Strangers With Candy

High school is difficult… for a 47-year-old ex-con junkie crack whore.

47-year-old ex-con Jerri Blank (Sedaris) promises her comatose dad (Hedaya) to go back to high school. That’s the plot and fans of the original TV show (which ran from 1999-2000) will recognize it. One has to wonder why they didn’t try to expand the story a bit, but the cast is pretty intact and much of the material is funny. Ms. Sedaris plays the outrageously vulgar Jerri Blank with great enthusiasm and Mr. Colbert is hilarious as her bitter teacher. Still, viewers are likely to give up on the characters and the story after a while.

2006-U.S. 85 min. Color. Directed by Paul Dinello. Screenplay: Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello. Cast: Amy Sedaris (Jerri Blank), Stephen Colbert (Chuck Noblet), Paul Dinello (Geoffrey Jellineck), Dan Hedaya, Deborah Rush, Ian Holm. Cameos: Allison Janney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick.

► Amy Sedaris on working with Ian Holm: “Sir Ian Holm, he wasn’t in my rolodex but [winks] he is now. He did the movie because his son told him to do the movie. I thought I would be scared to work with Sir Ian Holm but on the first day I met him he had a cobalt blue t-shirt on with three basset hounds on it and I thought, ‘Phew..’” (Interview on BlackFilm.com)

Trivia: Co-executive-produced by David Letterman.

Quote: “Hello, I’m Jerri Blank and – and I’m an alcoholic. I’m also addicted to amphetamines as well as main line narcotics. Some people say I have a sex addiction, but I think all those years of prostitution was just a means to feed my ravenous hunger for heroin. It’s kinda like the chicken or the nugget. The point is, I’m addicted to gambling. Thank you.” (Ms. Sedaris introducing herself in class)