David Cross: Let America Laugh (2003) (V)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Directors:

Lance Bangs
David Cross

Writer:

David Cross (writer)

Release Date:

4 November 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Documentary

Cast

David Cross	...	Himself
Bob Kaliban	...	Mr. Ludlow (boss) (segment "New York Office")
Michelle Maryk	...	Theresa (wife) (segment "New York Office")
Meredith Lipson	...	Cheyanne (daughter) (segment "New York Office")
Aviva Yael	...	Assistant (segment "New York Office")
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shonali Bhowmik	...	Herself
Juli Cross	...	Herself
Gordon Downs	...	Himself

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Company:

Sub Pop Records

Trivia:

The titles of all the segments on this DVD ("This Was Your Life", "Is There Another Christ?", "Gomez Is Coming", etc.) are all the names of Evangelical Christian comic book tracts written by Jack T. Chick and published Chick Publications.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: White T-shirt sleeve and part crewmember's arm on right side of screen in shot of David's wife, daughter and boss about to laugh.

Movie Connections:

References "Mr. Show with Bob and David" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Falling Through a Window

Shorter, it would have been a good DVD extra but otherwise it doesn't do enough to justify the 90 minute run time

David Cross' day job is interrupted by an urgent call to his bosses office. Once there he is confronted by a shocking DVD that his boss discovered under the bed of his youngest son. It is not, as Cross assumes, gay pornography or even just straight pornography but rather a DVD of Cross doing his other job – standup comedy. With his boss concerned about the material Cross does and the company he keeps, he uses clips from the DVD to illustrate his point.

Like many others, I came to Cross from Arrested Development and was really happy with what I found with his stand-up material that I saw. So my desire to consume more of his material brought me to this film with the impression that it would be a stand-up show. So OK, initially my reservations with the film can be based on the fact that I expected something from it that it did not propose to be. After this I settled into the film as an "on the road" film of Cross on tour, with as much focus on the goings-on as on the action on the stage (if not more in fact) Meeting it on these terms the film is rarely more than "OK" because it appears to lack reason or structure beyond showing the many weird characters that Cross meets as he travels. Many of these are hecklers and others are just muppets who try and befriend him whether he wants them to or not. This is never interesting enough to carry as much of the film as is dedicated to it and I tired of it long before it finished.

The stand-up stuff is likewise focused on people giving him trouble or things not going totally his way. Again this is not without value but is certainly not worth the amount of variations on it that we see. The rest of it (outside of the fictional work-place framing) is a mix of people babbling at the camera, joking around with David and so on – none of it particularly interesting. All of this is hindered further by the rather grainy film and often poor sound recording which, while part of the material being what it is, doesn't make for an easy experience when you're struggling to hear what is being said.

For fans it is interesting enough to see Cross putting in work for his craft rather than living some remote form of stardom, but even they will find this film labouring that point without a lot else on offer. As others have said already, it is important that you don't judge David Cross by this film because his stand-up is much, much better than this film suggests. Let America Laugh would be an interest DVD extra if it was a lot shorter because, as a film in its own right, it doesn't do enough to justify the 90 minute running time.