Movie Review Monday: Nick Offerman - American Ham
Welcome to another awesome edition of Movie Review Monday!
This week's film is Nick Offerman: American Ham, the 2014 standup special that was taped live in New York City.
Nick Offerman is best known for his depiction of Ron Swanson on the popular sitcom, Parks and Recreation, which recently finished it's seven season run on NBC. Offerman embodies much of the same lovable traits of his beloved character, but he strays away in a few, key ways that make his performance here a bit skewed from expectations, which is both good and bad. This special is also less standup comedy and more artistic humor. Offerman essentially is adapting his book, Paddle Your Own Canoe, into a stage show. He goes over ten tips he believes lead to delicious living. Some of which I totally agree with, others are just for obvious laughs.
I can appreciate that there is more to the man of Nick Offerman than Ron Swanson, but I was curious about this special because of that character. It's hard to know what to expect from something like this but I felt like it was only okay at best. He is certainly funny, but it was too long overall and just not funny to me in some parts. He definitely goes for the crude jokes whenever he can get them, and otherwise is content to linger on more humorous, emotional, and meaningful bits. It all results in a highly mixed bag when it's all shaken up together. I haven't read the book, so I don't know if it is the same vibe or if the book is better, but this one is not as powerful of a positive recommendation for me as are some of the other amazing standup comedy specials available on Netflix (such as John Mulaney's New in Town).
I'd say maybe check this one out for the sake of curiosity. It perhaps just isn't for me.
You can find Nick Offerman: American Ham streaming right now on Netflix.