Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Blistering performances.

I admit that there are good moments snuck in but, over all it is just a Carefully choreographed puff promotion for the little douchebag. Kevin Hart hosted and fell all over his little self to be the ld's best buddy. Martha Stewart why was she there? The links to illegal behavior maybe. Other similar qualities to the ld's, like childish rage at underlings and horrible breath? We may never know for sure. Jeffrey Ross, okay he's funny finally in his waning years. Hannibal Buress is another of ld's sycophants, meh. Chris D'Elia has to say yes to any on air opportunity otherwise no connection, eh? LD's SNL acquaintance Pete Davidson likewise. Ludicrous, who is that? A rapper no one listens to, especially not here. The Shaq, one of LD's photo op friends for TMZ and paparazzi and nowhere else. Snoop Dog, sometimes he's accidentally funny forgetting lines because he's too stoned, and the connection to sleeping with Martha Stewart I guess; has he even met LD before or remember if he did? So that leaves Will Ferrell who did a little skit and carefully avoided interaction with LD, mildly amusing. Overall again just a Carefully choreographed puff promotion for the little douchebag.

As I've mentioned before, I've already seen a bunch of these Comedy Central roasts, but this is one I saw tonight for the first time. I laughed until I physically hurt and cried. Unlike the two most recent ones I watched (Donald Trump and Rob Lowe), everyone brought their A-game, even if they weren't all at the same level. Singling out two, Natasha Leggero (who I hadn't heard of before this) and Shaq were the surprises to me. Natasha for how brutal she got, and Shaq for doing something I wasn't aware he could do effectively, i.e., deliver jokes (that were pretty funny as well). Most surprising inclusion was Martha Stewart, who also did well for a non-comedian. All in all, I liked that pretty much every dais member went for the jugular, even if they ended their mic time by saying how much they liked Bieber. I mean, they only roast the ones they love, right? Really the only downside was the last-minute decision (undoubtedly pre-planned) to turn this into a sort-of personality rehab. Whatever happened to insulting people for the heck of it? Nobody's perfect, after all. I don't want to see someone try to exorcize their demons publicly. Anyway, similar to what Hannibal Buress said, I don't like his music. Never have. However, this 90-minute-ish roast with a willing participant who enjoyed himself was time and money well-spent.

The Roast of Justin Bieber falls in line with the majority of Comedy Central Roasts; sophomoric, offensive and derivative. But if offensive, thin one liners tend to entertain you, there are more than enough delivered by a handful of the talented roasters to keep you entertained thru the glut of questionable participants. Kevin Hart as the Roastmaster keeps the energy high, with impeccable delivery and infectious good nature as insults are thrown his way. Pete Davidson opens the show strong, showing strong chops honed on a year of SNL. His strong delivery and even weaving of self degradation dampen the abrasiveness of topics such as 9/11 (to which he prefaced with a personal connection).Technically difficulties in-show are mostly confined to Shaquille O'Neal, who visibly stumbles through jokes read from a teleprompter. Yet, he still charms his way through delivery and, more importantly, as a repeated target of the evening insults. It is Natasha Leggero and Hannibal Buress that are the evenings weakest comedically, pressing to hard at the insult humor. In Buresses case, his indifferent attitude is brazenly on display. Cut from broadcast is perhaps Buresses most incisive comment from the evening: "They say that you roast the ones you love, but I don't like you at all, man. I'm just here because it's a real good opportunity for me. Actually you should thank me for participating in this extremely transparent attempt to be more likable in the public eye. And I hope it doesn't work." This attitude is reflective in his targeting of Bieber, reflecting a critical commentary that is a detriment to the spirit of a roast. It still delivers as cruelly comedic, but one hopes that Comedy Central recognizes that more than a simple evening edit should be enforced, if to keep any credibility to its series of Roasts. The Friers club attained legendary status roasting celebrities from all walks of life, and to dismiss the roastee in such a blatant and unspecified manner is not making a statement, it's simply unprofessional.While there are surprise appearances by others during the roast, it is no doubt Martha Stewart's turn at the podium that stunned the most. Her presence at introduction is eyebrow-raising enough, but if it is was she who arrived at this event to change public opinion and be the participator, participate she does. To great effect. If you like your humor brazen, immediate and irreverent, a Conedy Central roast has what you need. Even in its low points, Beibers roast keeps you chuckling, but it probably won't tomorrow and certainly not in a week.

Justin Bieber is on his apology tour. I applaud the dude for trying to fix his image and I'm glad he's staying out of trouble. He shows humility for suffering all the jabs. Kevin Hart is the MC. I usually love him and his humor but he's not as funny at roasting people. His bread and butter is being an idiot, getting hit and making fun of himself. He tries too hard to be nice by keep saying that he loves Bieber. SNL rookie Pete Davidson is the first roaster and he lands one great joke about being glad his father is dead after seeing Justin's dad. It's ridiculous that Ludicrous, Snoop Dogg, Shaquille O'Neal and Martha Stewart are telling jokes. Although Stewart has a hilarious African-American joke and I'm sure they all got lots of good writers. Snoop Dogg is really smart going off script and Kevin Hart has some hilarity reacting to him. They should substitute Ludicrous and bring up Dave Chappelle from the audience. Ludicrous should not be up there if he's going to be angry at a Paul Walker joke. Sure it's tasteless but that's expected. He's a better audience member. Bieber dead-pans his delivery and some of the jokes hit well. He does need to stop doing the fake smile and just enjoy it. Did anybody else notice his reaction to Jeffrey Ross' Selena joke? That's an unintentional classic. Chris D'Elia starts with an uncomfortable ISIS joke. His jokes are a little too harsh and as Kevin Hart says, "That was dark." Natasha Leggero, Hannibal Buress and Jeffrey Ross do good sets. Will Ferrell makes a surprise appearance and brings out his Ron Burgundy character. This is an uneven roast with some funny moments.