Getting Any?

It sometimes comes as a surprise to people when they learn that Takeshi Kitano is best known in Japan as a comedian. The man with the most deadpan expression ever is mainly known for his gangster movies, and for the sometimes shocking portrayal of violence they contain. I'm surprised that people are surprised though, because even his most hardboiled gangster movies contain a strain of deadpan absurdist humour that is at least as characteristic of his films as the violence. Maybe a lot of people simply miss the humour - Americans aren't best known for their appreciation of subtle comedy after all

Watching GETTING ANY? it's hard to imagine anybody missing the fact it is a comedy though, as it is anything but subtle. Actually maybe that's not true - the humour is still often times subtle, but the movie as a whole is unmissably surreal and absurd.

The premise is simple. A not too bright loser has but one thing on his mind - getting laid. He really hasn't got much of a clue how one goes about this, though, and the movie largely concerns his increasingly stupid schemes to get some. First on the list... get a car. Should be simple enough, right? Not for this guy His plans get more and more ludicrous as the movie progresses, and lead him into some ridiculous and sometimes hilarious situations.

This is without a doubt the strangest movie Kitano has done, and it's as wild and inventive as any movie that springs to mind except maybe the odd Jeff Lau or Stephen Chiau film. The movie plays like a strung together sequence of sketches parodying numerous movies and cultural elements, rather like a Japanese Monty Python film. Like Monty Python, it's clear that there's a keen intelligence behind all the stupidity.

The movie is not without flaws, unfortunately - chief of which is that it loses focus for a long time around the half way mark. Our hero gets himself into a couple of dire situations and for some time the whole purpose of his adventure (getting some) is forgotten. It's still funny and ridiculous, but dilutes the experience somewhat and drags on a little too long. It perhaps becomes a little too absurd for its own good in the second half, coming too close to simply being random.

GETTING ANY? is a fairly lightweight contribution to Kitano's resume, but one so totally opposed to his unique style of film-making shown in films like SONATINE and HANA-BI that it simply had to be made. Kitano is far more than a one trick pony, even though it's mainly for one trick that he's known in the west. Unfortunately, GETTING ANY is probably altogether too strange to have widespread appeal in the US, and won't do much to broaden peoples' perception of him.

This is a truly funny film that crosses all boundaries... despite not having English subtitles I was totally gripped by the insanity of the images on display, and Takeshi Kitano's brilliant deadpan performance. It's incredible how such a simplistic tale of a man stumbling from one bizarre situation to another, with little or no rhyme or reason, can be so laugh-out-loud funny.

I don't ever recall writing a user comment for a film before, but considering some other comments here say it is garbage, I thought I would defend it. While this film CAN be considered garbage because it is so stupid and has some of the weirdest parts, you really have to watch this for what it is worth. This film is the single most funny movie I have ever seen in my life. If you can get over the fact at how slap stick and how unlikely it is, this is comic genius. There are so many references in this film also, to thinks like power rangers, road runner and coyote etc. It really is truly funny. This movie is so crazy you'll be on the floor dying of laughter, the comic timing is impeccable, the situations are insane and the outcomes are even more insane. This is the zaniest movie ever made. No it won't change your life, it wont enlighten you, but you WILL laugh.

The general consensus doesn't seem to be that Getting Any? Is Takeshi Kitano's best film by any means, but it might be the one I've enjoyed the most of those I've seen so far. It starts as an increasingly absurd movie about a lonely man going to great lengths to get with girls, only for nothing to work. His life becomes more and more of a joke, with the film becoming a series of movie parodies throughout the second half, including samurai movies, yakuza movies, sci-fi/horror movies, and kaiju movies (there's a pretty fun spin on the Mothra summoning song near the end).

I found its sense of humor to be largely hilarious, but it's probably not for everyone. I found the earlier, more random sequences funnier, even if the later ones did feel more targeted, given it gradually became clearer what certain scenes were intending to parody. But the madness of the first half-hour or so really caught me off guard in the best way possible, and that opening third of Getting Any? Is probably like a 10/10, as far as comedies go.

There aren't many comedies that can keep that kind of energy up for 90 or more minutes, and so it's sad to say that Getting Any? Gets a little less funny as it goes along. But it never lost me, and it never went long without landing a well-executed joke, and so overall, I'd still say it's pretty great... but again, clearly not for everyone. Those who like absurd, cartoonish comedy presented in a blunt and/or awkward fashion will find a lot to like here, and at its best, it honestly has a comparable style of comedy to something like The Blues Brothers.

One of the stupidest, most bizarre, and straight up perverted movies I've seen in a long time, but it was friggin' funny as hell. If you can handle 'stupid funny' then this movie is definitely enjoyable. Loosely organized around the fact that this perverted guy wants to score badly.... so he goes off and tries many different means to accomplish this task. The end degenerates into a big of a Godzilla parody, but still funny. be sure to stick around for the end of the credits too.