I didn't understand the point to this feature-length animated movie. The premise, that a young, newly married suburbanite suddenly discovers that he can bring his thoughts to reality, shows great promise. It's just that the premise is not developed, and the film does not explore too deeply the possibilities. It's played for cute, and doesn't deliver up too much beyond its novelty. That barely holds the movie together.
I Married a Strange Person!
1997
Animation / Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Sci-Fi
I Married a Strange Person!
1997
Animation / Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Sci-Fi
Plot summary
When Grant Boyer's satellite TV dish is hit by two birds in mid-coitus, just days before his own wedding, he gains a special secret power. His imagination is no longer something that just goes on in his head - whatever he imagines actually happens in real life. Sexual fantasies, daydreams, flashes of random weirdness, they all come true, brought into being by a strange nodule at the back of his neck, the base of his brain. At first Grant's problems are domestic: his wife Keri is upset by the change that has come over him. During sex he fantasises about her as a nun, turns her breasts into balloon animals and imagines he's making love to three of her simultaneously, so she goes to live with her parents. After an ill-fated television appearance, SmileCorp, the fourth-biggest US television network plots to steal Grant's nodule for their own benefit. Chaos and musical numbers abound when Keri returns to help save the day.
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Why the Exclamation Point?
Creative, inventive and side-splittingly funny
'I Married a Strange Person' is (I think) Bill Plympton's second full-length animated film (is that right? I'm not sure),and does not disappoint for a minute. Like 'The Tune', 'I Married a Strange Person' is a completely original animation film, done in Plympton's completely unique style, and is extremely visually inventive and creative. It's also incredibly funny, and creates some wonderful, hilarious characters. Even for Plympton, it's unusually twisted and bizarre, full of sex and violence at their most hilarious. Also some brilliant musical segments with songs by Plympton's old collaborator Maureen McElheron ('I'm happy, you're happy, everybody's happy...') So, for Plympton fans, and any fan of adult animation or underground cinema, this film is highly recommended. Still, to be fair, a few words of caution: 'I Married a Strange Person' is extremely hard-core, with very explicit (though hilarious) scenes of sex and violence. There is, in fact, one (funny and inventive) sex scene that lasts over five minutes. The plot, also, makes very little sense, and the movie often seems to be weirdness and sickness for weirdness' and sickness' sake. If that doesn't bother you, buy it, by all means. If you have a sense of humor and are not easily offended, 'I Married a Strange Person' will be a pleasure. If you're a Plympton fan, don't even think twice - this is one of his best works. If you're not familiar with his work, by all means familiarize yourself.
If You Could Do Anything, What Wouldn't You Do?
Bill Plympton's feature-length cartoon is about how Our Hero gets a boil in his neck that permits him to change things into other things. Because he is newly married, this upsets his bride (even though the sex is great),and she rushes home to her parents. Meanwhile, the CEO of minor TV network Smilecorp hears of this ability and orders its military division to seize the person, or at least the boil, using all sorts of armaments.
At this point, the story, such as it is, loses any sign of coherence; with the ability to change anything into anything else, how can it be otherwise? Still, there are some fine Plympton gag sequences, and the animation is a little fuller than it usually is for his work; apparently he got more money for this production than usual.
None of which serves to make it a great cartoon. Although the gimmick suits Plympton's wild sensibilities, the open-ended nature of it seems to have overwhelmed the film maker.