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The special jumps around and is all over the place. This is intended. What is amazing is not only the performances and skits, which I am still blown away by, but the meticulous effort that Bo Burnham went into crafting this project to feel like a studio production - an intentional, DIY production. I was drawn into every scene, often getting a glimpse into behind the scenes, behind the camera and behind who Bo Burnham actually is, or at least the glimmer of authenticity and vulnerability he was trying to portray. At times I was laughing, then feeling inspired, then feeling a bit sad, contemplating in these moments what I was actually watching or feeling. That's the intriguing thing about it. It took me unexpectedly on an emotional roller coaster ride, going up, going down and all around. By the end of it, I wanted to hop back on and go for the ride again. There is easily a bit of everything (all of the time) for everyone.

That's a reference taken from the song, "Welcome to the Internet". I discovered it on YouTube and it was the first time I've ever actually heard of Bo Burnham. It's what lead me to watch the special and I've played the song over and over. The video has been an amazing success on YouTube and in fact Bo Burnham's most watched video on the platform. I believe the main themes of the special are captured in this one song. He talks about our unlimited access to "mountains of content", our dependence on the internet, escapism through media, online dating/sexting, mass over-sharing, misinformation, data privacy, sexism, racism and every other kind of "ism" that is taking up real estate in our neocortices. I don't know if Bo Burnham has entirely given himself over to cynicism. We hear the dread come through in some of his songs. We see his crippling mental state. We feel in ourselves the same debilitating self-awareness that this world is, and already has, turned into a giant trash fire...But then he makes us laugh again.

Bo Burnham: Inside is much bigger than a comedy special. One could analyze every bit of the content and the messages portrayed in each performance. And there are many who have been doing this. No matter how many times you watch or listen to it, you may have new thoughts, opinions or ideas come to mind. If you're a creative, you might be interested in the technology, the design and the post production that went into the project. If that's not your thing, then it can just be 90 minutes of simple entertainment. If you're feeling anxious or depressed or burnt out, perhaps some of the more intimate moments of the special with resonate with you. After all of that, understand that Bo Burnham wrote and produced every song, designed every scene, and edited this project entirely on his own. It's just so good, you can't ignore it. I was so impressed with the work he put into this special that I became a little bit obsessed with watching Bo Burnham's earlier stuff and some of his interviews.

Bo Burnham at some point decided he wanted to use the language of comedy to express himself. After watching this special, I believe his comedy is just a byproduct of his genius. After all, I'm sitting here reviewing something that is both outrageously ridiculous and deeply philosophical at the same time. I came for the laughs and catchy tunes, but I stayed for the emotional and thought-provoking "content" that has been on my mind for a while after experiencing it.

Without trying reveal too much of the movie, which requires at least some degree of interpretation, I would say that many viewers may be on the fence about it once they understand it. After the wild but mildly frustrating run-around that the film takes you on, the truth that is ultimately revealed may either leave you with a feeling of cheapness, or a feeling of retribution. In the end I was left with the former, which is the reason I think this film is more dumb than deep.

The thing about this film is that while I was frustrated with the characters, bored with the cinematography, and unimpressed with surrealism that is was trying to achieve, still the film had enough going for it to hold my interest and I am not entirely sure why. This is the reason I can understand why some people may like it. Perhaps it was that the story took a sharp turn about a third of the way through (thankfully, because Scarlett (Jena Malone) is extremely annoying to watch). At this turn we get to see Alex (Douglas Smith) take us on a little chase. It keeps getting a bit more interesting up until it doesn't, leaving the viewer with that feeling I mentioned above. I do think Jenna Malone is great - she good at playing a dysfunctional teenager (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), Donnie Darko (2001)). She's believable in this, but the audience is supposed to hate her and that's achieved pretty early on. A lot of reviewers are noting similar themes and tropes of this film to Lynch's. For me I believe it is not done well enough, if at all, to even be compared. I have yet to read if the director took any inspiration from Lynch's films in the making of this movie. I reject this notion even more from the ending of the film, which fully explains the meaning of it and therefore cancels out anything Lynchian about it.

This thing about films and film reviews is that everyone is going to have a different reaction and opinion about it. This is one film that's a good example something you could love or hate. Both strong words, and perhaps too strong to describe it. I guess you're just going to have to watch it and find out. It deserves that much.

If you're up for seeing what a former truckdriver can do with a budget of 20 grand provided by a group of Californian dentists looking for a quick tax write-off, cue up James Cameron's first film, Xenogenesis. If you can get through all 12 minutes of it on YouTube, you may be as fascinated as I was to observe how Cameron used much of the same themes from this in his later works; dystopian future, cybernetics, giant weaponized machines and strong female leads. It's the project that ultimately propelled Cameron into his film-making career. And to later to become one of the successful film directors of all time.

The film, while it showed off Cameron's designs, is hard to measure up by any of today's standards (obviously). The sound effects are wacky, acting is weak and you got a lead white male character by the name of "Raj". That said, you're not watching it for any of those things. This was in fact a test movie created by Cameron in hopes of attracting investors turn this into a full length feature film. Well, that didn't happen but instead got him noticed by Roger Corman, who hired him as art director and visual effects (miniature design and construction) for his film Battle Beyond the Stars (1980). What is also cool to note is that the giant robot cleaning machine is very similar to the large tank in the opening scene of The Terminator (1984) - you know, the one that's plowing over all those human skulls? He even adopted the same low angle shot of the tank wheels in both films. Interestingly, those tank wheels as I've just discovered are called "bogies".

If you're a fan of James Cameron, or just want to appreciate how far we've truly come in special effects, I would recommend you spare 12 minutes of your life to give Xenogenesis a watch. Then maybe ask yourself, could I make something better with $20,000?