Running With Scissors
The king of pop parodies returns with another zany collection of tunes that poke fun at pop culture. There are a handful of undeniably funny moments--notably "The Saga Begins," which pairs the tune toDon McLean's horrendously sentimental "American Pie" with the plot to the firstStar Warsprequel, and a fun, nonstop-dancing polka medley of late-'90s hits that starts with theSpice Girlsand ends withSemisonic. Overall,Running with Scissorsis well-executed and actually humorous, but the material is a day late and a dollar short. "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" is funny once, maybe, but the majority of the disc consists of tepid takes on yesterday's news; the best jokes are devoted to Jerry Springer, Eddie Vedder, the Swing craze, and this place called Silicon Valley where they make computers. Why didn't someone tell Weird Al that a parody ofNine Inch Nails' lifeless industrial pop would have already sounded dated in 1995? It must be hard to stay on top of all the current trends and parody them as they happen, but that is something that Weird Al has done in the past, and perhaps will do again.--Mike McGonigal