《废柴联盟》:“废柴”也有出头天

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  “废柴”,粤语中的一个词,意为“废物”,“孬种”。在《废柴联盟》这部新美剧中,你可以见到这么一帮“标准定义”的“废柴”:失婚又失业的中年妇女,牌照被吊销的律师,郁郁不得志的橄榄球运动员,不擅交际的无业游民等等。看到这些“失婚”、“失业”的前缀,恐怕有人要为此掬一把同情泪了。不过,在这里,你千万别这么做!他们的不幸正是观众欢乐的源泉。有人说,幸福的人承载着不幸的人的寄托和向往而更幸福地生活。然而,怎样的人才算幸福?穿金戴银吗?还是事事无忧?在这个多元化的年代,谁能给幸福一个最权威的定义呢?所以,在看这部美剧时,你别同情里面的“废柴”,因为他们有他们的幸福。
  ——Mac
  
  When it comes to the comedy of awkwardness—the laughs wrung from miscommunication, embarrassing emotional 2)act-outs, and 3)baffled stares—NBC’s 4)sitcoms are better than any other network’s.
  
  5)The Office, 6)30 Rock: Terrific shows all, and all sitcoms that rely heavily on lead characters that are oblivious or indifferent (sometimes both) to the 7)crass or 8)incorrect nature of the things they say.
  
  Not so in Community. As the season has progressed, the series has steadily developed in a refreshingly new manner, one distinct from its Thursday-night neighbors. What makes Community 9)exhilarating is that it’s frequently all about confidence. As the only new scripted NBC show, it gives an impression of being shiny and fresh thanks to its unique setting: a community-college campus.
  
  McHale plays Jeff Winger, a typically 10)soulless 11)yuppie lawyer of the 12)Gen-X “Me” variety. Winger’s license to practice law is13)suspended when the 14)Bar Association finds out his law degree is from Columbia—the country, not the university. Though his law degree is15)legitimate, his undergrad diploma is anything but. If he has any hope of resuming his 16)ambulance-chasing career, Jeff needs to go back to school, and the only one that will take him is a local community college.
  
  Jeff’s goal is to get through the 17)ordeal as quickly and painlessly as possible—until he gets a look at Britta (Gillian Jacobs), an attractive woman from his Spanish class. Somehow, his attempt to pick her up leads to him becoming leader of a Spanish study group whose members include a bored, aging businessman named Pierce (Chevy Chase), who boasts of having invented an “award-winning moist 18)towelette”; Abed (Danny Pudi), a socially awkward information 19)sponge fond of acting out scenes from ‘80s movies; Troy (Donald Glover), a high school football star who lost his scholarship after being injured doing a 20)keg flip; Troy’s once and future classmate Annie (Alison Brie), whose own high school career fell apart over drugs; and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), a 21)divorcee who just wants respect—and for Pierce to stop 22)hitting on her.
  
  They are a bunch of “losers.” None of them like each other much or are entirely clear on how they ended up in this study group—or this class, or this school. Yet in this group of 23)misfits and 24)outcasts, Jeff discovers that he can use his powers of persuasion for good as well as evil and convinces them to 25)tough it out with a 26)monologue that includes the phrase “We’re the only species on Earth that 27)observes 28)Shark Week.”
  
  It’s laugh-out-loud funny, yet there’s also an 29)undercurrent of gentle emotion to the pilot that took shows like The Office a while to incorporate into the stream of jokes. Jeff’s a self-interested 30)hustler, but as he tries to 31)con the rest of the study group into being better in order to seduce Britta, he’s 32)inadvertently making himself better.
  
  That mix of sarcasm and sweetness wouldn’t be possible without an immensely likable lead performance by McHale. And the chemistry between him and the rest of the cast is obvious, which makes the show extremely fun. It feels particularly appropriate to pair McHale with Chase. Pierce is creepy and not very plugged in to the modern world, and Jeff doesn’t have much patience for him, which leads to this exchange after Jeff has been 33)humbled in front of the entire group:
  
  Pierce: “You remind me of myself at your age.”
  
  Jeff: “I deserve that.”
  
  People laugh at losers. But when it comes to Community, we laugh for them. Life is tough, but watching this bunch of “losers” trying to leave their pain behind and move on in 34)hilarious ways, you feel you can actually 35)live with a lot in real life. And Community’s new season is making its comeback on September 24th, so enroll now. There’s still time to join the group.
  
