GregRG Reviews

Twister (I) (1996)

A very very dumb blockbuster

[2/10 · 25 February 2000]

Twister is one of the most successful hollywood movies in recent years, and that is probably a good thing for hollywood, but it is a very very bad thing for any movie fan with an appreciation of movies beyond seeing neat things blow up. This is a stupid, preposterous and cliched tale that has implausibly sent the hollywood disaster movie back to even before the unfortunate Earthquake. And how many awful rip offs did this three-second attention-span, brain-dead farce spawn? Well, given the creative genius in hollywood, your guess of far too many is an unfortunately low estimate.

Why did this movie suck so bad, when so many people went to see it and apparently loved it? Well, I have no desire to insult the American viewing public's intelligence (Twister did that enough for many, many reviews), but I will delight in telling you the myriad of ways that this movie insulted my intelligence, not to mention my $8 that I could have used to eat two artery closing servings of mozzarella sticks!

Well, first of all, Cary Elwes turn was a "bad" storm chaser was so one demensional and unneccesary that it was hard to remember why we even liked him in "The Princess Bride." Also, the "good" storm chasers were so unique and colorful that they made me want to throw up. There were many talented actors who were forced to say lines of dialogue so lame that they were dated twenty years ago. And if I hear that term "Thumb of God" again...

OK, I'm working myself up. I mean, this is only a stupid action picture, right? I guess it is, but when stupid action pictures make $200 million, we get Volcano and Dante's Peak instead of fare that may actually require someone to, dare I say, THINK. Clearly, no one on either side of the camera was asked to do much thinking with this film.

But how about the Special Effects? Weren't they great? Well, yes, I guess they were, but with cartoonish characters and plum awful dialogue, do we really care how realistic a cow flying is? God, I hope not, but maybe I'm alone in this opinion. Still, though, to think that 20 John Sayles pictures could have been funded by the amount they spent on this thoughtless drivel makes this movie going experience all the more frustrating.

Is Twister the worst movie I have ever seen? I would have to say no. But while Police Academy 5: Mission to Moscow probably influenced no other movies other than, god help us, Police Academy 6, Twister has influenced Hollywood, negatively, for the past five years. I could have been happy without the legacy that has spawned Independence Day, Armageddon, Volcano, Dante's Peak, and might have for all we know inexplicably prolonged the career of Jean Claude Van Damme (Hey, we have to blame that on somebody). So, there we have it. Twister. To quote the genius of H.L. Mencken, who describes the success of this movie forty five years before it's unfortunate arrival "No one has ever lost money underestimating the intellect of the American Public." No, H.L., they haven't, and some have even made $200M.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

It's a Wonderful Movie

[10/10 · 9 January 2000]

In one of the great stories of this century, we meet George Bailey, who in a desperate moment is shown how his life touches so many others. It is a story of a man who has given up money, adventure, and excitement in favor of integrity, loyalty, and sacrifice. It is a loving tribute to everyone who knows the value of making a house a home, and making a place a community. Jimmy Stewart, as George Bailey, is able to effortlessly give us such a man, but he is also able to give us a flawed hero who is at the end of his rope. It is when he sees what life would be like without him that he truly appreciates his "wonderful life." While this film was billed as a romance, and Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart do not disappoint on that end, director Frank Capra is going for something deeper than romance. What he is aiming at, and succeeds like few have done before or since, is to demonstrate the value in placing people above money, integrity over opportunity, and sacrifice over adventure. While these values have been demonstrated in movies before, none have done so with Capra's poetry.

Dazed and Confused (1993)

A great film and a total blast

[10/10 · 6 January 2000]

Dazed and Confused simply and delightfully tells the story of the last day of school in a Texas town in 1976. It has no plot, but that isn't the point. Its point is to create a time and place that is chock full of memories, and a lot of fun. It gets every detail right. It gets the bicentennial celebration, the gas prices, the iron-on shirts, and even the hero's nickname right. It also get the hierarchy of the school correct as well. Nerds do not have pocket protectors, not all football players are ass holes, and not everybody wants to have sex. What we get is a funny, enjoyable, richly observed day in the life of Texas high school teens. The performances are great (many of the young actors have become famous since the movie's release), the dialogue is fully realized, and the soundtrack could put a grin on even the dourest member of that generation. What makes this film wonderful is the appreciation of the moment that writer/director Richard Linklater shows us. We feel like we are watching life as it actually happens, full of spontaneity, as opposed to the manufactured, plot-driven events and dialogue that most movies give us. That means we care about these characters, and as importantly, we are there with them, experiencing life on a hazy day in May where there might or might not be a kegger.

