4/5
Now, This Is A Story.
75 Mins. Starring: Will Smith, Alfonso Ribeiro, Karyn Parsons, Tatyana M. Ali, Ross Bagley, Joseph Marcell, Jeff Townes, Daphne Maxwell Reid, Janet Hubert & James Avery.
Yo, home to Bel-Air! No matter if this cab is rare. Let's pull up to this house, about 7 or 8 before we tell this year, "smell ya later" like 'The Simpsons'. Thankful this Thanksgiving, this is one homecoming reunion you really want a seat at the table for. Especially in this truly tragic 2020, that from Kobe to Chadwick and COVID-19 to police brutality has lead us towards some dark places looking for the light and inspiration like that of the Black Lives Matter movement. A calendar that coronavirus has crippled so much that we may not be even able to go home in time for the holidays this Christmas. Still let's spare a thought for those who have lost their nearest and dearest this year and stay safe and distanced at home watching 'Home Alone' in a Zoomed dinner date with our family. Or maybe we could watch this? Because when it comes to fictional families. From 'The Jeffersons' to 90's golden era sitcom greats like the 'Frasier' psychiatric clan tossing salad, or the one were those 'Friends' became closer than their cross the hall, Manhattan studio apartments, this is our millennial generations 'Cosby Show'. And as Bill Cosby ruined all that, nothing feels closer right now than that NBC studio audience living room they have brought back in reunion for this special of 'The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air'. One that as fondly familiar as a household name feels like your own one. So much so you wish you feel like you could just head to the kitchen and flambé some meat. POOF! All airing now on the new Netflix, Amazon Prime and of course Baby Yo...I mean the Disney + streaming service, HBO Max. One that has recently revealed another reunion in the 'Hartsfield Landing' Los Angeles Orpheum Theatre theatrical, more than a table read of a 'West Wing' (like Chris Rock's Prince versus Michael Jackson joke. Or 'The Fresh Prince' versus 'Cosby Show'. 'The West Wing' versus Kevin Spacey's 'House Of Cards'? 'The West Wing' won!) reunion special featuring Sterling K. Brown in place, paying tribute to the late, great Jon Spencer for Michelle Obama's 'When We All Vote' campaign (and look at the good that did). Or Los Angeles Laker legend LeBron James and Maverick Carter's 'Shop' talk with Mr. President, number 44 like Jerry West, Barack Obama. Not to mention the DC takeover that starts with the long awaited, pushed back 'Wonder Woman 1984' sequel this Christmas, before the 2021 New Year of the even longer awaited and highly anticipated, fan petitioned, demanded and made happen Snyder cut of the 'Justice League'. Now watch the 'Watchmen' this year. HBO really are taking it to the max, but with this one they're bringing it home like whistling for a cab with dice in the mirror.
'Thriller'. A young Will Smith sat under the multi-platinum plaque of the greatest album of all-time that has sold more copies than groceries with the King of Pop starring down at him with a knowing look like ("don't f### this up. A hee-hee"). Michael Jackson in spirit behind him, the real deal Quincy Jones standing in front of him as clear as day and the fact that he owned the 80's like shell suits (we see you in your audition Alfonso) and being Rick rolled back to the future. "What do you need?" Quincy asked Will like he was never going to give him up. A party in the next room waiting for his make and break audition. Before 'Independence Day'. Before 'Willennium'. Time to get that 'Big Willie Style' on before its time. Because the time was now for the young first rap Grammy award winning rapper the Fresh Prince with no acting experience like 'Parents Don't Understand'. Time to think you can beat Mike Tyson. Time to BOOM shake the room. Summertime can wait. Drums please! "What do you need?" Quincy asked again. Famous people peaking through the crack in the door for a closer look at the future. "Two weeks". They settled on ten minutes...and the rest is history. Will tells the story better, like he does the one of the time Michael Bay told him not to wear a shirt on his iconic 'Bad Boys' run (I mean, whatcha gonna do?) on King James' 'The Shop', or a more important one we'll get to later. Holding court and counsel on that couch. Karyn Parson's perfect Hilary sat next to him unchanged since her amazing audition day. Tatyana M. Ali close by getting a load of her rapping cousin. Joseph Marcell's Jeffrey to the left like "canon, volley and thunder" no longer at your service, but still cleaning up on your television sets like being on London soap, 'Eastenders'. And "he's the DJ" to his rapper, Jeff Townes AKA DJ Jazzy Jeff rocking the house like their classic album cover too a few seats over. This time with no threat of being thrown out...because he's not wearing that iconic gold print shirt. Time to find out the story behind that too. Like the Alfonso Ribeiro "Carlton dance" (or the amazing 'Apache' one) everyone does like the Charleston to Tom Jones, that's not unusual even to people who haven't watched this generation show passed down to family over the decades. An important one in black history and excellence. Changing the game and even breaking the fourth wall before Ryan Reynolds' 'Deadpool' in these wonder years like the time a feet dragging Carlton just lost it like Eminem and ran around the set and into Smith's embrace. All as the loving, "there's something different about you" mother of Daphne Maxwell Reid's lovely Aunt Viv looks on with beaming pride, choked up on a seat that still has the print and warmth left by another man it was meant for.
