Kicking the Dog

I've never felt compelled to write a review or even vote for a movie, but I found this movie so funny that I actually signed up for IMDb to write a review.

This may be the funniest movie I have ever seen. The first time I watched it was with about 5-6 of my buddies and we had to rewind it a bunch of times because we were laughing so hard we missed the next joke. I think we watched the dwarf jump onto the bed 5 times.It must have took us an extra half an hour just to watch it.

The humor is dead-on. The acting is way better than I expected.

The writer has an amazing ear for comedy - and the actors may have been even better. It can't be easy to get in-character for a footjob - but to make it seem real and funny is a testament to the cast. Now that I write this review, I think that's what makes the movie great - that there's a footjob, but it seems like they're both cool with it, not way over-the-top. It doesn't go for the cheap low-brow jokes, even though the topics seem to be low-brow.

Most writers would takes these topics and go for the lowest and simplest joke, with no thought and the movie would would sink into bathroom humor. Somehow, this writer takes material that's already low-brow and makes it rise above that and seem real and intelligent.

A group of friends spend their last summer the have before entering adulthood by....staying at home and having fairly lame parties, full of sexual stories of past escapades and hitting on girls. Oh those wild ones.

This movie is full of frank sex talk that i'd guess is supposed to be humorous, but the movie isn't on for long before it just becomes boring and tedious. It seems that the writer of this was attempting to channel Kevin Smith (old "Clerks" era Smith, the New Kevin Smith is too busy trying to channel Judd Apatow), but lacked the ability to successfully pull it off. What we get is an overlong, unfunny, exercise in tedium.

Eye Candy: Lorianne Dye get topless

My Grade: D-

DVD Extras: Just a theatrical trailer for this movie; and trailers for "Hide", "Stormforce", & "Brother's War"

First off, if this was on a Hollywood budget, I would have rated it a 6. I considered giving it a 9 because of the budget, but settled on a reasonable 8. It is very funny and at times I caught myself rewinding the movie because I missed a joke because me or one of my buddies was laughing and couldn't hear it.

The context is somewhat simple - college kids (with a few high schoolers, as well as an over-the-hill hanger-on) party on 2-3 weekends and discuss sex while trying to have sex. It's very straight-forward and I've heard my friends have similar conversations many times. The writer has a keen ear for natural dialog and it's displayed with nearly every conversation, which are usually rapid-fire and funny. Even the few argument scenes come across very good, which I definitely didn't expect from this movie (thanks to Elizabeth Schmidt, who we should see more of).

Occasionally you feel trapped inside the house - since nearly every scene happens in a single location. But just about the time you think it's going to drag, the tempo picks up, a location changes, or something bizarre happens (cue the dwarf-3some dream sequence).

One nice thing about this movie is that the girls actually remind me of girls I hang out with. They're cool, can hang with guys, and are not simply an object to be conquered, although the guys are spending most of their time trying to hook up. And maybe that's why it seems so natural - because the guys are being themselves around the girls - having fun and trying to have sex, not just one or the other.

It's not for everyone, but it's worth a look because it you like the humor, you may rate it higher than I did. It also has a very impressive soundtrack, although I haven't found the songs for sale.

Like most people, the box cover completely threw me off. The artwork is not a good representation of the movie - and in fact the two guys on the cover aren't in the movie as far as I can tell. I was somewhat stunned the first 5 minutes of the movie, since it was nothing that I expected - which was some hot girls prancing around a party and getting half naked. Then I started to laugh - and I kept laughing.

Honestly, I laughed more at this movie than maybe any movie I have ever seen. At times, I was almost ashamed to be laughing - but it was so perfect. Yeah, they say wiener and discuss sex in front of girlfriends - but it took me back to when I was 20 and did the exact same thing. And the conversations are perfect. Yes they're over-the-top at times - but didn't you have 1-2 guys in your crowd that went over-the-top because they knew it was funny? So, yes I laughed a lot - probably more than similar movies. That said, those other movies like Superbad, Amer Pie, Old School - are still better movies because they use more locations (which Kicking The Dog needed) which keep it more interesting, the characters/acting absorbs you more, and there is a plot - which is my main issue with KTD.

KTD needed a cool plot to become a top level movie. It's basically a 5/10 movie with 9/10 humor. But the super low budget gives it a bonus point. It's not like I ever thought, "where's the plot", because there are some, but nothing that sucks you in during those slower moments.

From the ratings, this is a love it or hate it movie. Like when Music Magazines do those "people's choice - best and worst bands of the year" and the same band wins both the best and the worst. That's how I see this movie. If you had similar experiences hanging out with friends, you will probably laugh your butt off and love this movie. If you didn't, then you will probably shut it off after 10 minutes. But there are some genuine moments (the girlfriend is cute and very good actress).

The teen sex genre has been tired since everyone decided to rip off American Pie in the late 90s/easrly 00s. So it's refreshing when a movie comes along that somewhat re-writes the style - and it's actually funnier than most teen comedies - and I dare to say that it will appeal to a wider audience range - meaning from 14 to 40. What it lacks in plot it more than makes up for in laughs.

What we have is a group of friends who have just graduated college and are hanging out at a friends house. I don't know where the parents are at for what seems like 2-3 weeks, but it doesn't really matter. Unlike previous movies in this genre, these guys aren't desperately trying to have sex to lose their virginity - they're just acting like 22 year olds. They want sex, want to get drunk, want to have fun and want to hang out with their friends. And their conversations about life is so perfect and non-stop that you feel like you've been there.

The main story is that the lead actress (elizabeth schimdt is very good and offers an emotional aspect that offsets the boob jokes) is going to graduate school across country while her boyfriend declines a job offer to stay with her, not realizing she's leaving. He feels betrayed and she's confused. She carries these scenes, which saves this underdeveloped plot line. There is also some minor plot lines with some young eye candy as well as some innocent geeks - one of which steals every scene - sometimes with his words and other times with simple expressions.

It only slows a couple times, and never for long. The conversations and jokes come at you as fast as any movie - and much faster than any teen comedy - which makes up for the lack of a great plot (but tell me, how many teen comedies have a great plot) and the fact that too much of the movie is in 1 location. That may be my biggest complaint, I understand it was low budget, but 2 more locations could have made this movie, as they say at the end, "LEGENDARY!" I guess the haters just don't get it. I don't know how. I think of the scenes and just laugh.