Field of Dreams (1989)

A Beuatiful tribute to an elegant game

[10/10 · 6 January 2000]

There are not many films about talking cornfields, and that is probably a good thing. In almost any other film, it would most assuredly be a case for snickering. But Field of Dreams isn't any other film, and the talking cornfield begins one of the most beautiful and poetic pilgrimages ever shown on film. This film is about baseball, and it understands what all that love the game do: It is not the game itself, but how in connects us to each other, and to the past, that makes watching it a religious experience. The way the film moves us to that realization is slowly, lovingly, and with pure joy. This film never comes close to stepping wrong. While watching a scene where a Doctor gives up his dream to save a child, I noticed that I was hugging myself. I was hoping that the rest of the film would stay as pure and as wondrous. I needed not to worry. In touching poetry, the meaning of the voice is revealed, and then it gives us a visually spine chilling last scene. This is a perfect movie, and a beautiful tribute to an elegant game.

National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

Seven years of college down the drain!!!

[10/10 · 6 January 2000]

Unlike many of the films on this list, Animal House is not a great moral and intellectual film designed to enlighten. It is a raunchy, lewd, crude, and sometimes offensive comedy. It is also one of the funniest movies ever made. While Airplane! has exploited the most inane of comedy (to winning effect, I might add), Animal House shows a great knowledge of human behavior, insecurity, college life, and human truths, and then spins it all on its head to great delight and amusement. The opening scene which shows two Freshman pledging a fraternity where they are clearly not wanted is the first of many laughs that rely on our sophisticated view of the world. And while Animal House does not disappoint on any level, it is the intelligent irreverence that makes Animal House as much fun as you can have watching a movie.

42 Up (1998 TV Movie)

A fascninating and enormously perceptive series

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

In the most sociologically fascinating and perceptive documentary series ever produced, Michael Apted has made this enormously thought provoking series a labour of love. He has taken eleven seven year olds in 1964, and has filmed them every seven years since then. The results have been breathtaking. In seeing footage from when these now grown adults were little, we see how the boy becomes a man and the girl becomes a woman. We see as each attempt to reach their hopes and dreams. There are successes and failures (including one heartbreaking one), but we get more than that. We get an overwhelming sense of the connection and delicate fabric of human life.

Lone Star (1996)

Brilliant, brilliant film

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

This film's intelligence embarrasses most films. This film is so complex, and so thoughtful in its dialogue, that it barely seems possible that someone could be so intelligent as to write this film, keeping the continuity as strong as it is. But writer/director John Sayles, who has been brilliant before but has reached a new level here, is more than up to the task. He spins a multiracial, multigenerational story, in a murder mystery that is a perfect web. There are no illogical steps, no misplaced scenes. Each scene becomes more meaningful after people realize the full scope of the film. The ending, which is a surprise, is not played for shock value, but for retrospection. It is played with the quiet confidence of a film that knows its surprise ending comes out of the story and the characters, and not from some Hollywood need for shock. Lone Star is a richly satisfying film and a reminder that films can still exercise that most important of muscles, the brain.

Ed's Next Move (1996)

A lovely little film about dating life as a nice guy

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Ed's Next Move is a small, quiet film that perfectly understands the "nice guy's" dating dilemma. It is about a very nice guy from Wisconsin, who moves to New York to avoid his ex and to study the genetics of rice. What he finds is an intelligent, attractive woman who runs away from him as fast as possible. After going against his nature and making a fool of himself on several occasions, Ed secures a date. After the date, she tells him that she has a boyfriend (does this movie get it or what!) Ed's Next Move does a wonderful job showing us a realistic beginning of a new relationship, and that makes this story so enjoyable and satisfying. This movie understands the hoops any nice guy has to go through, and is a wonderful cathartic experience for anyone who has attempted to ask a girl out and retreated before even asking the question.

Dead Man Walking (1995)

Sean Penn is simply amazing!

