Director: Scott Aukerman
Cast: Zach Galifanakis, Lauren Lapkus, Ryan Gaul, Jiavani Linayao
Have I Seen It Before?: No. Yes, I know I’m behind.
Did I like it?: Uhh… Yeah, I think so?
It never seemed like the crown jewel of the internet video empire Funny or Die would have been able to lend itself at all to a feature, but then again people probably said the same thing about Wayne’s World (1992) back in the day, so what do we know?
Now, I don’t think this film is quite the revelation of the best translations from sketch to feature that are out there. It’s perhaps trying a little too much to be a riff on Waiting for Guffman (1997) with an absurdist streak to be as surprisingly unhinged as the original videos were, but it is amiable enough.
Naturally, things work the best when Galifanakis (Galifanakis*) is interviewing celebrities during segments for the (now fictional) show. An extended sequence at the cable-access station where the show is produced fitfully introduces other characters that will join Galifanakis on his quest. It might have been better to see more of these people, but my dismissal as too much like either Wayne’s World or Waiting for Guffman would have been only more acute.
The movie doesn’t end so much as the run time elapses, and that may be its fatal flaw. More tension as Galifanakis tried to fight his instincts while interviewing Gal Gadot (Gal Gadot**) would have been more satisfying. Instead, Galifanakis perfunctorily turns back to his old show, and the fact that the film doesn’t really have an ending is played off as something that might be a joke, except it’s the least funny part of the film. The sour taste is somewhat ameliorated by the outtakes of the film, which are more amusing than anything else in the last few minutes of the film proper.
*That’s a little annoying that I have to type that twice to be correctly writing about film, but then again, I would imagine that both Galifanakis the man and Galafanakis the character are probably fine with that.
**Sigh.