steven_verdile Reviews

Joe Pera: Slow & Steady (2023 TV Special)

A delightful way to spend 55 minutes

[8/10 · 7 October 2023]

I do not usually leave reviews on IMDb. I don't remember if I've ever left a review on IMDb, honestly, but this comedy special inspired me to write one.

Joe Pera: Slow & Steady is a calming, pleasing and powerful hour of storytelling and jokes. Pera has an incredible talent for drilling in on the specific and obscure subtleties of life, for finding some glimmering joy in them, and then contrasting them against larger societal concerns.

I'm giving this special an 8/10, which, in a way, is the perfect score. Any higher and it becomes pretentious and controversial. Nonetheless it's a solid hour full of emotional depth and whimsy.

For anyone with a heart, I highly recommend laying in your bed, cracking open a cold Dr. Pepper, and heading to YouTube to watch Joe Pera: Slow & Steady.

Best Summer Ever (2020)

Fun, Innovative, and Full of Charm

[8/10 · 8 May 2021]

This movie has everything you need. Drug dealing lesbian moms. 30 year olds playing high schoolers. A homecoming prank gone wrong.

It's a disabled version of Grease and High School Musical and Mean Girls all mixed into one beautiful campy party.

There are so many subtle hilarities in the movie. Kicker representation is finally seen, as Rickey Alexander Wilson fears losing his "cool star athlete" image (he's A KICKER) by revealing his secret passion for dancing. His on-the-field, mid-game performance? Iconic.

Shannon Devido delivers a fantastic performance as the daughter of a wonderful family of hippies, living on the road and defying all traditional expectations of the family unit. Who needs a smartphone when you have a ton of sunflowers and use a dartboard as your GPS?

Madeline Rhodes is the epitome of the high school villain. Even Regina George herself couldn't uppercut punch an eagle mascot with such a blend of audacity, nonchalance, and eyeliner.

Emily Kranking, Eric Folan, and Phil Lussier each bring such joy and charisma to their roles, and their presence expands a talented cast to become a fully fledged world of lovable characters.

Overall the movie is so special because of the incredible cast, and because we finally get to see disabled people on screen being HAPPY. This is almost nonexistent in other movies.

Disability exists purely as an anecdote in their world, and like all of our favorite movie-musicals, reality is suspended to create a colorful fantasy of disbelief. The entire team set out to create something new and fresh and they absolutely nailed it. Sometimes you just want a light feel-good flick, and this movie one of the best.