Netflix offers a new documentary titled, "Chelsea Does." A four part series that follows comedian Chelsea Handler searching for answers to life's trends and topics which have meaning to her.
"Chelsea Does Marriage" was my first introduction to the woman that has inspired many of today's brilliant comics. But wow! To be that young and cynical about ones life left me sad. It's hard to watch someone so painfully shallow as they go about in search of the meaning of marriage, who doesn't seem comfortable in their own skin. Maybe, that's the point.
I understand the ambivalence about marriage. To some it's akin to undergoing daily root canal surgery. But at such a young age to be so emotionally detached is depressing.
At one point in the episode, where Chelsea sits to "interview" perspective dates, the producers choose the worse candidates for what I'm sure was supposed to be a comedy bit. But nothing breaks through her elusive veneer as she sits looking as bored as us.
If the segment was done in earnest, and the men were her best candidates in all of Los Angeles, her shrink is going to make a fortune.
I so much wanted the meet-and-greet experience to turn into the classic restaurant scene in "Terms of Endearment" between Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine:
Jack Nicholson: You're just going to have to trust me about this one thing. You need a lot of drinks.
Shirley MacLaine: To break the ice?
Jack Nicholson: To kill the bug that you have up your ass.
We put too much pressure on ourselves to find the perfect mate, get married, have children and live happily ever after. I get it. Some people's DNA make them far better friends than they would ever be as a soul mate.