Sitcom Review: Modern Family

If you ask me to explain Modern Family to you in a line, I’d say it’s about this large, unconventional, DYSFUNCTIONAL family trying to lead their lives in the most natural (or normal) way possible. But natural is not possible when it’s them we are referring to. I suppose I can safely say that these actors know what they have been doing all this while. Right from our misunderstood Columbian boy Manny, to the character we all so love, Cameron, the creators have made sure that their characters are unique and in unison, deranged. Now believe me when I say this- This show is insanely amusing and you DON’T want to miss it!
Modern Family is presented to the audience in a mockumentary style which depicts the essence of three interrelated families dominated by our beloved old man, Jay Pritchett. He is a very intimidating man, very much like an ex- Army officer who likes things done in a certain way and gets all cranky when things get out of hand. He likes to remind people who’s in charge. Typical Jay. He is married to Gloria, an extremely attractive Columbian lady (a little too attractive for Jay, a lot would agree) who is abso-flippin-lutely in love with her husband. Gloria is a puzzled yet strong (one would say so, after watching her effortlessly chop a rat’s head off) woman with a delightful accent and she is hot, enough said.  Gloria’s son, Manny, is probably the most misunderstood of them all. He is not your average teenage boy. He is not interested in dirt bikes, or hiking (especially not hiking) or anything of that sort. Well, let’s see. This seems more like him- Poetry, drama and fretting over what kind of clothes he should wear. You can also find Manny many a times, trying to woo the ladies, quite unsuccessfully but I’m sure he’s getting there.
Jay had two grown children, Claire and Mitchell, who have delightfully painful families of their own (who only add to the tamasha). Claire is, well, a control-freak. She is one of those moms who worry about anything and everything, especially her kids. But then again, I would too if I had kids like Alex, Hayley and Luke. She is married to an understanding, amicable klutz, Phil, a shining example of a glass-half-full kind of guy. In one of the newer episodes when Hayley gets arrested, Phil acts perfectly sane, trying to calm a furious, uncontrollable Claire down. He likes to know that his kids look up to him as more than a father, a good friend. Why? Because he is so “hip”. Phil’s lack of attention and cluelessness makes him one of the funniest characters on the show. “I am Phil Dunphy, and I am not a pervert. I, like a lot of men in this town, enjoy making love to my wife. I mean, their wives. Not me, them! I know I should just sit down and stop talking, but I'm still standing, and obviously I'm still talking, and you're all looking at me, so it's too late, now is it?”
Their children make their family the most chaotic of all of them. Hayley is the eldest of them all. She is the rather stupid, clueless, yet pretty child of the Dunphy clan. She is the kind of girl who is extremely popular in school, has a good-looking (or so people think) boyfriend, who is stupid and inappropriate in his own innocent way. Quite weird, those two. Alex is the really smart one who makes all the right decisions. Unlike her sister, she is not very comfortable about her social skills and hence freezes up in front of boys. Luke, the youngest, is known for his foolishness. Risk-taker, that one. He likes to do crazy things like blow up birdhouses or start a fire in the chemistry lab.
Last, but definitely not the least, we have our favourite gay couple, Cameron and Mitchell. Cameron and Mitchell have a dramatic (you saw that one coming, didn’t you?) yet natural relationship. They live together and a have a baby girl, Lily, who grows up to be quite a mess herself. Mitchell is an environment lawyer and the, if I may say so, relatively sane one in the family. He has an OCD problem, which Cam takes complete advantage of, and likes to play it safe at all times. He analyzes the situation carefully while the other men happily like to jump in, offering to beat someone up. Cameron is my favourite character, hands down. He is as gay as they come. But at the same time, he is also the persistent and confident one who will go to any extent to protect his family. He is the funniest of them all with his gasps and weird remarks- “I like meeting new people. We still keep in touch with some of the people we've met. Like Elunga, this man we met while in safari in Tanzania. We send him some of our old T-shirts. He was a nice man when we met him, but from his latest pictures we suspect he's become a warlord.” Quite brilliant for a straight guy, no?
All in all, I have to say I love this show. It’s honestly refreshing to watch something so funny, yet not too mainstream, especially after all the ridiculous tele drama we are subjected to these days. Unlike what cynical snobs (I believe you know them as critics) all over the world say, I think Modern Family is extremely entertaining and downright hilarious and it just keeps getting better. I would personally recommend it to each and every one of you.
Till then, remember Phil’s, err, Phil’s-Osophy- “When life gives you lemonade, make lemons. Life will be all like ‘Whaaat?!’ ” - Nimisha Nair XII A (Arts)