Hacks

I saw this film at the Orinda Film Festival and it did great with the inexperienced movie audience from Orinda. The film was not original, nearly a carbon-copy of previously released Christopher Guest Films. I mean the main character is a emulation of Corky St. Clair (Waiting for Guffman). The acting, however, was very impressive and the film itself is decent, but it isn't close to the creativity of a properly done film of this kind. Go see waiting for Guffman, Spinal Tap, Best in Show, or A Mighty Wind.

Saw this film as a submission to a festival for which I am a programmer. I wanted to write this quick review (of sorts) because I think this film was an absolute blast to watch, although unfortunately other programmers from my festival (festival shall remain nameless - I'd like to keep my job for next year) felt the film was far too controversial for a mainstream audience. I actually didn't agree at all. The film starts with words by the late Bill Hicks (a personal fave) and blasts off into a bizarre world of insanity. It's not a weird art film mind you, but there is an underlying sadness that makes all of the "edgy" stuff palatable. I guess I'm just writing this to let the world know that this film is out there and worth watching AT LEAST TWICE. It's a shame when good films get lost in other people's fear of a mirror. Yes - this film could be seen as EXTREMELY offensive, but you just have to look deeper than that. It's just a JOKE people! I'm a little wound up because we got out of our 'final stage' meeting and I had to listen to a bunch of people argue against this film citing it as 'too risky.' