Kickassia

Remember when Spoony and the Nostalgia Critic used to be funny? When they seemed like regular, down-to-earth guys? After witnessing 'Kickassia', that seems like something that happened in another lifetime.

There were warning signs before, of course. Their previous one year anniversary special didn't bode well, but this film takes the raging Internet egotism and desperately unfunny in-jokes to hitherto unprecedented levels. Not just a failure as a film, this is a misstep of 'Love Guru' proportions, the kind of ego-stroking embarrassment that makes you reassess their previous work and wonder if they were ever actually that funny to begin with.

Yeah, so they're just online critics making something "for the fans", but most of these people critique films for a living and really should know better. It's low budget, but many films have been made for less and managed to throw decent acting, direction and lighting into the bargain, when Kickassia fails to get even the latter right. What jokes there are come off as forced and poorly delivered, when they're not being outright lifted from other sources.

Once a keen fan, I've been losing faith in TGWTG's material for a while now, and this really seals the deal for me. A sprawling epic of compressed awfulness that only the most die-hard of fans could ever enjoy. Avoid.

Words can't correctly explain how bad this movie is. Reading the snippets of quotes from the movie on IMDb, I thought it might be a worthwhile film to see. The dialog seemed quirky and looked to have a fair bit of humor behind it. Plus I'm easily a sucker for checking out films made by the average Joe with a camera, some friends, and too much time on their hands. The Gamers, Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising, and more popular films like Clerks are classic examples of when this concept works. Unfortunately for me and the hour and a half of my life that I will never get back, "Kickassia" is a true example of what happens when the concept fails miserably.

Though there are elements of humor to some of the dialog, the delivery quickly shows that none of the "actors" (and I use the term rather loosely) really have any business getting in front of a camera again. Writing...maybe, acting...never. I've seen better performances (and more believable sfx) by kids on YouTube with a camcorder and After Effects. If given to individuals that could actually act their way into the paper bag to begin with, there's enough humorous bits to make a rather amusing 15-20 minute short film.

To make matters worse, I did some checking and it turns out that most of the people attached to this film critique movies for a living (under the forum style names that their characters are named after). It boggles the mind that a group that analyzes movies and points out the idiosyncrasies and errors in them, could watch this waste of celluloid upon completion and think that it's good enough to unleash on the general public.

The only reason I give this two stars instead of one is due to the brief glimpses of humor within this mind-numbingly bad film and the fact that Lindsay Ellis (Nostalia Chick) is kind of cute.

In summary, if your thinking of watching this, pouring bleach in your eyes, watching linoleum peel, or banging your head into a wall repetitively would all be better uses of your time.

This film was the first of the anniversary films that Channel Awesome created. Unfortunately, you can tell it is a first effort. The story is very, very simple in its ideas and execution. It definitely drags in parts, showing that there wasn't that much of a plan for the story.

However, for all of that, there is a charm to it, especially if you know the personalities of the internet critics involved. It is definitely low-budget and amateur, so keep your expectations at that level. I do enjoy it, because the comedy is fun, the music and camera work is decent, and I enjoy watching the internet personalities. Of the three Channel Awesome films, this one is definitely the worst, though it's still a decent first outing.

Great film, has a lot of passion which is hard to come by in films now days. If you just want to switch off you brain and enjoy something I highly recommend this film.

Doug Walker (Nostalgia Critic) and the rest of the reviewers from ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com come together in a collaboration for their first full length film comedy. As a result, any inside jokes referencing reviews will go over a new comer's head. I for one, only watch Doug Walker's videos and Lindsey Ellis' (nostalgia chick). The story itself is very silly and over the top, but seems to be missing the pacing energy of a comedy.

One must always remember that this is a movie with no budget and made by a bunch of internet amateurs. The story begins with Doug Walker decided to take over a one acre land called Molassia, which is apparently ruled by one man who dresses in an army uniform. They're is no acknowledgment of the fact that the man could just call the police to get rid of an army of internet geeks running around the land, or the fact that once these internet geeks aren't ruling over anything after taking over Molassia since it doesn't have any citizens. This is a very ridiculous premise that's funny at first, but the movie provides no pay off and milks down the joke.

Doug Walker and his team take over Mollassia by an ambush and rename it Kickassia. The ruler of Molassia disguises himself as another person to avoid fighting with the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses team. Doug Walker rules Kickassia with plans to take over the neighbor hood and later Navada.

Doug Walker, Film brain and Spoony deliver a delightful over the top performance, while the rest of the cast (15 people) are either hardly in the movie, or are forgettable.

The best way to see if a comedy is really funny, is if I remember it afterwords. For example, there are several very funny moments in Nostalgia Critic reviews that I always remember, and I will often think of at random times of the day.

The running joke that supplies the movie, is that several scenes are played out serious, but contain a line breaking the mood, or are serious while being over the top. This is a good idea, but doesn't work in a movie as long as Kickassia. Every scene is trying to be funny for the same reason, and uses the same comedy strategy that after the first half of Kickassia, becomes tiring.

Bottom line, there just weren't many laughs during the movie. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular. In fact, I had no idea there was going to be a full length collaboration as an anniversary. I didn't even know TGWTG was doing an anniversary video until I saw the video with Doug raping Ma-Tia (boy that sounded strange to type). So I virtually had no expectations at all. I was just hoping to be entertained and laugh, and the movie didn't deliver very much of that. I laugh more times watching Nostalgia Critic reviews then Kickassia.