POLKA, PONZI A FRESH SLATE
Milton native is ‘King’s’ queen on Netflix
If you've ever wanted to see Jenny Slate dance the Polka, you have your chance. The Miltonraised actress deserves all eyes on her in the newly released Netflix pic, “The Polka King.”
The offbeat biopic centers on the true story of Jan “Lewan” Lewandowski, an infamous Polish polka legend who carried out a Ponzi scheme in Pennsylvania. The musician, played by Jack Black, starts off selling illegal promissory notes with the innocent intention of keeping his tchotchke store and band afloat. But after the government warned him to stop peddling these securities, he realizes he's deep in the red. So naturally, he doubles down on his fraudulent ways and reaps the benefits that come with access to excess cash.
In “The Polka King,” Slate plays Lewan's wife, Marla,a self-proclaimed local celebrity. Before meeting her husband, her claim to fame came from winning a local junior pageant so, as you can imagine, she suffers from an inflated ego and is just a hair disconnected from reality.
Matching the movie's amusing level of absurdity, Slate makes her character — who's really more like a caricature — the portrait of a desperate neverbeen. She shows us how Marla chooses to ignore the signs of her spouse cooking the books, just so she can bask in their newfound hometown notoriety.
The movie itself — which was written/directed by Maya Forbes and also stars Jason Schwartzman, Jacki Weaver and J.B. Smoove — is unapologetically over the top. But then again, so is the very story on which it's based. In the end, it makes sense.
So we advise you strap into your couch seats, endure Black's exaggerated Polish accent — which sporadically resembles a Borat impression — and savor the Slate for this one.