Julie Brown makes foolishness funny by playing it with complete confidence. We like her best when a character's certainty supplies the joke; the broader pop-culture parodies can depend too heavily on recognising their targets.
Fi1m perspective
In Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), Julie Brown's Candy Pink speaks with the assurance of someone who sees no reason to examine what she has just said. Brown makes foolishness funny by giving it that certainty; she does not need to signal that she knows better. We laughed at the confidence with which the foolish lines arrived. It is the part of her comedy we most value, even when the jokes themselves are uneven.
Brown shares the writing credit with Terrence E. McNally and Charlie Coffey, and the writing works best when somebody says something unkind without noticing. The characters can be casually nasty without making the film feel mean. The weaker jokes merely point out how peculiar everything is, then wait for credit. Geena Davis's warmth carries Julien Temple's musical, but Brown helps keep its silliness worth an evening when the story loses shape.
Her route from comic songs to screen roles matters because so much of the humour is material she has helped make for herself. An earlier song supplied the basis for Earth Girls Are Easy; Just Say Julie (1989–92) took her self-absorbed persona into sketches and music-video parody. In Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful (1991), which she wrote, directed and starred in, celebrity mockery became the subject of a mockumentary. Here her timing has to sustain a character as well as deliver the individual jokes.
The limitation is that a parody can ask us to remember too much of whatever it is mocking. Medusa takes on Madonna's Truth or Dare, so familiarity with the target does some of the work. The exaggerated delivery can be broad, too, and speed alone cannot rescue a thin joke. We prefer the moments in Earth Girls Are Easy when somebody's foolish certainty is enough on its own.
Clueless (1995) puts her in the supporting role of gym teacher Ms Stoeger for Amy Heckerling. The television spin-off also gave her writing, producing and directing work: the actor's job has seldom been her only one. Start with Earth Girls Are Easy if cheerful absurdity appeals. Expect some jokes to need more help than she can give them.
Biography
Julie Brown is an American actress, comedian, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. She trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
Brown appeared as Chloe in Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985). She is also known for roles including Ms Stoeger in Clueless (1995), Dee La Duke in Camp Rock (2008), and voice work in A Goofy Movie (1995) and Batman: The Animated Series (1992). Other credits include appearances in Earth Girls Are Easy (1989), which she co-wrote, and guest roles in series such as Quantum Leap (1989) and Six Feet Under (2001). She has released comedy albums and hosted the MTV series Just Say Julie.
