This is an abomination of a movie. Doesn't work for so many reasons, it's ridiculous. A couple of laffs here and there... then 5 minutes of crap that's absolutely painful to watch. These scenes should have ended up on the cutting room floor. Did Ferrell and McKay actually think this garbage worked?!
The dinner scene with the black family is the low point of the entire film. Will Ferrell is doing his usual insane, brain-dead shtick -- except it's so extreme that it's completely unbelievable.
While his outrageous remarks to the family keeps getting more and more and out of hand, the black actors playing the family seem to be in another film -- perhaps a drama about racism. You can see the pain on their faces. It seems to be real. There's nothing funny about these actors. You can tell they're really good actors, too. And when the react to Ferrell's racial disrespect, they seem genuinely outraged and offended. Not funny at all -- more like tragic in this day and age.
I felt sorry for them -- especially one of the brothers, who had tears in his eyes. Real tears. The father seemed to be outraged, too. I don''t think he was acting. I don't think any of them were. I think they were thinking of Martin Luther King and civil rights and thinking that they're right back in the Jim Crow south. No progress whatsoever in 50 years.
As far as some of the other crap that doesn't work, the love interest for Brick was a total disaster. After all the hilarious stiff Kristen Wiig has done over the years on SNL, it's unbelievable that here, her "character" is someone who is supposed to answer an office phone, but doesn't.
Whoa!!! We're talking genius comedy writing here, guys. Move over, Neil Simon! Woody Allen and Mel Brooks -- take a hike! We've got a broad in our picture who DOESN'T ANSWER THE PHONE when she's supposed to!! WHOO-HOOOO!!!!! Pure genius, right???!!!!!!!!!
Must have been the crack. It's the only explanation.
The dinner scene with the black family is the low point of the entire film. Will Ferrell is doing his usual insane, brain-dead shtick -- except it's so extreme that it's completely unbelievable.
While his outrageous remarks to the family keeps getting more and more and out of hand, the black actors playing the family seem to be in another film -- perhaps a drama about racism. You can see the pain on their faces. It seems to be real. There's nothing funny about these actors. You can tell they're really good actors, too. And when the react to Ferrell's racial disrespect, they seem genuinely outraged and offended. Not funny at all -- more like tragic in this day and age.
I felt sorry for them -- especially one of the brothers, who had tears in his eyes. Real tears. The father seemed to be outraged, too. I don''t think he was acting. I don't think any of them were. I think they were thinking of Martin Luther King and civil rights and thinking that they're right back in the Jim Crow south. No progress whatsoever in 50 years.
As far as some of the other crap that doesn't work, the love interest for Brick was a total disaster. After all the hilarious stiff Kristen Wiig has done over the years on SNL, it's unbelievable that here, her "character" is someone who is supposed to answer an office phone, but doesn't.
Whoa!!! We're talking genius comedy writing here, guys. Move over, Neil Simon! Woody Allen and Mel Brooks -- take a hike! We've got a broad in our picture who DOESN'T ANSWER THE PHONE when she's supposed to!! WHOO-HOOOO!!!!! Pure genius, right???!!!!!!!!!
Must have been the crack. It's the only explanation.