Held Up

This movie came on my cable movie channel and I put it on mistakenly believing that I was going to see 30 Minutes or Less, which, in itself I doubt is high brow humour, but at least that film probably contains some laughs. While I can't say that I made it longer than 15 minutes into this movie, there was absolutely nothing funny on the horizon when I did throw in the towel so I think 15 minutes was enough to give me the big picture. What I did see in 15 minutes was terrible acting, writing, and painfully unfunny jokes. If the-thing-I-was-watching (I refuse to call this a movie actually) suddenly improved dramatically after 15 minutes, as some have claimed, then perhaps the writers can learn a thing or two about pacing, but from the level of humour on display in what I did see, I would have to say that I find that hard to believe.

Simply awful sets the bar about right.

The next time I feel the need to explain to someone why I don't like "comedy" films, at least now I can cite this movie as the quintessential example. You know what's funny? Life is funny. Literal clowns are hard to relate to unless you're 6 years old, because many adults tend to be grounded in reality, and based on the rating, a lot of people seem to agree with me here. This type of comedy, it's like a little kid jumping up and down yelling "Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!" It's just a self-indulgent club-you-over-the-head aesthetic that tries too hard. To put it simply, there is a lot of comedy that fails, where you at least respect the ATTEMPT. Here it's impossible to respect the attempt, because it's so self-fellating.

A drama movie with comedic elements. THAT'S funny. If you look at how Judd Apatow movies tend to rate, a lot of people agree with me there too. So, why is that relevant, and who cares if anyone agrees with me? Well, to put it in standup terms, if you're performing live, and only 20% of your audience thinks you're funny, while the rest think you're awful, guess what. You're bombing. That's why you can't package your fetish comedy into a feature film, and expect any degree of resonant success. In a feature film, you're not just performing to YOUR audience... EVERYONE sees it, and sure, of course, whether or not your comedy is GOOD, really doesn't rely on playing to the room per se, but either way, you can't JUST be playing to yourself, which is how this film feels to me.

Now, does that mean a bunch of comedian friends can't get together and just make a silly movie? Of course not, and that's where the term self-indulgent comes in. This is a passion project; a home movie. It's so incredibly awful. I'd say it's objectively awful from a comedic standpoint. EVERY single line doesn't have to be an attempt at a joke. If done properly, the JOKE is made much much funnier by the straight elements: the basic straight man/funny man dynamic. You really do have to take your foot off the gas at times.

I need to at least on SOME level believe the characters and the scenario for it to be situationally funny. Otherwise, in a way, it's like the film is making fun of itself, which it literally does quite a few times. In the end, it's just a very BAD parody of a heist film, which WOULD have been funny if that was their true focus, and it doesn't seem like it was. I don't think I laughed even once when watching this. The closest I came to laughing was the "sexy" shot where they try to showcase the EXTREMELY average looking female bank robber as some sort of hot luscious $ex object. This is conceptually funny in a fairly basic way by parodying perfect Hollywood aesthetic with the mundane.

In the end, this really is just such a white yuppie comedy, to the point where I actually feel bad for the black guy in this film. It's just such cornball puerile dreck. The only good thing I'll say about it, is at least it's not pc. There are lot of non pc racial jokes in this. They even used a lot of the forbidden no-no identity politics words that would get you blacklisted if you used them in 2023, even in a comedic context. Just hearing those in a film, even a garbage film such as this one, at least made me feel good in a very subtle way.

If nothing else, at least this film is genuine... a genuine pile of garbage that ISN'T so bad that it's good, and here's the perfect example to drive my point home: Tommy Wiseau's "The Room". You think it would still be funny if he was legitimately TRYING to be funny. Of course not. The context is what makes it funny. Sketch comedy just doesn't work well when packaged as a feature film. Sorry, just my opinion, and that of a lot of people.

This is the first time I actually take time to write a review about a movie I watched, But I just could not help myself. I had no idea what to expect here and I hate low budget films. The first few seconds of this film I was not in my seat so I didn't realize that this was low Budget but the moment I sat down took a look at the screen I said to myself 'darn!'. The moment I heard the first line spoken an unforced laugh came from my mouth. I was hooked. Right there. I laughed throughout the entire movie. I didn't look for errors or reality I just let myself laugh, and this movie had what it took to help me along. The visual aspect of this film I would not rate to high at all but the script was so funny it made watching easier cause as I said I really dislike B budget films. Why did I rate this so high.... cause it is the funniest film I ever seen. Don't let the cheap filming fool you. Watch the movie.

This is, hands down, the worst movie I have ever seen. Since I enjoy the Sklar brothers' roles on Entourage, I assumed this film would have a decent amount of good comedy. I was wrong. This movie is extremely poorly acted. All members of the cast gave career-shaming performances, with the single exception of Kaitlin Olson, who, despite the extreme lack of talent she was working with, gave a fair performance. Regarding the script... was there really a script? The story came across as if a bunch of these D-list actors decided they were so funny that no script was necessary, and that they will just improv the entire film. It comes across like a teenager's bad home movie project; a self-indulgent and arrogant piece of junk. By the end, I was somehow angry and insulted that I had been subjected to the film.

I laughed throughout. Non-stop.

This is really a stylish ensemble packed to the rafters with laughables. The comedic timing is genius, there is not a dull moment. Sure ==> there are cheesy moments, the characters could be developed a bit more, the score... well the score was spot on. The score was a perfect mimicry of the scenes: a quaint, goofy eloquence of sorts... And developing the characters any further would be to the detriment of the film. The cheesy moments were perfectly timed. This is COMEDY.

There's not much I'd criticize here. I throughly enjoyed this one. It was a brilliant display of wit. I love to smile and this did not disappoint. I smiled from the moment "A Crackle Film" appeared on the screen and Ray (Jon Dore) began his spiel about pigs that could coalesce into "a force with a stench so bad it'd have to be smelled to be believed."

That line he delivered with a stolid seriousness... It truly set the stage for some exquisitely laughable moments. And I giggled raucously.

I laughed throughout. Non-stop.