The Onion Movie

I saw the trailer for The Onion Movie on a DVD recently and I couldn't help but stop laughing, so I knew that I wanted to see this movie. I rented the movie and watched it yesterday and I don't know, I'm just getting mixed feelings about this film. Just it reminded me so much of Kentucky Fried Movie, not to mention that the film at the end, I just felt like it didn't make much sense. But strangely enough, these skits were good enough to where they'd be great on Saturday Night Live or Mad TV, just putting them into a random 80 minute movie threw me off quite a bit. Some things were a little odd, some things were random, some things were unfunny, and some things were just friggin' hilarious. I did love Norm Archer though, he was just so funny and I felt so much for his character when he saw a dancing penguin on the desk, well, you'll see what I mean.

Norm Archer is a news anchor for the Onion News, a very off beat news program that reports on: neck seat belts, Margo Cherry, the virgin sexy singer, stereotypical movie critics, neck belts for cars, geeks, missing good black socks, terrorists, a working armed gunman, and much more, including the new hit movie, well, I don't know if I could say the title, again, something you'll have to see for yourself. But Norm begins to question who he's working for and how strange it is.

The Onion Movie has it's moments, I mean, don't get me wrong, as random as it is, it has some great gags. I loved Margo Cherry, the whole interview, we of course know they're making fun of Britney Spears, only I think it was more blunt. But this was over all a silly clever movie, just how it was put together, it's more of a Saturday Night Live skit vs. an actual movie. But I would recommend this if you need a few laughs, as a movie, it's below average, as for the skits, it makes it more worth your while.

6/10

The Onion network is famous for the impartial nature of its news coverage as well as the quality of its delivery and journalists. Anchorman Norm Archer in particular prides himself on keeping the standard high and serving Americans the real stories without dumbing down. However when the network is purchased by a new parent company (who have a major new Steven Seagal film to promote) and Archer starts to notice significant slippage in his beloved network.

The name "The Onion" was enough to attract me to this film given that I frequently dip into the satirical newspaper for a few easy chuckles; however even as I was pressing play I wondered how a newspaper can be adapted into a film – maybe a TV show in the mould of "The Day Today" or "The Daily Show" but a film? Well the answer to my wonderings turns out to be "not that well" because The Onion Movie is a mess of hits and misses that works when it hits but rapidly annoys when it is missing. It will depend on sense of humour but it is undeniable that there are misses in a film that is essentially a sketch show with a bit of a plot that satirises the commercial nature of news networks. You can see the intelligence behind it but yet it doesn't really work as well as it should. The fragmented nature of it prevents a flow but this wouldn't matter one bit if the laughs were consistent.

Sadly this doesn't happen. There are some really great moments that had me laughing out loud but there are also plenty of sketches that either just don't work or simply extend the joke for much longer than it can actually sustain or, in the case of the film's ending, both. Fans of this style of humour will just about find enough to make it worth watching but even I (who does) found parts of it to just be poor. The cast are hard to judge in strict acting terms but mostly they work well to support the material, which is what counts. As with his recent Orange cinema adverts, Seagal is better at spoofing his career than he is at making proper films and he is enjoyable (even if this is one joke really over-extended).

I can understand why the Onion Movie sat in release limbo for so long because it never really convinced me that it suited or deserved to be a film. The sketches throw up as many hits as misses – which will suffice for some but was not good enough for me even if it did produce a handful of good laughs. Worth a look for Onion fans but not good enough to tickle a mass audience.

This movie isn't so much a movie as it is a collection of skits. There is no real story what so ever. That being said viewers who enjoy plot and a rich story may not enjoy this movie. That aside this is a very funny movie. I found myself laughing quite a bit. The skits aren't over the top silly or cheesy but more stereotypical humor playing on pop-culture. It's basically a spoof of the evening news. If you enjoy movies like "Scary Movie" or "Anchorman" and TV programing such as "MADtv", satirical news shows such as "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show (with Jon Stewart)". Chances are you will really enjoy this movie. Don't be fooled by my vote of 7. For what it's worth it was a great film.

I have just watched this movie and it was one of the funniest films I have ever seen. I believe this film got bad reviews in America. It has often been said that the UK doesn't understand the US humour and vice versa. I would just like to point out that this movie has hit the spot where UK humour is. This is a seriously great movie and if it was marketed well in the UK it would be a triumph. Well done ONION.

We gave you 'The Office' and you are finally understanding that kind of understated comedy. The Onion Movie has made me more determined to look out for more American comedy like this.

Never mind what all those stuffy critics say (as parodied)... this is a great watch.

This film was a great deal of fun to watch, however the humor is not for everyone. I have been a fan of "The Onion" website for years and find the content (on the web) varies considerably in quality and is to some extent,a function of the mood you are in at the time. I would characterize this film as falling into the same category, i.e. gut busting humor that will leave you crying and other bits that fall flat. This shows the difficulty in translating a great website with really good satirical content to film. Some of the humor is very caustic and biting satire and requires you to be fairly open minded; there are some excellent pokes at politics, PC behavior, global conflicts and popular culture that are in the news today. I really enjoyed this film and would not recommend it for those under the age of 16.