Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim have been the kings of underground comedy for the past several years. Their style is usually referred to as anti-comedy, which pretty much means that their comedy is funny precisely because it's just so unfunny. I don't really buy into that description, simply because I do find their work funny. It's awkward as Hell and entirely bizarre, and it just doesn't work for most people. And, yes, I find the fact that so many people don't get it - and get so damned angry that they don't get it - highly amusing, but that's not the only reason I enjoy them. Hollywood producer Tommy Schlaaang (Robert Loggia - God knows if he's in on the joke or not, but he's hilarious in the movie) has given the duo a billion dollars to make a movie, and the result is a three minute short starring Johnny Depp (or rather an impersonator - everyone swore it was really Depp!) wearing a suit made entirely out of diamonds. Loggia and his assistant William Atherton (the reporter from Die Hard) demand that they be paid back, and the opportunity to make a billion dollars comes in the unlikely form of Will Ferrell, who insists that he'll pay anyone a billion dollars if they are able to reform his run-down mall. Tim and Eric go to the mall, which resembles a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and apply to be its new PR team. The plot is, of course, ramshackle nonsense and the film feels very much like the work of a sketch comedy team, but I have no problem with that as long as it's funny. And I thought it was damn hilarious. Sure, there are bits and pieces that miss, but I laughed - and hard - through the great majority of it. Other famous participants include John C. Reilly, Jeff Goldblum, Will Forte and Zach Galifianakis. This is easily my favorite comedy of 2012, but it's a hard one to recommend, since some people get downright murderous when they watch anything by Tim and Eric.

Let me detail everything this movie is, very briefly, so we can take a look at this logically.

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie is satire. It's a parody on people trying to make a movie, followed by absurd, random, goofy plot points that don't make any sense. The entire film is an anti-climax. It borders on surreal and if you try to watch it for any reason other than Tim and Eric you're in for a disappointment.

Now, let's get this straight: What this movie IS NOT - IS TIM AND ERIC AWESOME SHOW GREAT JOB.

I do not know why people came into this thinking it was a movie about the TV show. Or why this movie would have anything to do with the TV show. It was not called the Tim and Eric Awesome Movie, or something like that. It's totally separate. It has a lot of jokes/humor reminiscent of the show, but ultimately it's a standalone movie. The movie is as different from Awesome Show as Tom Goes to the Mayor is from Awesome Show.

With that being said, the movie wasn't nearly as funny as the show manages to be. That's not saying much, however, because the shows are short burst comedies designed for 11 minute time frames. That kind of format would NOT work, ever, period, in a 90 minute film. Tim and Eric did what they could with the best material they could to make it into a movie format thats suitable for fans and non-fans alike. It portrays their humor very well, but it doesn't adhere to the same format as the TV Show. Again, I don't know why anyone thought this was a movie about the TV show. All I see are complaints about certain characters not being in the movie, but it's not an Awesome Show movie, pure and simple.

I want to start by saying I am a die hard T-n-E fan. I love Awesome Show, Tom Goes To The Mayor was damn good, I love most of their short films, and I am a huge fan of Eric's music videos. Needless to say I was looking forward to this movie for quite some time.

Now I sit here preaching to other fans who think the exact same thing. As I'm sure most fans already have seen the movie, I will gear this towards everyone. I don't know whether it was the massive hype that built me up too much, or the style of humor has been exhausted through my countless hours of watching and rewatching all that is Tim and Eric. Maybe it is the fact that a crossing of the fine line between my love for Tim and Eric and my hatred for Will Ferrell movies was inevitable. I hope its none of the above, but I know it is all of the above.

My biggest quarrel with this movie (and I know some might persecute me for this view) is the dirty humor. The brilliance of Tim and Eric lies in the not-subliminal-whatsoever absurdness that the style brings. Awesome show was just that. It was shock humor not based on the vulgarity but on the sheer surprise that a mind could conceive of the silliness. This is not new, just new in the way Tim and Eric have mastered the art. But now we bring vulgarity into it. In past shorts they have done, the vulgarity doesn't blend with the creativity well. As a matter of fact, it sort of takes it over. Shock value is great when it is done in a new, fresh, cerebral way. This movie pushed creativity to the side and rooted the shock humor in vulgar ways that just are too easy to do. To me, the movie was one big cheap laugh after the next. This stuff could be funny, even to me, but I expect that from a Will Ferrel movie or an American Pie 36: The Giant Maneating Boob, or something juvenile. The point is that Tim and Eric, who gained my trust as artists worthy of high appraisal, didn't "sell out" (I hate that term) but they damn sure got close. Towards the end of the movie, all I wanted was to watch their "Ooh Mama" sketch to feel some sort of creativity.

