Quasi

I'm not really sure what kind of movie the Broken Lizard gang were trying to make or even why they felt the need to make this movie.

It's not a particularly funny movie as the jokes are very by the book and are the sort of jokes that would have been out of date 100 years ago, let alone nowadays.

At best the jokes are nothing more than expected insults throw at one another by the cast.

And the storyline itself is your standard zero to hero storyline without you really caring what happens to any of the characters.

Sadly the group haven't written a decent movie since Beerfest. You can't just keep making the same jokes and not making any real storyline and expect the movie to be good.

'Quasi', the imaginative retelling of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, features Steve Lemme as the title character, Quasi Modo - a torturer who grew up in the clock tower. Through a series of events, Quasi and his friend Duchamp (Kevin Heffernan) attempt to create an equal France by way of getting oysters for the peasants, and in doing so, is face the ire of King Guy (Jay Chandrasekhar) and Pope Cornelius (Paul Soter).

The film is made with the crew from Broken Lizard and has most of the elements that make their films funny, but falls short. The script is a bit lackluster, but the flow is decent. It's worth a few laughs and is amusing, but not their greatest work.

Worth a once over.

I've always been a pretty big fan of Broken Lizard, going all the way back to Super Troopers, and since then have seen all of their films. My personal favorite is Club Dread, but I find them all to be fun, care-free movies. Quasi is no different. It's fun and care-free. There are a few really good gags and ad-libbed lines, with the expected great chemistry of its core group, each of whom take on multiple roles. Steve Lemme steals this one as the titular Quasimodo as well as the small role of a terrible jester who keeps getting punished in ridiculous ways. It's not a masterpiece, nor is it even a top 3-4 of BL, it's just nice to have fun with a movie that, at no point, takes itself seriously. I would put this one in line with Slammin Salmon in terms of actual laugh out loud moments, but there are so many small moments that, while not making me laugh, brought a smile to my face. If you like Broken Lizards previous films, you'll probably like this too, but if you didn't, you'll, honestly, hate it.

I should preface this by saying I'm a diehard Broken Lizard fan. As always, I was eagerly anticipating this movie. I recently heard Jay Chandrasekhar say on a podcast that they wrote this film maybe 20+ years ago, but hadn't felt like there was a market for it, until the opportunity presented itself through the pandemic. They were able to utilize an existing crew from a little TV show called Tacoma FD (a side project of Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme's), and I appreciate it even more for the integrity that went into making it. The fact that they found a way to help their colleagues continue working and make a living in an insecure time is just really awesome. Having said that, the movie itself goes down a different path than what we're used to from the group, but it's absolutely true to form. I find it fascinating how versatile they are, and it is one of the reasons why I love all of the guys together, and apart.

If you're not a Broken Lizard super fan, not to worry. There is plenty of fun to be had as a part timer or even a first timer, so long as you're not opposed to period pieces with silly accents, randomly placed bathroom jokes, and cheesy, absurd and sometimes painful, humor. The influence of Monty Python is definitely a major player here, and if you dig those fine chaps' work, well, you'll certainly dig Quasi.

The gang at Broken Lizard is back at it, but this time set in medieval times in France. Their typical slapstick humor is abundant in this one, and for the most part it's fairly entertaining and will make you laugh. It was a little long for what it was though.

I wouldn't say it was their best work, as I think Super Troopers, Beerfest, and Tacoma FD are better, but it was still enjoyable to watch. I think maybe the accents got a little tiresome, but it helped that they worked in some jokes involving their accents.

I was happy to see the cast from Tacoma FD in this as I find them all a great fit with the original Broken Lizard guys.

I think the re-watchability of this one is probably not great, but I do suspect it might be the type of cult-classic movie that will get better with time. We'll have to see how it ages.