Is there another Emmy nomination in the future for Christopher Meloni?

No, it's not for Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, well it might be, but I'm talking about Gym Teacher: The Movie. Yes, it's that new movie you most likely heard about while reading last week's issue of Entertainment Weekly and seeing Christopher Meloni in the little picture above it.

You are most likely laughing right now by even thinking that Christopher Meloni is "emmy-worthy" in a movie called Gym Teacher: The Movie, hell, I'm even laughing too, but think about, if you happened to stumble upon this movie while flipping through channels and seeing "Gym Teacher: The Movie" listed and thinking where have I heard that from, oh what the hell I'll watch it... well then you know what I mean!

We all know him from Law And Order: SVU and Oz, but now, Christopher Meloni has taken a different turn from what we are used to seeing him in... a Nickelodeon Made-For-Television Movie... that's a comedy. Well how about them apples!

In Gym Teacher, Meloni plays Dave Stewie, a former almost-Olympic hero who embarrassed himself at the 1988 Seoul Olympics after messing up while completing the vaulting horse for men's gymnastics, ruining his chances for the Gold medal... and being on the box of Wheaties... After hiding from humiliation and going into "retirement," Dave Stewie became a gym teacher, a gym teacher who has a drive of a former Champion, and who takes his job very seriously. Well, when the President (ooh!) announces a national-wide gym class fitness competition, thus awarding Gym Teacher of The Year, wacky Principal Abby Hoffman (the always hilarious Amy Sedaris) pushes Stewie to compete for the gold! With dedicated and motivated students in his gym class, the only person standing in his way is Roland Waffle (Nathan Cress). Roland is a helmet-wearing, injury-fearing, not great at sports new student. Well to top it off, Stewie starts to date his mom, Winnie Bleeker (Chelah Horsdal), who is the new english teacher at Hamm Lake, but he doesn't find out that Roland is her son until later... which is a problem because Stewie had a plan to get Roland "expelled" by placing pirated dvd's in his locker to help "save" his chances for winning. But after quickly finding out that Roland is in fact her son, that plan was aborted... And from there, Stewie decides to turn Roland into an athletic competitor. But Stewie faces some harsh competiton from the cross-city rival school, Burberry Prep's coach, cashmere hat-wearing Shelly Bragg (David Alan Grier).

The movie is definetly family friendly, well duh, it's on Nickelodeon, but what I mean is that it comes from the crew over at Strangers With Candy (director Paul Dinello and star Amy Sedaris) and David Alan Grier, who will be starring in a new show on Comedy Central called Chocolate News, which definetly won't be Nickelodeon-viewer friendly. Lets just say, one of the characters he plays on the show is a pornstar named Licorice Stick. The movie really emphasized on staying active and eating healthy (which is good for kids to know...) as well as smaller topics like how girls are just as good as boys when it comes to sports, never give up on your dream, winning isn't always important, being a team player, and bullying... You know, crap like that... But it was also funny to see some innuendos in the movie. Like how Principal Hoffman admires how Stewie can fill out his short-shorts without being dismissed for sexual harrassment and how while at the gym teacher hangout, protein bar, Stewie tells the "bartender" to "make it a double this time," and the bartender responds "you want two bananas?" Later on in the movie, Stewie's character is at another bar "drinking" and sobbing while telling a "sad story" like a drunk person typically would, and the bartender says "you know there's nothing else stronger in that drink than some protein powder and fruit, right?"

All in all, Gym Teacher was watchable, almost like a Will Ferrell or Jim Carrey movie, but extremely toned-down. Meloni definetly overacted in some parts, but that was the whole point about Stewie's character. He made it work! I think it would be funny if Meloni does end up getting a nomination for Gym Teacher, hell that would be f*ckin' hilarious! I would probably push for that until the Emmy nominations are announced for next year, but of course that would be assuming that the Best Actor in a TV Movie/Mini-Series catagory is a somewhat weak one next year... Plus, Meloni is known and respected among the Emmy voter community. He was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Detective Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: SVU back in 2006, so maybe they will want an excuse to nominate him again... But also another person to push from the movie is Amy Sedaris. I thought she was hilarious as the essentric, high-haired principal with a not-so-secret crush on Stewie. Her scenes were actually pretty funny, especially in the first part of the movie. I actually wouldn't be surprised if she does gets a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was very funny! But of course, she was hilarious in Strangers With Candy, and she is hilarious in Gym Teacher, and it's all by the same people... So basically, watch out for Meloni and Sedaris!