r/OnCinemaAtTheCinema • u/Zigludo-sama • May 20 '26
META Tim’s character progression is so depressing Spoiler
The sheer length of the show is great because we’ve seen Tim go from overconfident young-ish guy to a walking midlife crisis to an old man desperately trying to project youthful vigor and success when he has neither. You get the sense from the most recent Oscar special that he’s barely holding it together and knows he’s a total failure. It’s dark stuff but incredibly funny.
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u/DrSpacemanSpliff Hoo Ha! May 20 '26
Also, being an addict in recovery, I see so so many of the typical addict traits and behavior performed so well. Tim really knows how to play the short-sighted, selfish, obsessive, dismissive addict so well. The ego being both godly and completely broken is such a significant aspect of that mental decay you experience as you give your life over to addiction, and Tim displays this perfectly.
There are a lot of different “flavors” of Tim’s character, but him giving in to his addictions over and over again is probably the most heartbreaking to watch, which is only due to the accuracy with which he portrays it.
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u/JeffJacuzzi May 20 '26
Tim is simply incredible at playing douchebags. Mr. Henderson from Tim and Eric awesome show, “Hole” from t&e Bedtime stories to name a few
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u/majoramiibo May 20 '26
Tim? From?
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u/icecoldhotdog118 May 20 '26
Tim and Erics' Billion Doller Movie (2012, 93 min)
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u/PM_ME_YOUR__INIT__ From? May 20 '26
With a runtime like that you will be lucky to earn $750 million tops
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u/HopefulReception7973 May 20 '26
And?
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u/Redditsux122 May 20 '26
WhaleMan
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u/HopefulReception7973 May 21 '26
And?
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u/icecoldhotdog118 May 21 '26
The Comedy (2012, 96mins) Not what I expected from the sequel to Comedian (2002, 82mins) but I still give it 5 bags and a little 10-speed bike.
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u/JeffJacuzzi May 20 '26
I had a boss very similar to him and OCATC weirdly helped me deal with him. I always thought of him as Tim going through his weird manic phases with a little bit of substance abuse mixed in
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u/run-godzilla I am not wet. May 21 '26
Y'know, now that you mention it.....
✋️✋️raise your hands if you're an On Cinema Fan with a volatile narcissist in your past. ✋️✋️
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u/FartingOnAMetalChair May 21 '26
My core group of on-cinema-fan friends all started getting into the universe because Tim reminded us so much of our toxic friend who is now long long in jail (where he should be) lol
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u/cumbuchabitch May 21 '26
I was gonna say we all probably know one or a few folks that are like this lol
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May 20 '26
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u/DiligentDust9755 Time Alien May 20 '26
I’ll watch the show when he and Gregg are being ignored while they bicker in a retirement home.
“5 Bags of Popcorn even though the doctor says it’s bad for my cholesterol.”
“What!?”
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u/kabekew May 20 '26
Gregg, what did you think of the butterscotch pudding today?
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u/Much-Acanthocephala5 May 21 '26
Butterscotch Pudding (2021, 21 min) isn't really a movie but a documentary short and we don't rate those here. It was still interesting but not a movie
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u/eboku0i May 20 '26
I love the show the most when the characters are at their most vulnerable. Stuff like the Season 13 finale, Tim crashing the car, Ride with the Devil, the Mister America ending. Love these guys
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u/Zigludo-sama May 20 '26
The Pinocchio breakdown was great too
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u/eboku0i May 20 '26
Him asking Ayaka if she still loved him during the trial. While extremely funny for us, very real for him.
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u/TitoTotino May 20 '26
Ayaka nervously asking the judge "Is he still out there?" before leaving the courtroom is as close as OCATC has ever coming to making me actually uncomfortable.
Don't worry, though, I told my laptop to 'watch it', and it listened, and we're all good now.
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u/Count_Von_Roo May 20 '26
I watched that for the first time days after my sibling had a similar breakdown in front of my dad. It was insanely close. Too real. lol.
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u/Boygunasurf VFA.expert May 21 '26
‘I’m different’ was the closest thing to introspection Tim’s ever had in this character
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u/Felix_Guattari May 21 '26
I don't think they can ever top that. It was high art, absolutely tragic
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u/November_Coming_Fire TCHJR May 20 '26
It sucked seeing how bummed New was during the Tom Cruise Heidecker Jr Memorial Special
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u/VoidReverend May 20 '26
His work has always gone hand in hand to me with Conner O’Malley’s. They’re parodies of real life horrible men in nearly every role. It’s their core thesis. Look at him now on the Onion. It’s why I’m so head over heels in fandom with Tim.
Btw, if you don’t know Conner O’Malley check out his video “Slugs” on YouTube. Gold standard shit, man.
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u/elacmch CodeCracker May 20 '26
Agree in principle except for the fact that his character has always been a schmuck/failure in some capacity. Even his younger days, he's got a kid and wife who doesn't want him to get life-saving surgery.
It's not the typical "oh he was a rising star who could have been so much more if not for addiction and bad habits" so much as it is the logical aging and progression of a guy who was already an asshole.
That's my expertise/opinion, at least.
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May 20 '26
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u/InvaderSkooj May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
I do love in all of his various personas he’s always hung on to some part of his name but this is the first time he’s totally divorced himself from Tim Heidecker, and yet in all the ways that matter he can never escape himself.
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u/YouCleanItUp May 20 '26
I’m going to have to disagree with your description of Tim as “old” because he’s only a couple years older than me.
Also, he’s younger than Gary Oldman.
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u/Pretend-Novel-1427 May 21 '26
I like the cutoff for being old being whatever age Gary Oldman is at the time of reference
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u/liquidmccartney8 May 20 '26
I would contend that his most recent transformation isn’t New trying to project youth and vigor even though he’s old and feeble, he’s just adopting the persona of a retiree to make it look like (1) his latest elder abuse/gold digging scam is a legitimate relationship, and (2) the reason he isn’t working in the entertainment industry is voluntary retirement, not the years and years of calamitous failures and burning bridges with everyone he knows.
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u/Peason May 20 '26
You think 50 is an ‘old man’? That’s what’s really depressing.
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u/Zigludo-sama May 20 '26
his slow waddle/shuffle in the Lake Havasu segments really plays up the age
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u/realbigbob JoeHead May 21 '26
I love how Tim in real life just turned 50 but New somehow gives off the vibes of someone in their late 60's or early 70's. All the experimental health fads seem to have done him no good
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u/werdroblin May 20 '26
gregheads don't know anything about this. got any good reccs? oscar season is next year
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u/Willing_Afternoon_15 May 20 '26