Forgotten Film Friday: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

A retrospective by Brooks Rich

So here's my hot take for the day. I like this movie better than the popular show on Netflix. I think the show is very creative and fun and Neil Patrick Harris is awesome as Count Olaf. But I like the tone of this film better and Jim Carrey is much better as Olaf. He still has the humor and wittiness of Olaf but he is also an intimidating villain.

For anyone who doesn't know, the story revolves around the three Baudelaire children whose parents die in a terrible house fire. They are sent to live with Count Olaf, a failed actor who wishes to steal their fortune. The children must stay one step ahead of Olaf as they travel from bizarre relative to bizarre relative. Olaf pursues them, always in a disguise the children see right through.

Again I don't think the show is bad. I really don't. But I just like this more. I won't make this into a here's why the movie better than the show piece. So I'll stop with the comparisons. Carrey is the big reason why. This might be my favorite Jim Carrey performance. It's his usual schtick of creating characters and improvising but with a sinister twist. Everything that didn't work about Jim Carrey as the Riddler works here. Plus this film has scenes between Jim Carrey and Meryl fucking Streep. Win.

I also like the tone of this film a lot. The world of Lemony Snicket is a weird mix of modern and old fashioned. Like it's not present time, clearly, but's not too far in the past. There's this weird feeling of displacement. The tone of the film also has this morbid sense of humor. Like it's funny but there's something dark under the surface. I mean Olaf is just murdering dudes.

I think this film should have been a bigger hit. If this came out later then when it did. It deserves more love than it got. If you come across it, it's on Hulu right now, check it out.

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