Postal (2007)

In the ironically named city of Paradise, a recently laid-off loser teams up with his cult-leading uncle to steal a peculiar bounty of riches from their local amusement park; somehow, the recently arrived Taliban have a similar focus, but a far more sinister intent.

Director:

Uwe Boll

Writers:

Uwe Boll, Bryan C. Knight

Stars:

Dave Foley, Verne Troyer, Zack Ward

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zack Ward	...	Dude
Dave Foley	...	Uncle Dave
Chris Coppola	...	Richard
Jackie Tohn	...	Faith
J.K. Simmons	...	Candidate Welles
Ralf Moeller	...	Officer John
Verne Troyer	...	Verne Troyer
Chris Spencer	...	Officer Greg
Larry Thomas	...	Osama Bin Laden
Michael Paré	...	Panhandler
Erick Avari	...	Habib
Lindsay Hollister	...	Recorder
Brent Mendenhall	...	George W. Bush
Rick Hoffman	...	Mr. Blither
Michael Benyaer	...	Mohammed

Storyline

The story begins with a regular Joe who tries desperately to seek employment, but embarks on a violent rampage when he teams up with cult leader Uncle Dave. Their first act is to heist an amusement park, only to learn that the Taliban are planning the same heist as well. Chaos ensues, and now the Postal Dude must not only take on terrorists but political figures as well.

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Plot Keywords:

heist | taliban | blue panties | white panties | upskirt | 

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Taglines:

Some comedies go too far... others start there.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Thriller

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Certificate:

18A

Details

Country:

USA Canada Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 October 2007 (Germany)

Also Known As:

O Carteiro Descontrolado

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 20,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Boll Kino Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, Pitchblack Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 114 min (Director's Cut DVD) 127 min (long) 107 min (original cut) 102 min (unrated DVD)

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In early 2007 the New York Post showed a 7 second clip, the infamous window-washer scene, to some of the families of the 9/11-victims, telling them "this is the joke in the new movie Postal by Uwe Boll". Of course they found it tasteless to make fun of 9/11 and its victims in such a fashion. But the scene was the punchline, not the entire joke. The real joke was made on the Taliban 3 minutes before that scene. According to Uwe Boll The NY Post's actions were "more tasteless than any of my movies could ever be," and he considered it another personal attack.

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Goofs

During the big final shootout, when Zack Ward shoots everyone with the machine gun, the spent casings fall to the ground in slow motion. They're obviously blanks with crimped ends, not empty casings, which would come from live ammo.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Asif: Congratulations, Nabi. We are at the doorstep of our martyrdom.
Nabi: Praise Allah.
Asif: Praise him! Soon, we will be greeted by Allah, the one true god... and by the cheers of our Four Fathers... and by ninety-nine perfect virgins who will worship us... for ALL eternity!
Nabi: [pause] I thought it was one hundred.
Asif: What's that?
Nabi: One hundred virgins. They promised me one hundred.
Asif: Ninety-nine, one hundred. What's the difference?
Nabi: If they're telling you one thing and they're telling me another, maybe ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in The Big Box: A Christmas Story (2010)

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Soundtracks

Fly So High
Written by Jacques de Rooij and Richard Alvin Smith
Performed by Richard Alvin Smith
Published by Edition X-tended c/o Arabella Musikverlag GmbH

User Reviews

Does Boll pull it off? No. Did I laugh? Yes.

This is Uwe Boll's best film to date. That being said, it's still crap. Abundant plot holes, crudely forced shock tactics, a shallow attempt at satire, and the worst director in the entire world are just the tip of the iceberg on why this movie blows. I hate Boll's work. I hate his belligerence. He should not be allowed near a camera.

The ultimate question, however, is did I laugh? Yes. In spite of everything , I laughed. This movie is Uwe Boll's "F*^# you!" statement to the world. He's going to continue making movies whether we like it or not, and he's actually a lot better at crude humor than any sort of horror, adaptation or whatever random dung heap genre he sticks his nose into. He even makes fun of himself in this movie during a cameo between him and the actual creator of the postal franchise. For some weird reason, I respect that.

Zack Ward was fantastic, and really should be getting better work. This may be a rare time when an actors participation in a Boll film didn't herald their imminent career death. He proved himself to be an adequate action actor, and I'm hoping this gets him some publicity. The same cannot be said for Verne Troyer or Dave Foley, who are circling the drain. (I still laughed though.)

Is it worth the price of admission? Nope, but it's so much closer than any of Boll's films have ever been. Boll may be a deluded, stubborn and angry man,(at the Q&A he explained to us in a very serious tone, how postal was a gutsy, intelligent satire) and his work may be awful, but Boll genuinely loves films and wants to make them. He wants to get better and who knows? Maybe one day Boll will produce something worthwhile. Tasteless director John Waters invented Hairspray, which was thought to be impossible. Maybe Boll will one day harness his ambition towards film-making in a productive way. Or not. Who cares?

You shouldn't see postal if you have an option, but if you don't, you might giggle a few times, in spite of yourself. However, if you're a moron, you'll love it!

-Max

P.S: Boll has always clashed with wheelchair-bound "AintItCool" news leader, Harry Knowles. They don't get along at all. Why do I reference this? There is a mentally challenged character in the movie who begs for money from the seat of a motorized wheelchair. Can you guess his first name?