Tour de Pharmacy

Another classic Andy Samberg mockumentary. This only runs 37 minutes but took nearly an hour to watch cause I kept having to pause it to control my laughter! Super silly and random, and suits my Aussie humour perfectly. Cheers!

Tour de Pharmacy is a hilarious and goofy cycling mockumentary that makes fun of the usual tropes you would find in the real world of professional cycling. While only being 41 minutes long, this television film from the team behind the tennis comedy 7 Days in Hell has enough laughs and hilarious moments that could fill a full feature-length film.

There are five main cyclers that we follow throughout the race. Each character is over the top and has their own quirks and personal motivations. Andy Samberg plays Marty, a white boy representing Africa, even though he's only African because his American family owns a blood diamond mine. Orlando Bloom plays the high pitched and flamboyant Juju Pepe. John Cena is the steroid-infused Austrian, Gustav Ditters. Daveed Diggs plays Slim Robinson, the nephew of Jackie Robinson who only races to be recognized as the first black cyclist. Finally, Freddie Highmore plays the woman Adrian Baton who dresses as a man in order to compete in the race. These core characters carry the film from start to finish, dishing up several laughs each minute.

The story takes place during the 1982 Tour de France where doping and steroids have taken control of the sport. After one day of racing, every cyclist except the main five is banned from the race. For the next several stages we solely follow the proclaimed "Fab Five" as they battle each other for the title. An onslaught of funny gags and scenarios occur that make the competition feel like an episode of the old cartoon Wacky Races.

The mockumentary style of the film is comedic gold and makes every laugh even funnier. The film is staged as a sports documentary that would commonly be shown on ESPN. There's archival footage of the race intercut with interviews with cycling experts and older versions of the racers as they tell their sides of the story of what happened at the race.

Director Jake Szymanski gives his cast all the power to carry the film and it pays off extremely well. The laughs are because of the characters that we learn to love for their unusual personalities. Szymanski's previous television film 7 Days in Hell shares several similarities with this one and he takes what worked in that film and uses it here. He also creates an authentic looking documentary by shooting the race scenes with VCR cameras so it looks like it actually took place in 1982.

Each core actor is great in their absurd and almost idiotic characters. There's also an endless parade of cameos and bit parts from celebrities such as Maya Rudolph, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Bacon, Danny Glover, Dolph Lundgren, J.J. Abrams, and even Lance Armstrong (poking fun at his own use of steroids). They all serve as interview subjects for the documentary and add to the comedy. The biggest laughs come from Rudolph as a "cycling expert" and Goldblum as older Marty.

Tour de Pharmacy is a hilarious and silly film that never takes its subject matter seriously and just wants to have fun. The short run time and goofy characters create a brilliant popcorn flick that will have you laughing all the way through.

Great casting, just the right amount of absurd, quite a few good jokes very tightly packed.

I have great respect for this production as I am sure it could have been drawn out to a loose 90 minutes to fit a more familiar format, but it trimmed the fat in a wonderful way. It also has a surprising range, as it funny in many different shocking, cringey, self-aware, satiric and over-the top ways. Balanced, well-paced and plain fun.

It must be very difficult to conclude a short film like this in a truly satisfying way, and Tour de Pharmacy does not keep its best jokes for last, but even without a *trifecta* level climax, I can easily recommend this little film.

Slim Robinson is the Goat! He can make cheese! So many real life champions in this high end documentary. Real life cyclist and boxing champion Mike Tyson and well others.

I'm buying a bike tomorrow just because Gustov Ditters was such a an amazing cyclist he had to be played by several actors.

Some dude in a fur coat and cowboy hat was in it, not sure what he did in real life, he was blacked out and couldn't tell who he was, maybe you can.

An explanation of the performance enhancing drugs was highly scientific. Coming away from it I feel I can work in a drug lab now.

OK, gotta go get on my bike now. Byyyyyyeeeee.

Well, these kinds of mockumentaries can be a bit hit and miss. Suffice it to say that this one is simply brilliant. I was laughing out loud the whole way through.

The cast is stellar and they have a riot. Who knew Cena could do comedy so well? Orlando Bloom was hilarious and I didn't recognise him at first! Tyson really have poke fun at himself, too.

The running gag, involving a certain well-known cyclist is really well done, too.

I think HBO may have struck a rich seam here. There are all kinds of sports stories that could be hilarious mockumentaries if they let Andy Sambergh loose on them.

Really, watch this!