Nostalgia hasn't got much more beautiful this year than this as you mouth along to the words like Smith used to do hilariously with his lines. I haven't cried as much-even in this 2020-as this. Happy tears. Sad tears. Tears of nostalgia. Tears because I'll never be married to Karyn Parsons. Tears for Uncle Phil. Tears for the ones we can't get back. Tears for the ones we can. Tears for redemption reunions. Now how they pulled this one off is truly amazing. Even after recreating the classic living room, brick by brick, sofa for chair, even after packing it all up literally for the last episode with Will standing in the empty room not knowing thirty years later he'd become a meme like a laughing Leo in the 'Django' he passed up for 'Men In Black 3'. Or hit that light again. Or even do this. Walk up to the empty audience bleachers and meet the one woman sitting there. This woman being to many the one and only Aunt Viv. Janet Hubert. After all these years. Still looking the same like the fact that it don't crack. Black and beautiful. Ready to bury the hatchet like 'Uncle Buck', no axe to grind. Ready to let Will and the world know what really happened. Was she fired? Does she hate him? Normally moments like this made for TV can seem crass or contrived. Forced. But this with real feeling is anything but those negative emotions and connotations. This refreshing moment of clarity and peace making is as raw and real and as brutal and beautiful as it gets. Especially for this series production team and star of the show himself to admit (for Will Smith a man of such charisma and positive ego to humbly say he was wrong when he didn't understand is something else), or even braver for Janet to relive after all these years and tears. But we should let them tell it, like only they should, settling this all once and for all. Before a beautiful reunion for all the family that will fill you with as much warmth as nostalgia as you have seeing two beloved aunts together for the first time, or when you realize who Ross Bagley is my darling Nicky. But after all these years there's always something missing. And the biggest presence is missing here. Not just in stature, but in heart. The greatest uncle of all-time. One who feels like your own at home. Uncle Phil. The late, great James Avery. Remembered and reminisced in emotional, epic tribute like "we" as a family always do. Like that real bungee jump (don't get us started on Trevor) picture of Will a few years back looking like James. Or taking it way back to that iconic, emotional "how come he don't want me" father scene that should have never been turned into a meme (although that "home come LeBron don't want me man" ring replacing face was funny...while it lasted haters), as Smith storytells about the amazing Shakespearean trained Avery looking at him with real emotion, pulls him in close, pulling off his baseball cap like he just lost his youth as we zoom into the sculpture he brought for his departed Dad. "Now that's f###### acting right there!" Like the time he made Carlton give him the gun. Or Uncle Phil thought he let him down. Bringing the golf dance, jet-ski classics back like breaking out Lucille (take that swing Negan). All as they watch his highlights like a 90's Jordan in this last dance." Oh I miss you James" his on-screen wife Daphne says with fondness. Echoing all of us as we fade to black. There will never be one like him, like there will never be a show like this. We've missed him since 2013 like we miss this show. How has it been seven years? How has it been 30? Three decades later in the worst start to the new roaring one, retaking his throne as the Prince of Bel-Air, the kid from West Philadelphia (born and raised) who spent most of his days on the playground takes us back to our youth and our member of the family memory. Our life's got flipped, turned upside down this year. But lets take a minute. Just sit right there. And reminisce on how this Fresh man became the Prince of a town called Bel-Air. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Filming: 'The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air', 'A West Wing Special To Benefit When We All Vote', 'The Jeffersons'.
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