MovieChat Forums > The Mindy Project (2012) Discussion > Garrett Dillahunt and Fortune Feimster

Garrett Dillahunt and Fortune Feimster

posted 9 years ago by hilaryjrp
8 replies | jump to latest

Apologies if misspelled--

Their characters are funny, or at least have the potential to be. But the actors just aren't. Dillahunt in particular looks--I mean really physically looks--as if he's phoning it in. He's a good actor but just seems not invested.

The great thing about this series is that every original character seems real, someone you can believe exists in real-life. I hope because the roles were miscast that Mindy Kaling finds a way to write the brother and sister out of the show. In any event, a romance with Jody would be Casey 1.2 (with a bit of Charley thrown in).

Last night's [sic!] episode had the characters acting against type. Jeremy would never show up anywhere in a t-shirt, except with Peter, maybe. Morgan suddenly and without any Season 4 continuity suddenly moving in with Collette, and then criticizing the Pink Panther? Out of character. The male doctors caring about Mindy's love life? Never happen with Danny or Peter (or Jeremy). Tamra, the brilliant airhead, suddenly calling the shots? Uh-uh.

The guest actor was impressive...but unfunny, because his lines weren't funny. I'll stick with the series until its end. But it's saddening to feel a sort of weariness...especially since the original cast (including Xosha Roquemore) is being robbed of story lines or even dialogue.

[–] kendrah66 9 years ago

I like her, hate him. But I think if I remember correctly, you don't like Morgan, and I like Collette sort of the same way I like Morgan, so that might be it.

[–] hilaryjrp 9 years ago

Don't like Morgan! Morgan's who got me hooked back in 2013. I love Morgan. But you make Morgan serious--or Tamra--or any regular-- It's the kiss of death the Simpsons gave twenty years ago when they made Homer serious.

[–] kendrah66 9 years ago

Okay, I must have had you mixed-up with someone else. I don't think Morgan will be serious for long. But then, I don't remember when he ever was.

[–] A_Fish_Called_Wanda 9 years ago

I need these two characters written off. They literally might cause me to stop watching the show. I just watched the latest episode and I just can't deal with the two of them. I would prefer more focus on the original cast. I would even like it if they brought that other dude (Peter?) back. Jeremy seems to have no use on the show at all.

[–] SweaterCannons 9 years ago

I'm with you. The office dynamic has been in a constant state of flux since the show began, with people coming and suddenly gone, but these two add nothing.

For one thing, it's hard to believe they're brother and sister. The actress hails from North Carolina, so I assume she's not putting on an accent; Dillahunt needs a dialect coach in the worst way. He has that Foghorn Leghorn accent that non-Southerners affect that doesn't sound like anyone anywhere, just awful. Jody just grates on me, and Colette is just a waste of time.

Now the last episode is hinting that there might be something going with him and Mindy. Ugh.

Ed Weeks is very talented, I think. He has been brutally underused since the first season. I wish they'd do more with him and send Jody and Collette back to where they came from.

I'm about to be done with this show, too, especially if it's just going to be Mindy dating a different rando again every week.

[–] hilaryjrp 9 years ago

He has that Foghorn Leghorn accent that non-Southerners affect that doesn't sound like anyone anywhere, just awful.

Definitely. His accent is unreal.

Ed Weeks is very talented, I think. He has been brutally underused since the first season.

Agree. His character hurt Mindy early, and--is it Halloween?--where he leaves his watch at her apartment rather than disappoint Betsy? Jeremy afterward consistently was the straight man in regard to other characters (he returns the watch not to disappoint Betsy). In isolation, he has had the most roll-on-the-floor one-liners. I started writing them all down as I rewatched all the seasons, but there were so many, I had to give up. There is so much comic potential in his character...but then they messed it up, as well as Peter's *epic* funniness, with "serious" relationship crap.

Romance is NEVER funny. Not ever, never. If you're the kind of person who goes to "rom-coms," you come from a different planet than the average Mindy viewer.

For one thing, it's hard to believe they're brother and sister. The actress hails from North Carolina, so I assume she's not putting on an accent

Here again, really bad creative decisions. The episode about her coming out as a lesbian had so much potential. A comedy of errors a la "Frasier" could have been milked all season long, but her lesbian secret was introduced and made public in one episode. Collette actually does have potential, but as a part of the show-killer couple from the "South," she just brings the show down.

[–] Pitseleh77 9 years ago

I disagree that Garrett is phoning it in, he is an experienced comedy (and drama of course)actor, and while I can see why some might not warm to the character, being an obvious Danny stand in in some respects, I think he is doing a great job making Jody have a sensitive side underneath the conservative Southern veneer.

It's been written very tricky, deceptively so, I think maybe other actors would have gone large, but Dillahunt has I would argue actually underplayed it, which maybe stands out as weird with Morgan, Tamra and Jeremy's more big caricature type expressions.

Since it's gone to Hulu I do think the tone has shifted a bit and it feels different, more edgy, less smooth, and introducing more new characters is always a bit bumpy. I don't love the way they have treated the Mindy/Danny storyline, but I guess they had to write Messina out somehow.

Jody writing the letter to Mindy was a blatant Austen/Mr.Darcy "inspo", I don't think Mindy would write stuff like this for the character unless she had something lined up for them, he obviously is her type in the same way that Danny was: opposites attracting, etc, and I would not be surprised if he and Mindy become a couple, even if it's just for a short time.

I agree this season has been hit and miss, but I do not think the new characters are necessarily the main problem. I agree that the comedy has fallen by the wayside too often to the romance drama.

[–] hilaryjrp 9 years ago

I agree this season has been hit and miss, but I do not think the new characters are necessarily the main problem. I agree that the comedy has fallen by the wayside too often to the romance drama.

Dillahunt is settling into his role and was very good this week. He's starting to grow on me. The less confrontational he becomes, the more I like him. He'll never be Peter, but maybe Peter was emblematic of Mindy's life as a trainwreck before motherhood.