The Unappreciated Actor Files #2: Busy Philipps

So I had a bit of a health scare recently. I went to the gynecologist for my annual exam, and he found a lump in my breast. I’ll cut to the chase here and tell you that it turned out to be a benign tumor called a fibroadenoma, but of course I had to go through a bunch of crap before getting that diagnosis. First the gyno sent me for a mammogram, and based on the results of that, the radiologist sent me for an ultrasound. Based on the results of that, they sent me to a surgeon for a consult on a biopsy. I ended up having what’s called a vacuum needle biopsy, an outpatient procedure during which they stick a large needle into the breast and literally vacuum out several samples from the lump for testing. This all happened over the course of several weeks, during which, of course, the possibility of cancer was hanging over my head, and it all proved somewhat taxing both physically and emotionally. The biopsy in particular kind of sucked; although I’ve definitely endured worse things, having a giant needle shoved into your boob--and I do mean shoved, as apparently I have very dense breast tissue, and the doctor had to apply considerable force to get the needle where it needed to go--is no fun at all. It’s been about a month and a half since I had it done, and it was only last week that the bruises finally disappeared, although I still have a lovely scar to show for it. I held off on telling anybody about all this while it was going on, because I had a strong feeling it would turn out to be something benign, and why make people worry unnecessarily? And now that it’s over and doesn’t really seem blogworthy on its own, I’m tucking it into this seemingly unrelated entry. Because it does lead into the subject at hand.

Having endured this minor ordeal, I figured I deserved a reward, and I decided to buy myself something from my Amazon wish list. I ended up getting the box set of Freaks and Geeks DVDs. Obviously I cannot tell you that F&G is my favorite show of all time (see previous entry), but I can tell you it’s in the Top Five. Probably also in the Top Five would be the only other shows I own on DVD, The Honeymooners and My So-Called Life. One notable thing these shows have in common is that they all ran for only one season, which means I can own the complete series without spending a small fortune. This satisfies both my obsessive-compulsive side and my miserly side. F&G actually lasted only 18 episodes, while MSCL managed 19, but of course they share more than just the ignominy of early cancellation: both were brilliantly conceived and written shows set in high school and featuring memorable, richly-developed characters. MSCL was more introspective and dramatic in tone, while F&G was essentially a comedy, but both explored the complex landscape of late adolescence, perhaps the fulcrum upon which our emotional lives pivot, with wit, heart, and unflinching honesty. Which one outranks the other on my list probably depends on which day you ask me.

I can tell you that while I solidly identified with Angela Chase’s navel-gazing and existential angsting on MSCL, it was F&G’s Lindsay Weir whose life more closely paralleled mine. I mean, just for starters, she was a high school junior in 1980; I was a sophomore that year. She was the “golden girl” who got straight As and always did what was expected of her, until she began to wonder if there was a more vital existence outside the prescribed boundaries and looked to hanging with the “freaks” (or burnouts, as they were called at my school, though the difference was in nomenclature only) as a way to venture beyond them, and ultimately to discover what she wanted from her life rather than what others did. That’s my adolescence in a nutshell right there.

So anyway, I bought the DVDs, and finally busted them out and started watching over the long Thanksgiving weekend. I hadn’t seen the show since it went off the air nearly a decade ago, but I’m happy to say it’s aged very well. (I almost wrote “like a fine wine” there, but that is one dusty-ass cliché. What else ages well?) I’m only four episodes in (I’m concurrently viewing the fourth season of The Wire as well as the British sitcom Spaced, and I tend not to watch more than two episodes of any one before rotating in another), and I may have more to say about the show as a whole when I’ve rewatched the entire series, but one thing that’s become immediately apparent is what a fucking amazing performance Busy Philipps gave as Kim Kelly.

First off, Kim may be my favorite character on F&G. For those of you completely unfamiliar with the show--and if you are, then get familiar! Did I not mention it’s on DVD?--I don’t know that I can do her justice. Some would likely call her “white trash”, most would likely call her a bitch, but if you called her either to her face she’d just as likely tear your head off and throw it over a fence. Loud, crass, ill of temper and sharp of tongue, volatile occasionally to the point of becoming unhinged, Kim Kelly is tough as hell and frequently, unquestionably mean, yet strangely likeable through it all. The show offers glimpses into her home life--the somewhat stereotypical neglectful mom, jerkwad stepfather, and do-nothing brother, the scent of stale cigarettes, liquor, and all manner of abuse hanging heavily in the air--no doubt as a way of explaining her demeanor and earning her sympathy from the viewer, but it isn’t really necessary. Everything we need to find her sympathetic is in the way her character is written and the way she’s played--especially the way she’s played.

All of the actors on F&G did fine work. Standouts for me would be Martin Starr as übergeek Bill Haverchuck and Jason Segel as goofy, rheum-eyed Neil Peart-wannabe Nick Andopolis. But Busy Philipps embodies Kim Kelly so thoroughly that when she’s onscreen I sometimes become conscious that her co-stars are acting. I find this to be particularly so in her scenes with Linda Cardellini. I’m not saying that Cardellini is a bad actor, and this contrast is never so great that it takes me out of the show, but obviously, since I’ve noted it, it’s notable. Maybe it’s the fact that I knew girls like Kim growing up--that I was afraid of them, that I was bewildered by them, that, like Lindsay, I at first disdained but eventually befriended and came to understand some of them, that makes the character resonate so strongly with me. But it’s exactly that familiarity that would make any false notes in Busy’s performance stand out, and there aren’t any. She is totally, scarily real.

I have to admit that I haven’t really seen her in much else. Post-F&G, she was on Dawson’s Creek for a couple of years. Never watched that show. She was on a UPN sitcom called Love, Inc., but it was a sitcom on UPN. No. She was on ER for a while, but do you know that even though ER actually began in the late ’50s, I have never seen a single episode? It’s true! Her filmography is limited, but would make a good start to a list of Top Five Movies I’d Have To Be Clockwork-Oranged Into Watching, including White Chicks and Made of Honor. Recently she had a small part on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which she filmed while apparently about 14 months pregnant, but it was not exactly a juicy role. (She gave birth in August to a girl weighing nine pounds, seven ounces, which…yeah, that’s a big baby.) The thing is, she’s not quite pretty or petite enough to be a leading lady in Hollywood, so she’ll probably be forever relegated to smaller parts and crappy movies. It’s a shame, because I’d love to see her in something really good again.

Still, we’ll always have Kim Kelly. Let’s take a look at a scene from the Freaks and Geeks episode titled “Kim Kelly Is My Friend”, the one in which we meet Kim’s family. This is the end of the episode, when Kim’s boyfriend Daniel comes to find her at the Weirs’ home, after Kim spotted him being a little overly friendly with Karen Scarfoli. Nice work from James Franco here as well.