The next issue I had was the sheer arrogance of these guys. Look, I get it. They are famous and get lots of money to do what they do. As I see or listen to the guys outside of the entertainment, I can't help but feel like these guys are really full of themselves. The gimmicks leading up to the movie, the interviews where they act like they are above their fans. It doesn't have much to do with the movie, but it totally makes me not as psyched when I loose the feeling of "I can see myself partying with these guys".

The third issue I have is that when they had an opportunity to say something in the movie (that is, take the movie plot past the silliness and say something such as the ridiculousness of the cinema industry in Hollywood etc) they would always flirt with the idea and then never seal the deal. I often found myself hoping they would do something more to really make a bold and hilarious statement. Often, all lampooning or anything that could be applied to lives outside the movie fell flat. The plot didn't maintain the chiseled roundness I had hoped for in a feature movie. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (as well as Team America: World Police for that matter) is the textbook definition of making a statement and hammering it in to make the plot have value. This one did not... not even close.

Overall, I had a few laughs but not enough. I was not impressed with the carelessness of the writing and direction that past Tim and Eric projects had. As stated before, I wish they had done something more and something that is at least creative as the Tim and Eric I fell in love with. I hope this isn't me falling out of love with them.

Count me as one of those perplexed by the negative reaction of so-called Tim and Eric fans. This movie is funny. Yeah it's stupid, gross and childish - but as in the rest of their work, there's some perceptive satire in here. B$M is a middle-finger salute to Hollywood and the mass media swamp we've been bathing in for the past 20 years. There's also a recurring indictment of corporate culture that bubbles throughout the entire film. Of course you don't need to know any of this to laugh out loud at the lunacy on display by these two weirdos. It always seems to me that T&E are at their best when they go into "full retard" mode but it's also hilarious to see them as dementedly sincere "managers" confronting a used-toilet paper salesman and the bizarre relationship entanglements between T&E and a middle-aged balloon seller and a 7 year old boy. This is seriously disturbing stuff. Maybe the only way to confront T&E's brand of horror-humor is to laugh hardily.

Now if you excuse me, I'm off to watch Top Gun from the top for the second time today. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

There's only so much you can do.

As a constant listener of Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, I found an interview with him and T&E mentor Bob Odenkirk, and he describes exactly what I think held this movie back from being what it could have been: When you make a movie, you have a LOT of people to please on some level. The producers, directors, actors, executive producers, EVERYONE has to be pleased on some level, or else there's gonna be a problem. I think that this concept comes through in this movie in huge ways.

The story here is the same as many of the people reviewing this movie. As a huge Tim and Eric fan, I'd been looking forward to this movie for quite some time, and very simply put, you should go in with your expectations in the medium-low range. There are some really funny moments, but there are multiple problems with this film that include, but are not limited to:

• A very Hollywood-esque feel, as opposed to a classic, awkward Tim and Eric feel. This could have been used to certain advantages, but only a small amount of the jokes attempted within this context are notably funny.

• An EXTREME lack of the Awesome-Show style jokes prevalent in Check it Out and TAEAS.

• As a certain critic pointed out, the storyline simply isn't funny. I found myself laughing at way more of the off-kilter characters and awkward, stabbing moments than jokes coming from the story.

This doesn't mean that T&E fans necessarily have to go home sobbing, however. Loggia, Ferrell and Forte serve very good, funny roles, Forte especially notable as a sword salesman constantly on the edge of losing his mind. The son jokes are present, the ending is pretty funny, and let's just say that Shrim definitely serves up to it's mysterious poking-at in the preview.

5/10. It's alrite, but if you're expecting the greatest T&E masterpiece of all time, you, unfortunately, will have to wait for another day.