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Screwed!!!!!! A Review by |
| Preface: Ok, this movie
came out a while ago, but the DVD/Video release was faily recently and I don't think this
movie has received its fair share of attention. Now, the Gyeah.com review: It is an arguable proposition, but after seeing "Screwed" I firmly believe that Norm Macdonald could be one of the most underrated comedians of our current era. Coming as (belated) follow-up to the should-be Cult Classic "Dirty Work," "Screwed" employs much of the same acidic comedy that made "Dirty Work" so amusing and outrageous. Ok, here's the basic rundown: Macdonald stars as Willard Fillmore, butler/bitch to super-duper-Hagwoman Miss Crock (Elained Strictch [sic]). Feeling under appreciated and depressed (Norm Macdonald getting dumped on by Miss Crock is beyond comedy), Fillmore decides to kidnap Crock's dog (shades of "Lost And Found," the David Spade comedy of a couple years back) with help from his best friend Rusty (Dave Chappelle). However, following some chicanery, the pooch is safe and Miss Crock believes that it's actually Fillmore who's been kidnapped. It gets a bit more complicated, but I'm not going to elaborate or else I'll give away some vital plot elements. On its surface, this movie doesn't appear to be any more than usual Saturday Night Live fare, i.e. sex jokes and an unbearable drag-out, two-hour movie based on a two-minute skit ('Night at the Roxbury', anyone? God, that movie blew chunkety-chunks). Several things make this movie a potential Cult Classic, however. First, the characters are played out _perfectly_. Miss Crock is absolutely evil, which makes her gags even more hilarious. Danny Devito is (hold your breath) actually _funny_ in this movie, rather than grabbing for your dumb-gag reflex, he actually fits his role and makes his character both likeable and downright funny. Indeed, every character is funny, period. Second, this movie was pure Norm Macdonald. In his appearances on SNL (and currently CBS) he was clearly stifled by the nazi-esque "clean" tv standards that preclude language-violation (yeah, we can't here Norm cuss at 11.30 p.m, but prime-time shoot-em-ups are ok). I've seen him make interview-appearances on several shows and I saw a tiny bit of his stand-up routine...and Norm Macdonald is simply hilarious. "Screwed" represents Norm Macdonald in top form. He's shrewd as hell, and he appeals to the particular sense of humour that made "The Simpsons" so popular during the mid-1990's. In short, he's totally outrageous. Finally, this movie's gags were surprisingly fresh. Again, what made this movie was the quality of the cast. The interaction between Fillmore and Rusty is laugh-till-you-choke material...and the types of gags pulled rely on quite a bit of interaction rather than strictly one-liners. And one final element that deserves special mention...two words: Sherman Hemsley ("Jeffersons," anyone?). Boo-ya, George. This movie isn't for everyone. This movie is certainly caustic, acidic humour, but it pushes the boundaries and injects new life into SNL-comedians' recently-sagging (perhaps flopping is a better word) level of quality output. Furthermore, if you like cynical humour, this movie totally delivers the goods. See this movie, damnit! -Romml wants to see Network Television get Screwed for being a bunch of Fascists. Rating:  1/2
out of four. |
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