I hated Movie 43. I didn’t find the jokes particularly funny – and mind you, I don’t mind crude/rude humor – nor was it very controversial. Instead this looked more like a college film project with a higher budget and one which was made for insiders rather than a larger audience.
Movie 43 (2013)
Genre(s): Comedy
Fox | R/Unrated – 94 min. / 98 min. – $39.99 | June 18, 2013
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Steven Brill, Peter Farrelly, Will Graham, Steve Carr, Griffin Dunne, James Duffy, Jonathan van Tulleken, Elizabeth Banks, Patrik Forsberg, Brett Ratner, Rusty Cundieff, James Gunn
Writer(s): Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleischer, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham, James Gunn, Claes Kjellstrom, Jack Kukooa, Bill O’Malley, Matthew Portenoy, Greg Pritikin, Rocky Russo, Olle Sarri, Elizabeth Shapiro, Jeremy Sosenko, Jonathan van Tullekn, Jonas Wittenmark
Cast: Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Leslie Bibb, Kate Bosworth, Gerard Butler, Bobby Cannavale, Kieran Culkin, Josh Duhamel, Anna Faris, Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Justin Long, Jack McBrayer, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Chris Pratt, Liev Schreiber, Seann William Scott, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Uma Thurman, Patrick Warburton, Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet
Theatrical Release Date: January 25, 2013
DISC INFO:
Features: Deleted Scene, DVD Copy, Digital Copy, UltraViolet
Number of Discs: 2
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1),
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Disc Size: 34.9 GB
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – ZERO/5
LOST
Large chunk of soul. Please contact “The Movieman” as he is really missing it after watching POS movie. Reward offered for safe return. Pho: 555-555-0123
Where to begin… where to begin? Honestly, and I say this having seen thousands of movies over the years, Movie 43 is easily one of the worst I have ever seen. I keep a master list and I actually had trouble deciding whether or not to place it below or above Mike Myer’s hideously unfunny The Love Guru. Yes folks, it’s THAT gawd-awful. Oh, and I ultimately placed it below The Love Guru.
The plot, such as it is, are shorts stitched together around struggling screenwriter (DENNIS QUAID) pitching movie ideas to a studio exec (GREG KINNEAR) hoping to find the path to success once again. I should note here I’m not going to even bother with character names. As if that’s important anyway.
His first idea, entitled “The Catch”, centers on Beth (KATE WINSLET) getting ready for a blind date with successfully rich businessman Davis (HUGH JACKMAN) but when they meet at the restaurant, he removes his scarf to reveal… a ball-sack hanging from his neck. Ah, and the joke is she is the only one who notices while everybody else wispily go about their jobs.
In “Veronica”, we find cashier Neil (RORY CULKIN) and his girlfriend Veronica (EMMA STONE) talking dirty towards one another over the store loudspeaker. I guess of the stories, this isn’t as bad, although it’s still not very funny. Well, at least Emma Stone is still stunning no matter what.
In one story, “Happy Birthday”, which seems to be popular with those who liked the film, are two best friends (SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT and JOHNNY KNOXVILLE) in which the latter, in an attempt to apologize to his bud for sleeping with his girlfriend, found and kidnapped a leprechaun (GERARD BUTLER) and plans on ransoming it for a pot of gold.
We also get a skit, which has been featured in all the trailers, Emily (HALLE BERRY) is on a date with Donald (STEPHAN MERCHANT) and rather than going through the motions of a typical date – favorite color, what do you do, etc. – they play a game of truth or dare which gets more extreme as the story goes on.
You get the idea and there are even grosser ones as well including one called “The Proposition” in which a woman named Vanessa (ANNA FARIS) and her boyfriend Jason (played by Faris’ real life hubby CHRIS PRATT) wants him to, well, defecate on her. He tries to oblige by serving a diet of burritos and beans. No, it’s not offensive, just plain gross and like the others, light on the humor despite having two actors who normally can rise above the material (see the Scary Movie series for Faris).
The entire thing isn’t a wash, though hardly can save this turkey. The final skit, “Victory’s Glory”, managed to actually get a chuckle with one joke mocking the slow clap we see in older sports films. That literally was the only time I “enjoyed” but even then it’s far too little, far too late.
When it comes to the cast, other than the fact so many signed up, I can’t place too much blame. They obviously were doing something different and did it as a favor. Generally these actors can be quite funny but the material they were given were, to say the least, lacking.
In the end, Movie 43 might have sounded like a good idea to make an all-star version of “SNL” but none of it really worked and even though the filmmakers were attempting to go un-PC, offensive and outrageous with the jokes, if none of them are that funny, what’s the point? Even still, and while hardly tame, these skits weren’t that offensive…
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.25/5
This release comes with a semi-glossy slip cover, a Digital/DVD Copy combo disc and a download code for UltraViolet. Features-wise, nothing much except a Deleted Scene (4:45; HD) featuring Julianne Moore and Tony Shalhoub and the Theatrical Trailer (2:23; HD).
Also included is an Alternate Cut a.k.a. International Cut which cuts out the Quaid/Kinnear part and replace it with stoners putting together these skits. This cut is about 4-minutes longer and although not as bad as the other cut, it’s dumb and still not very funny.
Previews – The Heat, 21 & Over
VIDEO – 4.5/5
Warner Home Video releases Movie 43 onto Blu-ray presented with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. Unsurprisingly, the picture here looks excellent. The contrast and color array seem well balanced and the black levels, when applicable, don’t show off any signs of artifacting or pixilation. The detail levels are well comprehensive throughout.
AUDIO – 4.5/5
On a similar plain, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is equally impressive. Although the majority of the movie is dialogue-driven, it still balances from the front and rear channels for ambient noises while the dialogue, which is nice and clear, make use of the center speaker.
OVERALL – 1.75/5
Overall, I hated Movie 43. I didn’t find the jokes particularly funny – and mind you, I don’t mind crude/rude humor – nor was it very controversial. Instead this looked more like a college film project with a higher budget and one which was made for insiders rather than a larger audience. Interestingly enough, at the premiere, Seann William Scott apparently was the biggest name of the cast to show up which says a lot when the others, even in their small roles, didn’t even bother attending. Well, at least the Blu-ray offers great audio and video transfers so for any fans out there, and I know there are a few, the release has that going for it.
The Movieman
Published: 06/22/2013