That turned out to be quite a game, huh? After nearly putting us to sleep through the first three quarters, Super Bowl XLIII lived up to its moniker with a fourth quarter that will most certainly be described as "for the ages." Meanwhile, from a viewing standpoint, the coverage was bloated, distended and rough around the edges. … Y’know, a typical Super Bowl. The highlight of the three-hour pregame show, Matt Lauer’s interview with President Barack Obama, was marred by technical problems (to answer a frantic Bob Costas, who could be heard screaming in the background, yes you did lose him) while the hour-long episode of The Office that ramped the evening down contained fewer laughs than it should have, given that the premise of the show was for the officemates to roast Michael Scott. We guess when you plan over eight and a half hours of programming centering on one event, there are going to be many highs and lows throughout. Here are some more!
High: What a bunch of great movie trailers …
The Super Bowl has always been the first place to catch movie trailers for summer blockbusters–we can still remember seeing the trailer for Independence Day during the Super Bowl and losing our minds–but this year was out of hand. Didn’t it seem like there was another awesome trailer every commercial break? As predicted, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, looked utterly bananas; Land of the Lost made us chuckle ("Matt Lauer can eat it!"); and even Pixar’s Up had a whimsical feel that belied our original expectations. We’re going on record now: Summer of 2009, way better than 2008.
Low: … except Year One!
We’ve been following the progress of the Harold Ramis-directed tale about two hunter-gatherers (Jack Black and Michael Cera) who get kicked out of their village and travel around the ancient world, but the Super Bowl was the first opportunity we had to see any footage. Is that it? Shots of Olivia Wilde (gorgeous), McLovin’, Paul Rudd and David Cross aside, Year One has the look of a real comedic misfire. Though credit to Michael Cera for trading in his hoodie for a loincloth. At least he’s branching out!
High: The MacGruber/Pepsi commercial made our eyes tear …
Looking for the funniest commercial of the night was a fairly tough task, considering almost every commercial was outright terrible. (Someone needs to pull Budweiser aside and explain that Clydesdales aren’t funny.) For us, the best happened late in the game, with the Saturday Night Live skit-cum-Pepsi ad, featuring Will Forte’s character MacGruber. Now, since we had seen the spot during Saturday Night Live the previous night, maybe it doesn’t actually count as a Super Bowl commercial. But who cares! Watching Mr. Forte, Kristin Wiig and the actual MacGyver try to disarm a bomb while arguing about Pepsi’s new slogan had us laughing out loud. Why can’t all commercials be this funny and succinct?
Low: … while commercials in 3-D made our eyes hurt!
If Hollywood is going to insist on making 2009 the Year of 3-D, then they better figure out a way to improve the technology quickly. Like many of you (admit it), we donned our glasses at the end of the first half to watch the three-minute block of three dimensional goodness–a trailer for Monsters vs. Aliens, a Sobe Lifewater spot, and a promo for tonight’s episode of Chuck. The results? Everything was blurry, the glasses cut our nose, and with the exception of a ball flying out of the screen during the Monsters vs. Aliens stuff, nothing jumped out at us. Our televisions are in HD and yet we’re still using 3-D glasses from in the ’50s? Come on!
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