[5 January 2000]

There are few films where both the performances and directing are as powerful as they are in this film. Sean Penn is nothing less than awesome in a film that is as unflinching, intelligent, and thoughtful about the death penalty as any film could be. Writer/director Tim Robbins shows a depth beyond any reasonable expectation, Susan Sarandon is wonderful as the strong moral center of the film, and Sean Penn's performance is one of the most specific, thought provoking and eerily realistic performances ever put on film. In short, his performance is a masterpiece, as is this important film.

The American President (1995)

The most charming, winsome romantic comedy ever made

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

While none of us really have any idea what living in the White House is actually like, I'm sure we'd all like it to be something akin to what we see in the American President. Assuring us immediately, as Michael Douglas' Andrew Shepherd walks down the corridor, responding to rapid fire questions from a myriad of staff, this movie feels right. It feels like Andrew Shepherd is the President, and that we are in the White House. We then meet Annette Bening as lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade, and we can see why the President is smitten. She plays as likeable and winning a leading lady as I've seen at the movies. Because we buy that we are watching the President, and because the two leads play such winning characters, and because they have such great chemistry, the romantic exchanges between Bening and Douglas are among the most delightful ever put on film. Charming, witty, and winning, director Rob Reiner's The American President is a joy to behold and will put a smile on your face.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

A film of boundless invention and energy

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Far too few films are actually alive. They have stories and dialogue, to be sure, but you don't get the feeling that anybody is actually thinking or feeling. Pulp Fiction is the antidote to those films. It is one of the most unique films ever made, and it is brimming with fascinating dialogue, with original humor, with energy, and with life. Writer/director Quentin Tarantino has made a masterpiece of dialogue, tone, and setting. Like the characters, we have to be on our toes to appreciate the richness of the story. Time lines and story lines intersect with sex, drugs, violence, and humor in ways that we don't fully understand until long past the credits role. This film also stays with us long after the credits role, appreciating its audacity, intelligence, and Tarantino's boundless energy.

Hoop Dreams (1994)

A brilliant, heartfelt documentary

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Hoop Dreams is a film that shows the limited choices that young urban black men face in today's society, and it does it immensely well. But this is a documentary that does so much more as well. It shows the strength of two young black men and their families. It shows a student heading down the wrong path who uses basketball to straighten himself out. It shows a young man who's been used by basketball all his life, that he can use basketball, too, but not for money or fame, but for something far more important (an education). It is a wonderful and ambitious film that is ultimately about and family, and life, and dreams.

Clerks (1994)

Irreverence has never felt so good or been this funny!!!

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Clerks is an irreverent, low budget, and poorly shot film that has perfectly captured a generation. It is about two drift-about clerks who talk ironically about a myriad of issues as they watch life (and customers) pass by. It's humor is brazenly audacious, and it is so smart with its attitudes towards apathy, pop culture, and urban life, that you forget you are watching a film by a 24 year old shot for 20K. Its humor comes not only from pop culture, but from Kevin Smith's perfect understanding of the dilemma that young people face in regards to career, sex, and social life. All that, and it has the funniest demonstration of ironic detachment ever captured on film. It is as enjoyable a time as you can have watching people do nothing.

Schindler's List (1993)

A moving story about a heroic deed

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Schindler's List is a vivid character portrait of a flawed man who made heroic choices under the toughest of circumstances. Steven Spielberg has found a wonderful story, and has told it with pain, passion, and wisdom that is rare in today's cinema. In this three hour tale, Spielberg has at once shown us the horror of war, and has given us a story of courage and heroism to overcome it. Strong performances by Liam Neelson as Oscar Schindler, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Feinnes enhanced the strength of this painful and touching story. Even a schmaltzy ending cannot take away the beauty and power of this heroic tale, beautifully told.

Boyz n the Hood (1991)

An intensely felt, moral journey to the "hood."

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Boyz ‘N The Hood is the tour de force first film by writer/director John Singleton. He gives us fascinating and tragic story of living in "the hood," the poorer, almost all Black and Hispanic sections of Los Angeles. It shows us the story of Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.), as he tries to make good decisions in the face of a world where good decisions are rarely rewarded. It shows the conflicting values of loyalty, honor, pride, and vanity, and how to deal with them in a place where going to the store can get you killed. This danger brings a sense of dread to even the most innocuous scenes. The danger serves the dual purpose of making us even more invested in these characters, and more importantly, to give insight to the constant fear that pervades "the hood." Yet, Singleton makes an intensely moral film that argues that restraint, effort, and self reliance are the ways to make it out of "the hood." Lawrence Fishburne plays Tre's father as the moral center in this film that is strong, fair, tough, and in its own way, perfect.

