October 24, 2005

A CAN OF EARL

JasonLeeMyNameIsEar.jpg It's encouraging to see a lot of great writing on TV this season. I'm a big fan of "Everybody Hates Chris." It's just a brilliant show. Makes me laugh every time. The acting on it is great, too.

But my favorite so far is "My Name Is Earl," starring Jason Lee.

It's been slagged as a sort of "Raising Arizona" ripoff, but the show is starting to find it's own sensibilities.

The premise, according to IMDB:

Earl is a low-life who finds a winning lottery ticket, only to get hit by a car, losing the ticket in the process. He then realizes in the hospital that his bad luck is the result of karma in which fate punishes him for all the rotten things he's ever done in his life; therefore, he then decides to dedicate his life to making amends to all the people he has hurt in his life.

So Earl draws up a list of all the wrongs he's committed and sets out to rectify his place in the world.

Characters include his ex-wife, Joy (Jaime Pressly), his buddy Randy (Ethan Suplee) and Catalina the hotel maid (Nadine Velazquez).

Last week featured a great exchange. In the episode, he tries to make up for all the foreigners whose accents he's mocked by teaching a conversational English class to immigrants. The best he can do is teach them all how to say, "My name is Earl."

One Vietnamese woman in the class, Kim Lee, lives a few trailers away from his ex-wife. Which only angers her.

The scene opens with Earl scooping debris from the pool of the hotel where he stays. There are a myriad of beer cans and leaves floating on the top of the algae-filled pool:


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JOY: Hey asswipe! I don't know who the hell is on your "Touched By An Angel" list that's making you teach people English, but you need to stop.

EARL: Excuse me?

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JOY: You got a Chinese girl in your class named Kim Lee?
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EARL: She's not Chinese. She's Vietnamese.
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JOY: I don't care if she's Vietnamese, Chinese or Chuck E. Cheese. She don't need to be learning no English.

EARL: Why?

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JOY: Because it's going to cut into my premium nail decoratin' business.
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EARL'S VOICEOVER: My ex-wife Joe owns a premium nail decoratin' business out of her trailer.
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JOY (to customer): Now, did you want me to paint the zodiac signs on here? I mean, there's 12, but I could paint the last two on your big toes.
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EARL'S VOICEOVER: Business was good until Kim Lee opened a similar operation three trailers over.
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EARL'S VOICEOVER: Joy hated competition so she had to find a way to give herself an edge
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JOY: Look, Earl. You can't teach her how to talk. I got kids to feed.

EARL: These are good people, Joy. They have a right to learn whatever they want.

JOY: No, they don't! There is nothing in the Bible that says people have a right to learn stuff. I have read it.


Pressly is hilarious in her role as the white-trash ex-wife. Later in the show, she attempts a little retribution by teaching Kim Lee how to say, "I do good job," and "I give you big infection."



Posted by Jeff at October 24, 2005 07:58 AM
Comments

I love Jason Lee. Even though he was a complete dumbass and named his kid Pilot Inspektor.

For THAT, he should pay.

But as an actor? Love 'im.

Posted by: Margi at October 24, 2005 04:05 PM
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