That’s a question I’ve wrestled with since “The New Girl” debuted on Fox last fall. Until “The New Girl” came along, there was no question: She’s great in (500) Days of Summer, I loved her in Elf, she had a nice turn in “Weeds,” and she was great in the little seen All the Real Girls. But I like quirk and whimsy in the right doses, and I love manic-pixie dream girls (SUE ME).
But there’s a huge difference between two hours of quirk and whimsy and an entire series built around it. I don’t think Jess is a character; I think Jess is Zooey Deschanel, and the relentless optimism, the overbearing quirk, and the ALWAYS ON whimsy is starting to wear on my gag reflex. At first, it was kind of cute. Now it’s kind of … dumb. Not in the, “Oh, that’s so stupid” kind of way, but in the “I think Zooey Deschanel” may actually be dumb” kind of way.
Deschanel is hosting “SNL” this weekend (promo below), and I’m seriously curious about whether we’ll see another side of Deschanel, if in fact there’s another side to see. Could she in fact be functionally whimsical? Is there anything going on inside of that head of hers besides blue birds?
What do you think? Serious question: Is Zooey Adorable or awful? I WILL NOT JUDGE YOU FOR YOUR HONESTY.