Goodfellas (1990)

Goodfellas is the rhythm to the Godfather's melody

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Martin Scorcese has been one of the most important film makers of all time, and while he has made more thoughtful and introspective films than Goodfellas, he has never made a better or more enjoyable one. Goodfellas is a wonderfully full and well acted film about life in the mob. Unlike the Godfather, it doesn't romanticize the mob, but gives us insight into the details of its life. It also shows us one man's decent into drug addiction and violence. The film is long, but uses every second to give us a fuller picture of Henry Hill's life. Ray Liotta is wonderful as Henry Hill, a man who only slowly realizes he has gotten way over his head. Joe Pesci's performance is rightfully considered a classic, and DeNiro gives us what he always gives us- this time in a supporting role. Goodfellas knows the rhythm and beat about living in the mob, and while The Godfather gives us the melody, Goodfellas gives us its equally important counterpart.

Dances with Wolves (1990)

A tale that should have been told long before

[5 January 2000]

Dances With Wolves is a sweeping, touching, apology for the genocide of almost all the Native American people by the United States Government. Kevin Costner shows patience and an eye for the beauty of serenity in his direction, acting, and writing. His film is three hours and is slow, but instead of dragging, he gives us a gentle appreciation for the Native American culture and its love of nature. It is three hours of beautiful poetry, and tells a tale that should have been told long before.

Say Anything (1989)

Lloyd Dobbler... all right!!!

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

There are few characters that are as fully realized as Lloyd Dobbler in the history of film. Lloyd is a 19 year old without a career path, but with an unflinching love of Diane Court, a beautiful genius. It is John Cusack's ability to turn a well written character into one of the most empathetic and enjoyable characters in recent film that has made this such a wonderful movie experience. Ione Skye is almost as strong as Diane Court, who doesn't overplay her intelligence, naiveté, or caring nature. And John Mahoney is wonderful as Diane's father, a flawed man who loves his daughter, perhaps too much. Overall, this is an intensely likable film about characters we care a great deal about, and in a story that is true and honest to its characters.

Roger & Me (1989)

A funny, angry, revenge film that nails its target

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Roger and Me is an angry movie. Michael Moore has just seen General Motors fire 30,000 people from his hometown (Flint, MI), and he's p****d off about it. So, he takes a video camera, and documents the sweetest revenge ever produced on film. His "goal" is to bring GM boss Roger Smith to show him the poverty he has left behind in Flint. Of course, he is unsuccessful in this effort, but succeeds on many other levels. He takes big swipes at General Motors, The Flint Tourism bureau, Bob Eubanks, and others with a film that is so funny that it is only after viewing it you realize that it is equally as angry. Although this documentary is clearly biased, it is a wonderful film experience, and it takes a well earned swipe at corporate ignorance. It confronts it by putting a face on its irresponsibility.

Breaking Away (1979)

A film to treasure!!!

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Breaking Away is a picture that is better than the sum of its parts. Oh, its parts are wonderful. The writing is sharp, observant, and funny (It won an Oscar!), the acting is superb (how Paul Dooley was nixed a nomination never mind the award I'll never know), and it is a well shot film. But its charms go even deeper. It is the story of four young men in their late teens, who are staring adulthood in the face after a year of leisure in the "small town" of Bloomington, Indiana, and how they deal with watching successful college kids pass them by. It is also about a young man in search of an identity (including that of a Italian bicycle racer), and of a family that is loving and supportive, almost in spite of itself. All these add up to a richly enjoyable, deeply moving family picture that gives us many moments to treasure (a large number include Paul Dooley as the frustrated and confused, but eventually loving father). Like other sports movies (the lead character races bicycles), it has a contest at the end, and like many much poorer ones, it ends with triumph. But we cheer not only for these immensely likeable "cutters," but for ourselves, for being treated to this bittersweet, touching, and wonderful movie.

