I'll watch Owen Wilson in anything. He's kind of like Howard Stern, self-deprecating, but even more lovable. And he's got that smile/wink of the eye.
Unfortunately he's better than this predictable show, but that does not mean I didn't enjoy it. I broke my cardinal rule of not watching anything week by week, but when the first episode was over, I saw they'd also dropped another three, but I'm writing about the first one anyway. Maybe Apple learned its lesson with "The Morning Show"... If you're starting with nothing, you've got to give people more than a little taste.
I've been off Apple TV+ for a while, but online it says if you get a new Mac, you're entitled to three months for $2.99 each, and that's a deal. Which I couldn't figure out how to get, no matter how much I researched and clicked. I asked the guy at the Apple Store when I went in for a new case for my iPhone. Yes, I saw this video on TikTok from an ex-employee saying they'll take ANYTHING back, even cases, so I went and they did! And this guy in the store said OF COURSE I was entitled to the deal. But I still could not make it happen.
And then I called AppleCare.
Which I never do. Because if you can't find the answer online, it probably doesn't exist. And you've got to go through the first layer of help, where they ask you stuff like "Is it plugged in?" And that's what happened, but they kicked me up to the big guy and Friday, nearly a week later, I got an e-mail from my helper saying that they couldn't solve my problems, that they were bugs, which was what I thought, but I got sick of having no ding when I got e-mail and having my messages stacked as opposed to a list on the lock screen of my iPhone.
And we were on the phone for nearly two hours. And there was a lot of downtime and we established a bond so I asked him about the Apple TV+ deal, and he was feeling guilty because he was unable to solve my problems so he said "Let me see what I can do..." and ultimately I got three months free, ergo "Stick."
Not that I was expecting much. The reviews were not top-notch. But there's that magic Owen Wilson element. Ever since I saw him in "Bottle Rocket" I've been hooked.
He's got that weird nose, as a result of injury. Someone else might have fixed it, but he hasn't bothered. Maybe he thinks he'll end up with something worse, which is probably true. But he's a good-looking guy and then I start to think about the suicide attempt, which was contrary to the characters Wilson always plays. It was unfathomable at the time. But even if you're handsome and famous and talented, that does not mean you can't get depressed. Maybe he's not convinced of all I see in him, what we all see in him.
So "Stick' may have been greenlit because of the success of "Ted Lasso." Why not make another sports comedy? But other than "Bend It Like Beckham," I don't think a soccer movie has made it in the U.S. But that golf movie, "Tin Cup," it's Ron Shelton's second best movie, after "Bull Durham," and it's serious as well as funny...and there are other golf movies, however lowbrow, like "Caddyshack" and "Happy Gilmore," and do we need another variation on the golf theme?
Sans Wilson this show would suck.
But Judy Greer as Stick's ex...she looks so much like Lisa Kudrow, but she's not ditzy. She's the center of the family. She can't help but love Stick. Until enough time goes by that she just can't handle his losing anymore, and then there's that family tragedy, talk about predictable.
And then there's Marc Maron... He's so good, so natural in "Stick" it's amazing. The role is perfect for his personality. You can't see him acting like you did in his sitcom and in that wrestling show, "Glow."
The rest of the cast? Mariana Treviño is kinda good, but it seemed like her accent faded in and out.
And then there's Peter Drager as Santi...the prodigy, the golfer... Wilson's rap in the back of the grocery store about loving the game is so right on, just like in the opening when he waxes rhapsodic about the feeling you get when the course meets the sky at the right time on the right day...I know exactly what he's talking about, that's how I feel skiing. And like with golf, every turn, every day is not great, but when you nail it...
As for golf, I played as a kid, not well, but semi-regularly.
And then I played in the eighties when everybody took it up for business reasons. But I just couldn't take it that seriously, I just couldn't be that competitive. Furthermore, my mother, who lived to golf, taught me etiquette which my compatriots did not have, they'd yell in frustration and throw their clubs...
But watching this show made me want to play again. A little. And I'm looking forward to the rest of the episodes. It's SO predictable. But when Owen Wilson gets excited, there's a passion you rarely see in other performances. He might be smiling, he might be laughing, but he BELIEVES!
Which makes you believe too.
Which puts a smile on my face. Not in the "Ted Lasso" way, because Ted was a doofus out of his element and Jason Sudeikis has talent, but not like Owen Wilson...talk about natural.
And Wilson has charisma. The kind the almost made it people have, when they're down on their luck thereafter, boozin' and druggin' and screwin' and bettin'... This role was made for Wilson.
I loved his performance so much, along with his interaction with his ex-wife, that I just had to tell you about it. You've go to acknowledge talent when you see it, because it's truly rare. And comedy? That's the hardest acting of all. And Wilson doesn't play to the camera, he never breaks character, he's FANTASTIC!
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