Featuring: Margaret Cho
Director: Lionel Coleman
Producer: Lorene Machado
Screenplay: Margaret Cho
Cinematography: Lionel Coleman
U.S. Distributor: Cho Taussig Productions, Inc.
It's possible to go years without encountering a filmed comedy concert. Strangely, the summer of 2000 has brought two of these unconventional movies to the big screen - Spike Lee's chronicle of The Original Kings of Comedy and Lionel Coleman's record of Margaret Cho's I'm the One That I Want. However, although both movies are characterized by live standup performances in front of real audiences, there aren't many other similarities. The Original Kings of Comedy features four performers, each with a different style and approach. Margaret Cho does her entire 90-plus minute show on her own, with only a bottle of water to get her through the evening. The level of humor is also different. The Original Kings of Comedy is consistently funny, and at times downright hilarious. Cho's comedy, although equally as bawdy as the Kings', isn't as strong or as memorable. (I have a suspicion that I'm the One That I Want may play a lot better to a live audience than it does on film.)
Because of its strong autobiographical content and the way Cho uses her face and voice to represent other characters (her mother, in particular), I'm the One That I Want strongly recalls Julia Sweeney's filmed monologue from 1999, God Said "Ha!". Both films have a lot in common - they rely on the audience not becoming bored by listening to one speaker for an hour and a half, they mix dramatic and comedic elements, and the director uses simple camera techniques to allow the performer to be the focal point of every shot.
Cho is an engaging and charismatic individual, and this allows the film to survive several stretches of predominantly humorless material. For the most part, I'm the One That I Want functions as a loose autobiography, concentrating on the time period just before, during, and after Cho's flirtation with mainstream recognition when she starred in the weekly ABC sitcom, All American Girl (the first weekly television series to star an Asian American woman). Cho is frank about the negatives associated with her involvement in the series. She became obsessed with her weight and the belief that thinness equated with acceptance. After All American Girl's cancellation, she spiraled into alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, and depression. She eventually recovered, taking her life and times on tour across 40 cities, beginning in New York during the summer of 1999. The movie was filmed in Cho's hometown of San Francisco during two shows at the Warfield Theater on November 13, 1999.
As one might expect, during the course of her 95-minute monologue, Cho goes off on a number of tangents including (but not limited to) fashion shows, gay bars, gay and straight porn, lesbian sex, and dieting. A good deal of the material relates to Cho's relationship with her parents. She does a loving but exaggerated impersonation of her mother leaving messages on her answering machine. (As a side note, on the night I'm the One That I Want was filmed, Cho's parents were in the audience, seeing the show for the first time. Her tongue-in-cheek comment about their presence, provided via a voiceover, is: "I can feel their silent disappointment from miles away.")
As filmed standup performances go, I'm the One That I Want is a notch below God Said "Ha!" for dramatic impact, and not quite up to the level of Eddie Murphy Raw or The Original Kings of Comedy in terms of generating laughter. It is recommended primarily for those who are fans of Cho or have an interest in hearing the humor-leavened true-life story of a woman whom the television industry took in, chewed up, then spat out.
© 2000 James Berardinelli