The Office – Threat Level Midnight

It was the movie premiere we’ve all been waiting for, the anticipation building since the season two episode, “The Client,” when Michael’s screenplay was discovered in his office: Michael Scott presents “Threat Level Midnight.”

Right away I’ll say that I enjoyed this episode. I think it was a fun loose thread to tie up, even as I didn’t remember that it was still hanging out there somewhere. But I will say that I think there was some lost opportunity here, something that the writers understandably missed if they hadn’t been preparing for Michael to leave for all these years.

If, as Michael said, this was an eleven year project, it would have been really cool if we’d witnessed — or at least heard about — scenes getting shot over the life of the series. Then when we saw the footage on last night’s episode of The Office it really would have been like traveling back in time under the guise of watching Michael’s movie. As it was characters like Jan (Melora Hardin), Karen (Rashida Jones), Roy (David Denman), and Pam’s mom Helene (Linda Purl) clearly had to come back to tape this episode. So no one felt as “blast from the past” as they could have.

That being said, it was all a lot of fun. It was great seeing how everyone was cast in the movie, too. Michael, of course, played hero Michael Scarn, who was somehow able to specialize in saving All-Star games over the course of his career. I’m not sure that I’ve seen an unlikelier action hero than Michael, and that includes Steve Carell in Get Smart.

Stanley was great as the voice of the narrator. I’m curious to know how Michael got him to participate. And Dwight as Samuel the robot butler … it’s interesting, because I just mentioned recently how far Dwight’s evolved from the sycophantic number two in the office. His casting in the movie — and taking a bullet for Michael — was a great call-back to funnier times. And I loved how even in character Jim got to play with Dwight!

Darryl’s logic for agreeing to play the president was great, and I loved his implying how redundant it now was. (On a side note, could Michael being able to see him as president mean he’s in the writers’ mind for manager?) Jim was enjoyable as the villain, Goldenface. I guess Michael wouldn’t have not cast Jim in a leading role, and Jim made for a great goofy nemesis.

Cherokee Jack the hockey trainer fit Creed like a glove. This movie was a ridiculously humorous mash-up of so many random movies that Michael clearly likes: Karate Kid, Austin Powers … I even felt a little Sudden Death in the “hockey stadium in danger” plot.

Oscar as Michael’s speed skater competition for the civilian spot in the NHL All-Star game was cute, and I liked the twist with Goldenface popping out from behind the mask. Did Ryan the coach really not stop the competition when the bullets started flying?

Jan the jazz club singer was a nice way of including her in things, but making Pam some random hostage with just a couple of lines was strange. But I loved how Toby the hostage had his head explode in the most expensive shot of the movie. That was perfect.

Who else was fun … Pam’s mom as the sultry nurse gave credence to the fact that the movie had been shot over the course of years. Andy as Billy the bartender was a cute way for Andy to show off his acting chops. And bringing back Packer (David Koechner) as a bar fly was a great way of making sure not to leave anyone out. Plus the big dance scene with “The Scarn” was great too.

I know it probably sucked for the kids, but I love that Michael busted into a Scranton high school hockey game in order to film his movie, probably without mentioning it to a soul first. It likely made it harder to make it look like he was a part of the game and saving the world, but it worked. It’s so Michael that in the end the plot was all for an insurance scam.

I’d say this was a pretty good episode. And good job by NBC to keep the funny alive; check out www.threatlevelmidnight.com, the movie’s official website, for plenty of fun stuff.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 18, 2011 @ 13:30 EST5EDT