When Conan O'Brien announced he was bringing Conan to Dallas for Final Four week, you just knew that he would leave no Texas stereotype unturned, and his first show did not disappoint.
His monologue referenced Texas' fondness for big hair, guns and Whataburger, among other things.
Big Tex from the State Fair of Texas made an appearance, or at least part of him did...
Because O'Brien is in town to promote the Final Four at AT&T Stadium, he showed a remote shot from Jerry World where he used a catapult to shoot a 72 ounce steak — from Amarillo, of all places — into a basketball hoop.
Noted Texan Dirk Nowitzki showed up to administer a Texas citizenship test to O'Brien, where we "learned" that Texas borders two foreign countries, Tony Romo is bad for your health and beef is pretty much everything we care about.
O'Brien also introduced what will likely be a week-long running bit where he attempts to get deputized by the Johnson County sheriff.
Oh, and if it matters, O'Brien welcomed Adam Sandler and Tig Notaro as actual guests, whose combined relevancy to Texas is close to zero, but who made us laugh nonetheless.
Tuesday night's guests will be Seth Rogen and Phillip Phillips.
The stage at the Majestic Theatre was decked out in all things Dallas and Texas for the first day of Conan in Dallas.
Photo courtesy of TBS
The stage at the Majestic Theatre was decked out in all things Dallas and Texas for the first day of Conan in Dallas.
The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.
It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.
Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).
Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other - not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter - that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.
But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.
Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.
Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than it should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.
Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.
