Earlier this week, I had decided I was going to write an article about the song "Come Out and Play" by California punk band, The Offspring. You've probably heard it, but if you haven't it goes like this:
A song about high school gun violence that came out 22 years ago? What are the chances? It's almost like our country has a well-known problem with guns that has existed for decades, but no one wants to do anything about it other than argue and write snarky articles on the Internet.
The article would have continued on like that, but then I remembered how no one really cares about mass shootings, considering we've already stopped talking about the most recent one. What most recent one? Well by the time this comes out, two more could have already happened, so I'm not even going to be specific. That's pretty depressing and cynical, right? Right. That's what led me to watching "Pee-wee's Big Holiday" on Netflix and writing about that instead.
Guys, gals, if you have Netflix, go watch it. This article will be here when you get back. Are you back? Sweet. That was surprisingly good, right? I mean I wasn't surprised. It was produced by Judd Apatow and written by Paul Rust and Paul Reubens. That part was surprising when I heard about it several years ago on an episode of "The Nerdist" podcast when they interviewed Joe Manganiello, who co-stars in the movie and also does an insane Pee-wee impression. Like if Paul Reubens was dead, I would think that Joe was channeling his spirit.
Anyway, if you think you're too cool for Pee-wee Herman, or that I just liked this new movie because of nostalgia for "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" then you're wrong and have probably never actually watched Paul Reubens' character. Before Pee-wee had a family friendly playhouse, Reubens was doing improv comedy with Pee-wee as his biggest character. There's a whole story about the road to the character getting his own movie and later a TV show, but that's not what this is about and clearly you have the Internet, so if you care you can go find it yourself.
The point is, the character was originally intended for adults, and if you are an adult reading this who has seen Pee-wee then you already know that. "Big Adventure" had a lot of adult humor in it, and "Big Holiday" has even more. The general plot of the new movie is that Pee-wee meets Joe Manganiello, as himself, and they quickly become best friends. Joe invites Pee-wee to his birthday party in New York City and then the movie happens. Joe Manganiello guys.
Seen here being totally natural.
Without going into more detail, there was a scene where I laughed for a solid two minutes and did that thing where you have to pause the movie because you're legitimately scared for your life when you can't catch your breath. There are also several slow motion dream sequences with Pee-wee and Joe that are in Spanish for no reason. They're funny, regardless of your fluency. But I don't speak Spanish ,so maybe they become less funny if you do, although I'm sure that's not the case.
So, if you're depressed about the never-ending cycle of gun violence and pointless arguing, or more likely apathetic about it, then hop on Netflix and check out "Pee-wee's Big Holiday." Just remember to pause it if you start to get light headed from laughing.
