Run Ronnie Run

For years I've loved the work of David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, and certainly enjoyed Mr. Show, probably the best television comedy show since Kids in the Hall went off the air. However, when Bob and David themselves set out to warn people how awful this movie was, you KNOW you had to be worried. The fellas claim that studio interference from New Line made the production problematic and that the cut of the movie they wanted was largely sabotaged in favor of trying to compete with your usual "Cooter Patrol" style Hollywood comedy in the vein of utter retardedness like, say, American Pie. In the end, they claimed that Run Ronnie Run had been turned into a piece of garbage, and they are RIGHT. I don't care how deep your love for Bob and David runs...avoid this movie. Everything clever, subtle, and interesting about their comedy is sabotaged in this flick. Yes...it has it's moments. There's a few scenes here and there where I did honestly laugh. But all together, that totaled maybe 5-8 minutes of the rest of the flick. I love these guys but I have to be honest...something screwed up here. Whether it was New LIne or Bob and David just not being too good at a movie-length format, this just isn't what Mr. Show fans want to see.

I am one of the biggest Mr. Show fans on Earth, I watched the first episode when it originally aired, and every episode after that. I've bought the 1st through 3rd season DVD's, and I'm convinced it is the funniest show ever. So when you know the comedy potential of Bob and David, then you see this movie, you wonder what they were thinking. Even now if you visit their site they will tell you themselves it was a horrible movie. You are just left wondering, how can these two hilarious guys not make a hilarious movie? I loved the Ronnie Dobbs segments on Mr. Show, but even when I heard they were going to turn it into a movie long ago, I couldn't imagine how they planned to stretch it out into a full-length film. Having seen the film it's apparent they didn't know how to either. The funniest parts of the film we've already seen in the Ronnie skits on Mr. Show. There were a few chuckles in the movie, but Mr. Show made me roll on the floor. There are a few Mr. Show characters in the film other than Ronnie and Terry, such as "Three Times One Minus One" the reporter Tim McCracken, and possibly a few others, I forget. The funniest part of the movie was Jack Black and his musical number, but it had nothing to do with the plot of the film itself, and this wasn't even one of Jack's best performances.

Obviously this movie isn't as good as the t.v. show was, but it IS scarce, precious Mr. Show product. You have to take what you can get. I've watched the 24 episodes of Mr. Show many times. We all know that most of them were just brilliant. The problem is, 24 episodes isn't enough. Consequently, even though I had read the accounts of how New Line allegedly butchered this film in the editing room, I had to buy it when I saw it on the rack in the store.

Basically, you have to wade through a lot of bland, unoriginal material to find those small islands of greatness that recall the best of Mr. Show. The "Three Times One Minus" One video was fantastic, for instance. Those were among the funniest characters they created on Mr. Show, and their presentation here improves on what we had seen before. It was a great example of how having a full film crew and a studio budget permitted a more elaborate rendering of a great idea.

Perhaps one defect in this movie that is not New Line's fault was the decision to make Ronnie Dobbs the focus of the story. Ronnie Dobbs was NOT one of the better characters from Mr. Show. The first of the two skits in which he appeared (season 1) was very broad and way below the intelligence of the usual Mr. Show skit. It was SNL quality (which is to say poor). The second Dobbs skit (season 3)--the musical one--was actually pretty funny, especially David Cross' song (which Mandy Patinkin sings in the film), but even so there isn't really enough in the character to support an entire film. The decision to base the film on Dobbs is a bit surprising for the additional reason that Mr. Show prided itself on not relying on a stable of established or recognized characters. They were too classy, unlike SNL, to turn to a "Wayne's World" or "Church Lady" every week just to milk out a few undeserved laughs based purely on audience recognition. I would have expected Bob Odenkirk and David Cross to write a film script based principally on new characters (with some from the t.v. show maybe appearing once or twice in smaller roles). Surprising.

Ultimately, though, the price is worth it for die hard Mr. Show fans dying for some additional material; just don't hold out hope for a movie on par with the series. You'll get your money's worth based on Three Times One Minus One and Jack Black's cameo alone (and I usually think Jack Black is wildly overrated).

A final observation: the appearance of Jeff Goldblum in this movie confirms something I suspected ever since he narrated (without credit) the Civil War Re-enactment skit in the television show; he must be a fan of Bob and David's.

