Review of Naked

Naked (I) (2017)
1/10
Why?
16 August 2021
Forced attempt at comedy. Zero effort made to create believable characters or situations, hence nothing is funny. Interesting concept: man wakes up on his wedding day on the floor of an elevator, naked, as the doors open; then he exits out into the world and proceeds to be humiliated for his lack of clothes. As in GROUNDHOG DAY, the scenario repeats over and over in a loop. Obvious birth metaphor here, and other Freudian possibilities -- all missed for the frenzied slapstick. It's essential for the character to be embarrassed by his public nudity -- but here it feels like the filmmakers are embarrassed about it as well, and can't even begin to find the comedic pathos in the plight of their protagonist. Much energy is spent coyly covering up the man bits shot to shot -- didn't Mike Meyers parody that in an Austin Powers movie sufficiently enough to push filmmakers to figure out a better way? The star lacks the acting technique required to find specific moments and ways to register what is going on with him -- the only way to mine real laughs from his situation. One gets the feeling watching this film that it is a faint copy of an original movie -- maybe something even funny or artistic -- but having seen it, the creators of this knock-off missed everything of value: lo and behold, a search shows NAKED is an American version of a Swedish film made some years before. Not seen it myself, but assume it is better than the copy -- at least watchable.
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