The Graduate (1967)

A biting satire against upper middle class boredom

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Dustin Hoffman's offbeat, quirky, Benjamin Braddock is one of the most interesting and realized characters in movie history. His cluelessness and disillusion after college, and the resulting affair with the infamous Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), are told in such a empathetic way that you completely understand the choices he is making, even though they are the result of sporadic behavior and poor judgment. This leads to perhaps the most gratifying ending in movie history, as our hero breaks free from upper middle class oppression to make a wild and romantic gesture that ultimately may save him from the unoriginality his life seemed destined to be heading towards. Katherine Ross is delightful as the object of Benjamin's unique affection, and the soundtrack is the perfect punctuation point for Benjamin's confusion and desperation.

Citizen Kane (1941)

As good as advertised

[10/10 · 5 January 2000]

Citizen Kane is perhaps the most important film ever made. It's innovations of cinematography and plot are amazing even almost sixty years later. It is a sight to behold. It is all those things, but it is also just an enjoyable film to watch. Orson Wells tells the story of Charles Foster Kane, who goes from idealistic to ambitious, to a corporate monster. The way that Wells lets this brilliant story unfold is breathtaking, as is his entire troupe, who never push us further than we are willing to go. And the last scene, with the words Rosebud coming from Wells lips, maybe the most famous and best exclamation point in movie history.

American Beauty (1999)

Lester Burnham has everything he wants, except a life

[9/10 · 13 December 1999]

American Beauty is the latest of films that attempt to dissect the vapidity and repression of suburban America. It is also the movie that the others hint at becoming, a movie where the walls of repression have been stripped, and both the viewers and characters are left to watch the remnants of what remains. Unlike Ordinary People and The Ice Storm, we see early and often the misery these people live with, and while Mary Tyler Moore remains ice cold throughout Ordinary People, Annette Benning and the rest of American Beauty have a complete meltdown before our very eyes. When the story opens, we learn of the tragedy that is about to unfold during the course of the movie, and we also see one of the most desperate characters in movie history, Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey). On the surface, all looks well. He has a good job, and a beautiful wife and daughter. The problem is that he is despised by all three, and confides early on that he feels dead. His wife (played by Annette Bening), a self absorbed real estate agent, is more willing than her husband to play the game of suburban respectability, but is clearly equally as miserable. Benning plays this character so well that you completely forget how charming she was in The American President. Their daughter (played by newcomer Thora Birch) plays typical teenage angst with such aplomb that it actually seems fresh and heartfelt on the screen. Each of the Burnhams enters into a relationship in the movie that helps each feel more alive. Lester meets a teenage friend of his daughter, that ignites a passion in him that he thought has long since been dead. Annette Bening's character meets her match in real estate king played by Peter Gallager, who is quite possibly even more self absorbed and greedy than her. Finally, daughter Jane meets an enigmatic boy next door, who films her every move, sells pot to her father, and has a homophobic, straight laced military father (Chris Cooper). The ironic thing is that he is the happiest, most stable character in the movie. While these three romances ignite passion in the Burnham clan, they each highlight the vapidity of their alleged family. This leads to some shocking and surprisingly funny scenes where suburbia goes under attack, to the relish of both the characters and the audience. All this while Lester begins his mid life crisis. He starts working out at the suggestion of his love object (Lena Suvari, as the sister's friend), quits his job and black mails his pension, and starts buying pot from his daughter's new boyfriend. While these actions are on the whole at the very least unwise, we see why Lester has made these choices, and we see his desperation turn to hope because of them. We also see some very interesting cinematic decisions being made, particularly with the color red. It is used to highlight roses, lips, doors, and blood, and eventually we see that the red comes to mean beauty and hope for the characters, even in the final scene, when tragedy takes place. And the final scene. Because we know the tragedy will happen later on, the question becomes how the tragedy takes place, and not will it. The plot has a lot of fun teasing us with this information, and we are interested ourselves, until we reach that conclusion: It doesn't matter. Who eventually causes the tragedy isn't important. What is important is that there are many characters desperate and sad enough to cause it. When we realize that, we see what Lester sees. We see the red as hope.