A swamp of wasted comic ingenuity, Run Ronnie Run has about 10 minutes of clever, even hilarious parody to its name before being cleaned out of laughs. For the remainder of the time, this Sundance handout spun off from David Cross and Bob Odenkirk's hilarious HBO program Mr. Show With Bob and David, stumbles along, confusing with trendy and audacious all the infantile throwaways and pop culture references that it tediously stretches to frame its running time. Camouflaged behind a bulletproof mullet, Cross plays the Ronnie in question, a beer-gorging deadbeat hayseed who whiles away the hours wreaking havoc on his Georgia hometown. His exploits are caught on tape by a Cops-like reality show called Fuzz, and he's noticed by pathetic infomercial personality/inventor Terry Twillstein, played by an astute Bob Odenkirk, who sees Ronnie's popularity with lowbrow viewers. He promotes the idea to TV executives for a show in which he is arrested in a different city each week. The show becomes phenomenally successful, making Ronnie rich and famous, surprise surprise.

But while the text isn't up to Mr. Show's lofty benchmark, some big laughs do emerge, as when Hollywood stars beseech Ronnie to rob them, or when Ronnie's one semblance of soul-searching on death row involves his last meal: waffles, squarely nosing out corn dogs. Cross and Odenkirk, who ultimately disowned this movie, hardly reproduce a shred of the wit of any one of various sundry sketches from their show, but David Koechner has some time here to do his thing as an illiterate alcoholic redneck moron and Sarah Silverman Program regular Brian Posehn is one of the writers.

Ronnie's guilelessness is essentially a one-dimensional gag. Cross can be hilarious, but he's just more fitting when he's bald. Here his act is eclipsed by the innumerable celebrity cameos such as Jack Black, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, John and Rebecca Romijn Stamos, Ben Stiller, Jeff Goldblum, Mandy Patinkin, Kathy Griffin, etc., and episodes which don't follow at all from the premises, including one that reveals the "gay conspiracy" overseen by Patrick Warburton and forces them to give up their plot for world domination. It's completely non-sequitary in the film, and it's particularly memorable.

Almost four years after HBO unceremoniously stopped running "Mr.Show with Bob and David",many of the producers,cast and crew of the show came together to make a feature-length movie about arguably one of the more memorable characters created on it:Indominable shirt-less redneck ne'er-do-well Ronnie Dobbs(David Cross,in one of the best showcases of his talent). This effort is a treat to those who enjoyed the show and/or the character,but I imagine the appeal is fairly limited.

This film is sort of a Rags-to-riches story,telling of just how Ronwell Dobbs went from ordinary,below-average intelligence hoodlum from rural Georgia who has a penchant for getting in trouble with the law,to a national and international celebrity and anti-hero,due much in part of the grooming of prissy,disgraced English film producer and failed inventor Terry Twillstein(Bob Odenkirk,who doesn't seem to get employed enough for my money). Terry gets his chance to groom Ronnie when the local sheriff in Ronnie's home-state(M.C.Gainey)makes a deal with Terry to take Ronnie off his hands. From there,Ronnie goes about finding creative new(and old)ways to get arrested in every state in the nation and many cities of many countries around the world. He,naturally becomes hugely rich and,as wealth is often to do to people,makes Ronnie an even bigger irresponsible ass than before.

Chock-full of cameos,ranging from former "Mr.Show" cast members such as Mary Lynn Rajskub(as herself),Sarah Silverman and Brian Posehn to non-show affiliates such as Jeff Goldblum,Matt Stone,Trey Parker,Scott Thompson,Mandy Patinkin,Jeff Garlin,Dave Foley,Andy Richter and Garry Shandling,this film is funny and loose,but it seems to be sort of an odd fit for the material it's presenting. Anyone familiar with "Mr.Show"knows that the sketches and characters had no end and merely blended into the next segment,simply to wrap around and come back to the host segment,whereas this movie has to flesh out a story that initially had one,maybe two segments of about seven minutes in length and make it into a full 90 min. film. It works just well enough as is,but it does kinda feel like writers Odenkirk and Cross and director Troy Miller were getting bored with the story and wanted to create a quick resolution to it. Granted,this show works no worse than just about any SNL sketch that got green-lighted in the past(Night at the Roxbury,anyone?),but having been a fan of the original show,I suppose I expected more.

As it is,it's a great showcase(as said earlier)for Cross and a tantalizingly sharp skewering of current television standards and what makes a celebrity in this culture.