  说到闹剧——通过一箩筐词不达意、“ ”情不断的表演,还有困惑眼神来制造笑点——NBC电视台出品的情景喜剧绝对是其中的佼佼者。
  
  《办公室》和《我为喜剧狂》都是很不错的电视剧,而所有情景剧都会把戏份压在那些言谈粗鄙的,又或是出言不逊却浑然不觉或充耳不闻的(有时候两者皆是)主角们身上。
  
  但《废柴联盟》却没陷入这个套路。随着剧情的推进,该部连续剧已经奠定了其让人耳目一新的风格,使其成为周四晚同时段电视剧(此指《办公室》、《我为喜剧狂》等)中的一枝独秀。《废柴联盟》之所以大受欢迎因为它常常是围绕着“自信”这一主题。作为NBC电视台近期唯一一部新剧,全因其独特的背景——社区大学校园,给人留下了清新闪亮的印象。
  
  麦克哈尔在戏中扮演的角色叫杰夫·温格,典型的X世代雅皮士,一个自我而又不择手段的律师。剧中,美国律师协会发现了温格的法学文凭的确是来自哥伦比亚——可惜不是美国名校哥伦比亚大学,而是哥伦比亚这个国家,因此他的律师执照被吊销了。尽管他的法律学历是合法的,但他的大学文凭却不被承认。如果要重返他那“惟恐天下不乱”的行业,杰夫要重回校园,而唯一一所愿意接受他的学校是当地的社区大学。
  
  一开始,杰夫的目标只是尽快且尽可能轻松地度过这个难关,直到他看到了贝塔(由吉安莉·雅各布斯饰演),那是他在西班牙语课上遇到的魅力女神。为了追求贝塔,他力争成为西班牙语学习小组的组长,而这个小组成员包括皮尔斯(由切维·切斯饰演),一个老气横秋的闷蛋商人,宣称自己发明了一款“能获奖的湿纸巾”;亚伯(由丹尼·璞邸饰演),一个不擅交际的资讯狂,尤喜欢模仿80年代电影情节;特洛伊(由唐纳德·克鲁佛饰演),一个高中时期的橄榄球明星,在一次“倒立喝啤酒”的游戏中受伤后被取消了奖学金;特洛伊的旧同学安妮(由艾莉森·布里饰演)后来又跟他同班求学,之前她的中学生涯因滥用药物而狼藉收场;还有雪莉(由伊薇特·尼科尔·布朗饰演),一位失婚而渴望得到尊重的女人,尤其是希望皮尔斯不要再骚扰她。
  
  他们就是这么一帮“废柴”。他们彼此嫌弃,也不知道自己怎么就进了这个学习小组,来到这个班,“落入”这个学校。然而,在这群不合群不入流的人身上,杰夫发现,他能用他那三寸不烂之舌把好事说成坏事,反之亦然,并说服他们忍忍就过去了,他发表的长篇大论其中包括这么一句话:“我们是地球上唯一会庆祝《鲨鱼周》的生物。”
  
  这是一部能让你笑破肚皮的电视剧,但里面搞笑诙谐之余也暗涌着一股温情,这是《办公室》之类的电视剧一时难以超越的。杰夫是一个利己主义骗徒,但在他尝试去引导其他小组成员进步以此来吸引贝塔的同时,他自己也在潜移默化中向善向上了。
  
  要是没有主角麦克哈尔玲珑讨喜的表演,那这部戏里的冷嘲热讽与甜蜜温馨就不可能完美地结合。显然,他与其他演员之间擦出了火花,这使得该剧逗趣横生。让麦克哈尔跟切维·切斯搭档正是恰到好处。皮尔斯这个角色性格龌龊阴郁,与现代社会格格不入,杰夫不怎么受得了他,于是,在杰夫于全部组员面前受挫后出现了他们之间的这样一段对话:
  
  皮尔斯:“你让我想起早年的自己”。
  
  杰夫:“那是我自找的。”
  
  “废柴”往往为世人所嘲笑,然而在《废柴联盟》里,我们却为他们而笑。生活是残酷的,看着这些“废柴”们努力摆脱苦痛,闹腾着前进时,你会感觉,在现实生活中,即使有再多苦痛,这也没什么大不了的。新一季的《废柴联盟》在9月24日欢乐回归,现在就来报名吧。要参加这个小组,还来得及哦。
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