forth trying to pump himself up, saying "They love me. They love me." He is not wearing any pants. I mention that because sex sells. And because it's fun to say "pants." A more relaxed gentleman -- who is presumably Jeremy Northam As A Young Dean Martin -- is lighting a cigarette and reading a newspaper as whoever's on stage continues to bomb. The unseen guy on stage is using such classic lines as "Is this thing on? Let me know when you hear something you like, okay?"
The unseen guy on stage finally gives up and introduces Jerry, who decides to put on his pants and grab a handful of Saltines. In Dino's dressing room, we hear another introduction, so I guess they were different unseen guys on stage. At any rate, Dino drinks his booze. If you're into drinking games, I implore you not to take a drink every time Dino does. It could kill you.
On stage, Dino sings in front of a band with a clarinet in it. The clarinet isn't important; I just threw it in to make it look like I'm describing all the details. When Jeremy Northam lip-syncs to Dean Martin, he sings out the side of his mouth, with the result that he looks kind of like Bill Murray in Caddyshack. According to the subtitles, he's in the Riobamba Club: New York City, 1943. And I don't know why the subtitles would lie to me. Everything is red, including the tables and wallpaper. Eighty percent of the crowd is attractive young ladies, and most of them are swooning. Plot point: Dino's dreamy!
On a different stage, Jerry is lip-syncing too. Except before, even though Northam was lip-syncing, it was supposed to be really Dino singing, whereas this is the character goofing around while "Figaro" plays. He makes faces and twitches a lot, more or less to the song. He's at The Palace Theater: Buffalo, New York, 1943. This club is less classy than the one Dino was in. Behind the stage, there's a big painting of a topless woman with real tassles coming out of the wall at her...um, tassle areas. Also, while Dino's club had a lot of Army guys, this place seems to be mostly Navy. Which is not to imply that sailors are any less classy than soldiers. I love all branches of the military equally. Please don't bomb my house.