Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.
There weren’t a lot of options this week, so setting my sites on actor Skeet Ulrich might surprise many. Hell, it surprises me. There weren’t a lot of options for me this week and running on fumes from the Oscars, it was easy to tackle someone whose cinematic history is minimal to embarrassing, yet still has enough available entries to hit the requirement of five selections, even if two of them are from television. This week’s list features Ulrich in several parts, few of them major ones outside of the Scream franchise. This week, he co-stars in Supercell, a lower-budget film that takes audiences into the eye of the tornado, or at least as close as one can get. Releasing as the Midwest enters its prime window for tornadoes is a solid decision even if the film itself looks a bit lackluster. Here are my five favorite films featuring Ulrich.
Scream (1996)
Ulrich had a few extras appearances in a handful of films in 1990, but 1996 was his breakthrough year, appearing in five films. One of his most impressive turns was in Scream, Wes Craven’s reflection on horror films of the past and their impact on young audiences. In the film, a serial killer slaughters high schools in the orbit of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), whose mother had been murdered the year before. Terrorized by the mysterious killer, suspicion initially falls on Sidney’s boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and then on her own father. The game of cat and mouse continues in gory fashion until the thrilling and modestly shocking conclusion.
Craven was a master of horror. He had spent years making well regarding horror projects before landing on the idea of A Nightmare on Elm Street and becoming a legend. Scream came in the wake of several Nightmare sequels, including his own meta-horror classic Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. That film helped lay the foundation for the genre-defining effort Scream became, spawning its own series of well liked sequels. Ulrich did fine work in the film, but Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard and Jamie Kennedy all made names for themselves in the film.
No original review available.
As Good as It Gets (1997)
When watching James L. Brooks’ films, one expects a strong cast delivering solid to great performances and As Good as It Gets certainly delivers. The film stars Jack Nicholson as a man with obsessive compulsive disorder whose life tumbles into disarray when his favorite waitress (Helen Hunt) at a local diner moves to another location, his gay neighbor (Greg Kinnear) is assaulted and sent to the hospital, and his agent (Cuba Gooding Jr. suggests he takes in his neighbor’s dog while the neighbor recovers. Nicholson does what he can to fix all of the uncontrollable situations in his life, but finds that even when he sets things in order, things are still out of whack.
Nicholson won his third Oscar for the film and Hunt her only. Kinnear went home empty-handed as did the rest of the film’s seven total nominations. Ulrich doesn’t have a big part in the film, but it’s impactful. He plays one of Kinnear’s artist models whose friends plan to rob him blind. For his part, Ulrich is the only figure of that trio that comes off well as he seems genuinely disheartened that the assault happens. It’s a subtle performance that he only lived up to one other time in my memory.
Jericho (2006-2007)
At the start of a post-apocalyptic boon, CBS released television series Jericho starring Skeet Ulrich, Gerald McRaney, and others. Set in the fictional town of Jericho, Kansas, the series is set in the wake of a series of nuclear strikes against major U.S. cities, leaving the rural areas of the country in isolation. As the series begins, the show focused on rebuilding in the aftermath of a major disaster and then eventually delved into survival efforts to protect the denizens of the city from outside forces that are initially benevolent, but ultimately turn hostile.
Ulrich is the lead in the series playing a member of a former survivalist sect who staged an armed robbery that went wrong. His character has just returned to obtain the inheritance he’s due upon the death of his grandfather only to face hostility from his estranged father (McRaney). The series was incredibly engaging, presenting a highly fictionalized account of what could happen in the event of a catastrophe of this magnitude. It was popular enough that when it was cancelled after the first season, fans of the show sent literal tons of peanuts to CBS’ headquarters in a nod to the series’ iconic line “Nuts!” It was greenlit for a short seventh season, but efforts to get the show a third season were for not, though a comic series to finish the narrative was eventually released.
No review available.
Riverdale (2017-2021)
Ulrich seemed to have more success as a television actor than he did on the big screen and this is evidenced by the series Riverdale, The CW’s dark take on the popular Archie comics. The primary characters of the show are KJ Apa as Archie, Lili Reinhart as Betty, Camila Mendes as Veronica, and Cole Sprouse as Jughead. Ulrich plays Jughead’s estranged father, a local gang leader. Ulrich trades on his cinematic history as a scuzzy character to sell a semi-repentant father who tries to do well by his son in spite of his ineptitude at being a father. The series also starred Luke Perry as Archie’s dad.
A sexy, melodramatic series, Riverdale is a hell of a lot of fun if you can get past the more white-washed nature of the original characters. If you are a fan of the comics, you’re not likely to be too enamored with this series. The CW is well known for producing shows that are appealing to teen audiences, but it has a magnetic quality that was able to attract older ones as well. With thematic ties to shows like Dallas and Knots Landing, the show is dripping with outlandish situations and grand seasonal arcs that are incredibly involving. It’s a show that isn’t for everyone, but is certainly one of the best things Ulrich has done.
No review available.
Scream (2022)
If you haven’t seen the first film in the franchise, then I’m about to spoil one of the key elements of that film with this post. The reboot of the Scream franchise brings back Campbell, Arquette, Cox, and Ulrich. At the end of the first film, Ulrich’s character was revealed to be involved in the murders, acting in tandem with another character. In that finale, he dies. His return in this film is as an emotional memory fragment that drive’s Campbell’s actions in the film. While it’s a minor part, it’s decent work bringing us back with a fascinating and emotional connection to the original.
The film is not really about those original characters though, introducing a new core of figures that play prominently in last week’s big screen release of Scream VI. In this new version, the formula is tweaked slightly to make it’s connection to the prior films viable, but its efforts to differentiate itself are largely unsuccessful. It feels like a return to the franchise origins with a slightly fresher cast. It’s still an enjoyable slasher, but recapturing the essence of the original without feeling like a copy is likely impossible.
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