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

"There's such a fine line between clever and stupid," and Tap finds it every time

[10/10 · 1 May 1999]

"There's such a fine line between clever and stupid," says David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap's lead singer, and this movie finds it each and every time. Spinal Tap is the fake documentary of "The sights, the sounds, the smells of one of England's loudest bands." They also happen to be one of England's (or anywhere's) worst bands, and they are on a fast decent to nowhere while promoting their album "Smell the Glove."

One of the many, many delights of the film is in showing just how low the band goes (the lowest is being billed behind a puppet show at a local amusement park). But this film gives so much more than that descent. It truly has its pulse on the vast humor that stupidity can provide, and as it gives us a clueless and derivative rock band, the cleverness in how it brings us it's stupidity is never less than breathtaking.

The film is only 82 minutes, which is hard to believe, given how many jokes, both subtle and not so subtle, are thrown at us. It's like Airplane, except instead of giving us sight gags and groaners, it gives us biting sarcasm and brilliant insight into the worst that rock n' roll can provide. The amazing thing is that unlike Airplane, there isn't one miss in the bunch. Every joke in this film is at least funny, and many need a stronger adjective to express it's level of humor.

This film is in one way an attack on a Rock n' Roll industry that allows a band like Spinal Tap to hang around, inexplicably, for twenty years, but this film is in no way a great social commentary. It is a spoof. Well, actually, that's not really accurate. It is THE spoof. Every one before and after it will inevitably be compared to it, and ultimately, unfavorably.

This is Spinal Tap is now rightfully a comedy classic. I dare say that only "The Holy Grail" compares in being the most quoted movie of all time (at least among the Gen X set). It deserves its place. In my viewing of over 2,000 films in my life, I not only say without hesitation that it is the funniest film I have ever seen, I probably won't ever see a funnier one

If you have seen Spinal Tap once and strongly disagree, my advice is to see it again. It will allegedly be in theaters next year. Spinal Tap needs at least six viewings to fully appreciate all of its humor. The first time I saw it I was confused, the second I was amazed, and the third I was dying laughing.

Although there are at least fifty jokes that are truly hysterical, a few do stand out, especially Big Bottoms and "These go to eleven." But don't see it watching for just the biggies, because there is so much humor tucked slightly beneath the surface that you will miss most of it (chances are you will miss at least twenty jokes from laughing alone). But do yourself a favor and see the funniest movie ever captured on film, and find that fine line between clever and stupid, because if you do, you will never look at cucumbers the same way again.

There's Something About Mary (1998)

It's rude, it's crude, it's raunchy. Could anyone ask for more?

[9/10 · 27 April 1999]

There's Something About Mary is the Farrelly brother's third effort. There first two movies, Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin, were among the most sophmoric, tasteless, movies I have ever seen. There were also two of the funniest. What made those movies so delightful was the absolute effort that was made to get us to laugh. As Mel Brooks has said about his movies, they "rise below vulgarity."

As funny as those two movies are, the Farrelly brothers have clearly stepped it up a notch with this film, which is most likely not the funniest film of all time, but definitely merits consideration. The film begins in the wonderful state of Rhode Island, and after a very inside joke about "Borrington," shows the first meeting between Ted (Ben Stiller) and Mary (Cameron Diaz). From the first meeting, that involves Mary's mentally challenged brother, we get the sense that sensitivity isn't a high value in this movie, and that laughter is.

Describing the rest of the plot is mostly pointless, although it does contain several delightful twists. The movie does not rely on its plot, but relies on a combination of high slapstick comedy and the ability to exploit the worst, darkest part of human nature, especially as contrasted to the unbelievably sweet and wholesome Mary.

These two elements as well as one incredibly funny misunderstanding (about serial killing of all things), have made this movie a true delight, and a purely fun ride into raunchy fantasy. Not that you don't need a thick skin to view this film. It pokes fun at a variety of sources, most disturbingly at people with mental retardation. However, it is clear the film revels much more in the stupidity of those people who tend to exploit people with mental retardation.

The film also contains the wonderful and humorous presence of one of the great rock n' roll musicians of all time, Jonathan Richman, who is all ham in this one. When all is said and done, no one is smarter, no one is a better person for seeing this film. It makes no great statements, it offers no insight into humanity. It is what it is: The funniest, most rip roaring laugh your a** off good time you will have at the movies, and if that isn't worth $8, then save the money and buy a better sense of humor.