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SNL: Emma Stone

A young actress tires of playing "vacant, one-dimensional characters." She longs for a juicier role. And that role finds her. She will be "the wife who gets cheated on" in a brief bit of gay porn.

The actress longs for transcendence. How can she "find" this character--and convey something profound about the human condition? She sifts through her props--"clues, pieces to the puzzle that is Deirdre." An Ugg boot. Some batteries. "2017" novelty glasses.

Bereft, she worries she won't be able to reach some kind of emotional epiphany. She must arrive for her big moment: discovering her husband "in the act." Discovering her husband mid-coitus with her godson.

And--suddenly--genius arrives. The actress understands what Deirdre--great-souled Deirdre--would say in this moment. Tearfully, Deirdre says, "I forgive you."

Half the world loves this clip. I think that's mainly for the performance of Emma Stone. How many other Oscar-winning young stars would be up for this bit of silliness? And notice the contrast between Stone-the-bad-actress (in the porn scenes) and Stone-the-questing-and-delusional-woman (off-set). Amazing. I especially love the soft, pretentious voice Stone uses at the beginning: "Deirdre, come to me."

But I think there's another MVP, here, and it's Beck Bennett as the depressed porn-director. Bennett has made a specialty of this particular gruff character. He's so checked out, he can't really be bothered to finish articulating individual words. Delightful.

Finally, I like the silly take on acting--which is actually sort of profound, in the way some silly things are. What WOULD you say if you discovered your husband shtupping your godson? Emma Stone--summoning real tears--give us a surprising and plausible answer.

I'm obsessed with this short film. Enjoy. Happy Wednesday!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HVH_I04ZrM
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