Dr. Mediocre

I found out about Dr. Horrible just in the nick of time thanks to Facebook feed and a couple of really excited friends. I love Joss Whedon, and I was really excited about viewing his latest masterpiece. Several hours of my weekend were spent watching Dr. Horrible (twice). Ultimately that second viewing was a waste of time. Dr. Horrible is not bad, but I definitely isn't on par with Buffy or Firefly. The most accurate word for it would be "cute." The songs were catchy, the characters were likeable, the acting was good, I chuckled a couple of times at smattering of humor thrown in. There was simply nothing profound about it, and it was neither laugh out loud funny, nor insightfully humorous. The best example of the humor you'll find in Dr. Horrible is the song that the Dr. sings about his freeze ray. He sings about stopping time and the pain in his heart with the freeze ray. I LOLed, but nothing more. That's pretty much how the rest of the film is, once you get past the painfully long opening vlog (That part was just unneccesarily long). There are also some LOLworthy scenes that make fun of cheesy stock hero characters. You know, it's kind of funny, but somehow it's just missing something. From the way people on Facebook had been raving about it I was expecting to have my mind blown. Nope. I think people are so obsessed with Dr. Horrible because it was a Joss Whedon project. Come on people, you don't have to worship the guy. Not everything he makes is epically awesome. Be honest.

Now, while the content of the film failed to impress, the thing itself was pretty badass. Some of the most talented people in show business got together to show the corporate bigwigs that they are capable or creating quality work on their own. They definitely succeeded in that respect. The film was pretty damn high quality; it's awesome for a project they slapped together because they had nothing else to do during the writer's strike. The form was also pretty cool. Blending a vlog form with a musical was pretty genius. It's nice to see something different like that every once in a while. I think that given more time and polishing, Dr. Horrible would have the potential to push the comedic envelope. For what it is, the film is pretty good though.

I'll probably buy Dr. Horrible when/if it comes out on DVD (I like tangible things and special features. Downloads aren't my thing) to show some support for my "peeps." I'd especially be interested if the songs were released on a CD. So there you have it. Definitely buy Dr. Horrible, it's worth it. Do not, however, make it into something it's not. Don't feel like you have to like it just because of all the hype, and please don't tout it as "comedy of the year/century/eon," because it isn't. It's brilliant on other levels, but not on a comedic one.