Dean Parisot gets laughs by letting people take absurd situations seriously. We rate his care with comic ensembles, though his films can be hesitant when the material needs a firmer push.
Fi1m perspective
Larry David keeps talking, and the people around him know how long to wait. In Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), an ordinary disagreement becomes painfully funny because nobody knows when to stop. We laughed at those prolonged quarrels, then grew weary of the repetition. Parisot is one of the series’ directors, and we should not credit him alone with a comic method sustained by David and the supporting cast. But it is a useful starting point for his work: he treats the ridiculous things happening to his characters as problems that deserve to be taken seriously.
His route from the short The Appointments of Dennis Jennings (1988) to the feature debut Home Fries (1998) led to Galaxy Quest (1999), still his best-known film. That science-fiction parody suits his habit of treating comic material as drama, with room for performer vanity and affection for the genre. The action and the characters’ feelings matter alongside the jokes, although the reluctance to push the absurdity further can make the pace uneven. We prefer that care to mockery, but it should not require the comedy to slow down.
Alongside the features came television work such as the pilot of Monk (2002), with opportunities to establish how an ensemble should play together. His film collaborators include producer Mark Johnson and writer and actor Steven Wright, each of whom has worked with him twice. We value that attention to a group in Curb Your Enthusiasm, where the supporting cast’s patience is essential to the joke. David needs people who will let him continue, even when there is every reason to interrupt.
Later features include the remake Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), the action-comedy sequel RED 2 (2013) and Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020). Returning to established comic material has not always been rewarding: RED 2 feels stretched and less inventive than its strong cast deserves. We want more from him than keeping capable performers occupied, particularly when his science-fiction comedy shows how well he can combine action with concern for the people involved. Start with Galaxy Quest, and take Curb Your Enthusiasm an episode at a time.
Biography
Dean Parisot is an American film and television director. He was born on 6 July 1952 in Wilton, Connecticut.
Parisot won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1988 for The Appointments of Dennis Jennings, which he co-wrote with Steven Wright. He graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and participated in the Sundance Institute's June Lab. His feature films include Galaxy Quest (1999), Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), RED 2 (2013) and Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020). He has also directed episodes of series including Monk, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Modern Family and Justified. Parisot was married to film editor Sally Menke until her death in 2010.
