It seems like there’s a general consensus among self-respecting citizens that MTV is utterly useless and music videos are generally crap. That is a pretty accurate statement, as most music videos made today lack any semblance of originality and are basically extended album commercials. But on occasion, one manages to slip out something unique. Even with a mediocre song, the video is still insanely brilliant. Such is the case for the new Fatboy Slim video, “Weapon of Choice.”
Director by Spike Jonze, who helmed the recent film “Being John Malkovich,” has created some of the most innovative music videos ever. Those include Bjork’s “It’s Oh So Quiet,” Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” and Weezer’s “Buddy Holly.” Also among his most popular is the video for Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You,” which features a bunch of “amateur dancers” doing some sort of bizarre routine outside of a theater. The amateurs were actually a company rounded up by Jonze, and the video was basically one big joke; but it was also among the funniest videos in recent years.
For his second collaboration with Slim, Jonze decided to only have one dancer rather than a troop of amateurs. Of course that one dancer is the one and only Christopher Walken. Just about anything Walken does is worth watching. Witness, for example, his appearance last year on the usually unfunny “Saturday Night Live.” His sketch featuring the Blue Oyster Cult recording “Don’t Fear the Reaper” was one of the more memorable of late.
“I’ve got a fever,” he said during the sketch, “and the only prescription is more cowbell.”
Jonze, obviously realizing Walken’s cult appeal, has created yet another marvel for Walken fans to go nuts over. Walken dancing is a truly hilarious site. As the video continues the dancing gets more and more outlandish. Then about two-thirds of the way through, Walken leaps off a first floor balcony and takes flight — a very funny concept executed with precision. While the song itself is more of the same from Fatboy Slim, a bland mix-y dance song; Jonze and Walken have created a memorable video that will probably be remembered long after the song is forgotten.
“The full-length version of Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” can be seen on mtv.com.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
