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Thinkfilms presents Farce Of The Penguins. Written by Bob Sagat. 80 minutes. Rated R for pervasive crude sexual content and language.
Directed By:
Bob Sagat
Cast:
Samuel L. Jackson .Narrator
Bob Sagat .Carl
Lewis Black .Jimmy
Christina Applegate .Melissa
Mo’Nique .Vivky
as well as:
Jason Alexander, James Belushi, Jason Biggs, Dane Cook, Dave Coulier, Adam Duritz, Harvey Fierstein, Whoopi Goldberg, Gilbert Gottfried, Alyson Hannigan, Penn Jillette, Jamie Kennedy, Jonathan Katz, David Koechner, Jon Lovitz, Norm MacDonald, Carlos Mencia, Tracy Morgan, and John Stamos.
The Movie:
Used to be when you thought of Bob Saget you thought of Full House and America’s Funniest Home Videos. Then Saget made a new name for himself doing a stand up comic act that was a little blue. This raunchy Saget garnered more attention when he stole the show in the all-star comic documentary The Aristocrats. Now he has taken his skills honed over the year at Funniest Video and blended them with his new penchant for potty humor to create this straight to DVD parody.
With a title like Farce Of The Penguins it was really only a matter of time before this film came along, and it’s a simple enough concept that one can imagine what the film is like without even having watched it. However with Bob Saget in the drivers seat of this bus and all of his actor comedian friends a long for the ride there are actually more laughs than one might expect.
Sadly though, for the most part this film drags along pretty slowly, the stock footage of penguins and other animals doesn’t always cut together that well and it’s impossible to tell the two main penguins, Carl (Saget), the neurotic one, and Jimmy (Black), the horny one, apart. However there is a humorous moment when Carl realizes that he doesn’t know which of the two penguins he is and Jackson, the narrator, has to step in and help out. In fact a majority of the more humorous moments come from Jackson. At one point a penguin voiced by the very recognizable Gilbert Gottfried is complaining about how cold it is and gets into an argument with Jackson who is also complaining of cold. The Gottfried penguin points out to Jackson that he has no right to complain because he’s in a cushy Hollywood recording studio and not Antarctica.
It’s these non-sequitur moments that make the film worth sitting through. The plot itself leaves something to be desired. Carl and Jimmy are friends making the long trek that penguins do to meet the ladies, Carl wants to find true love while Jimmy just wants to get laid. Carl is worried he won’t meet the right one and is generally unhappy with the penguin lifestyle. Lucky for him Melissa, Applegate, is looking for love too.
For a film that’s nothing but stock footage stuck together it’s not bad. There are laughs but they are few and far between. One would hope that with an amazing cast like this the end product would be of a higher quality. Alas, Farce falls short of this goal and ends up leaving the viewer with a bad taste in their mouth. There are many faults in this film, the most noteworthy being the songs. There are a couple moments when the penguins break into song (all written by Bob Saget) and they really just aren’t funny at all.
Meet Carl and Jimmy. Try to guess which one is which.
The DVD:
The Video:
The film is presented in widescreen 1.85:1. The stock footage varies from pretty okay to kinda bad and is never consistent for very long. Don’t be looking for a Blu-ray release on this anytime soon.
The Audio:
The film is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo. The sound is okay. Being that it’s just a bunch of comedians sitting in recording studio with the occasional fart sound thrown in there’s really nothing special going on here.
Extras:
To the Earth’s Ice-Hole’ and Back with Bob Saget: This humorous interview plays of the idea that Saget actually went to Antarctica to film the movie and this interview is taking place there. This is when Saget is at his funniest, ad-libbing and not sticking to a written script.
Never-Before-Seen Bonus Footage with Commentary:These are mostly extended scenes and Saget explains why they were cut or trimmed. The most interesting/frightening thing here is Marcus’s (Tracy Morgan) giant computer animated baby maker.
Behind —the-Scenes Montage: Here’s the real making of as we see all the talent recording their voices for the film. You can tell everyone had a blast doing this and it makes you want to like the movie a lot more than you actually will.
Director’s Commentary: I think the movie is much funnier this way. Saget spends a lot of time pointing out who’s doing all the voices, saying how everyone was doing him a favor. He also points out how they reused the same shots over and over again, sometimes just reversing them. That is hilarious once you know what to look for. Saget is a funny guy and a joy to listen to as he rambles on about this film he obviously loves. He even encourages his audience to be inebriated while watching the film.
Exclusive Menus featuring Original Footage: I guess this is a special feature. It’s just Saget and Black ranting at each other about the menu options on the DVD.
Trailer gallery: You get three different trailers for the film, oooh.
The Inside Pulse
With all the talent stacked up in this film the expectation for laughs can get pretty high. While there are laughs here, sadly they are far fewer and further between than one might hope. This is one case where the commentary is actually more entertaining than the film itself.
