All right, I confess! This has to have been one of the funniest movies that I've ever seen! Now, that isn't saying that Tom Green is a genius; in fact, it is the sheer stupidity and audacity of this film that allows it to click for me. I don't usually watch comedies to think deeply about the problems of the human existence (unless, of course, it's an exceptionally well-crafted mix of drama and comedy, such as the Michael Moore documentaries or Kubirck's "Dr. Strangelove"). My maxim is this: if it makes me laugh, it's good enough for me. The movie doesn't even require a decent plot or even decent actors. It helps to be weird, sick, twisted, and, nonsensical. Sheer anarchy reigns in "Freddy." The movie essentially takes the "loser seeking to fulfil his dreams" plot and twists and contorts those cliches to grotesque levels that the lame Saturday Night Live movies could never in their wildest dreams hope to accomplish. Even "Amelia Bedelia"-type puns are toyed with. For example, when the cartoon producer advises Green to "get inside [his] animals", who would have expected that Green would not only get inside of a deer skin, but would have the audacity to take out a bowie knife and skin a stinking hunk of roadkill, with its guts making a sqeauling noise as they spill onto the road, all to the tune of some corny Coca-Cola ad? Yes, this is not funny, you all may say, it's sick! but I think its Greens willingness to cause the audience to wretch that's funny, rather than the sick pun itself. The beyond-belief stupidity also adds to the movie. That Gord's girlfriend's favorite hobbies include constructing rocket powered wheelchairs and flipping coffee creamers is too weird not to at least be snickered at. I must say, the romance between Gord and his girlfriend clicks: they're both equally crass, moronic, and surreal. Hell, it's far more believable than the wooden romance between Darth Vader and his geisha girlfriend in that new "Star Wars" movie. The strange, unbelievable plot turn at the end is also so poorly-conceived, that it's funny. I'm still baffled that all throughout the movie idiocy reigned supreme, yet Green makes an obscure geography reference to the Thar Desert, which is on the India-Pakistan border. This geography reference would probably be rather obscure to most people. Hey, there's a reason to recommend "Freddy:" learn South Asian geography! I suppose part of the reason people despised "Freddy" was the fact that Gord, the protagonist, was a selfish, despiciable personage, always willing to do harm to his family and friends to get what he wanted. In many of the other so-called "potty humor" films, the characters get into gross situations, but they always mean well and have kind hearts; there's none of that with Gord. He only cares for himself, and is willing to destroy the good name of his father and straight-laced brother to get what he most desires. Gordon Brody is definitely the devil-child that Chris Farley and Adam Sandler are not in their movies. Still, I think that Green's evil anti-hero is a breathe of fresh air to the good-guy personas we often see in these movies. This movie is no classic, but it may someday achieve some sort of cult status amongst Green fanatics and people who like totally weird movies. "Freddy" may have lost the battle with the critics, but it may end up winning the war with a following of "Green-iacs."
Review of Freddy Got Fingered
