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Just how does one categorize an off-the-wall comedic talent like Amy Sedaris? Her onscreen Jerri persona can range from acerbically madcap ala Paul Lynde and Alice Ghostly to affectingly appealing ala Red Skelton and Carol Burnett. Her huge catalogue of comic facial grimaces and frowns (not to mention her many outlandish body contortions) puts her on par with Lucille Ball. She can insult like Don Rickles and outwit like Pee-Wee Herman.

Sedaris's pathetic 47-year-old Jerri Blank character is ridiculously out-of-place in a suburban high school setting. At times she seems to have dropped in on the film from outer space. Her deplorable hairdo, pointy buckteeth, dreadful makeup and lumpy prosthetic butt; her wisecracking, bumbling, smarty-pants attitude all conspire to create a creature that is almost more cartoon-like than real.

In fact, there is much about Sedaris's performance in Strangers with Candy that harkens back to silly old Warner Brothers and Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning slapstick animations. Add in the film's racy dialogue, shocking visuals, suburban school setting, nut-case students, teachers and parents, and you have a real-life version of South Park.

Smaller, cameo type roles are provided by an odd array of film and TV celebrities: Matthew Broderick (The Producers, Ferris Bueller's Day Off) as the uppity yuppie/conniving science teacher Dr. Roger Beekman. Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote, Red Dragon) as the pompous yet clueless Board of Education official Henry. Ian Holm (Alien, Lord of the Rings) as Mr. Blank's physician Dr. Putney, and Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex in the City, The Family Stone) as the patronizing and bored high school grief counselor Peggy Callas.

Not surprisingly, SWC has achieved a kind of cult, underground hit status. It is the latest in the venerable line of “stoner” comedy offerings that have included such wacky works as Monty Python, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Soap, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Absolutely Fabulous.

Admittedly, the first half of Strangers with Candy is funnier than its second half. The movie works best when it shocks. All the loony doings are fun in small doses, but tend to wear a bit thin in a full-length, 90-minute film.

Despite laughs that last all the way through, much of SWC eventually falls in on itself under the weight of its own nonsensical silliness. Like Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beavis and Butthead Do America, or Dumb and Dumber, it is so absurdist that after a while audiences can sense it doesn't matter which way the plot turns.

SWC's many cameo characters, even though played by big name actors, are never fully developed. They remain somewhat two-dimensional and only incidental to the film's plot. This further contributes to the audience not really caring about the film.

Hardcore SWC fans will find that the big screen version does remain more or less faithful to the spirit of the TV series. Sedaris as Jerri in the film is virtually identical to the portrayal in the older TV series.

Strangers With Candy director/writer/star Paul Dinello and writer/star Amy Sedaris appeared in person at Wednesday's special NewFest screening. They graciously answered questions and joked with the crowd.

When asked how they first came up with the idea for Strangers with Candy, to no one's surprise they both kidded that “getting stoned” was part of their creative process.

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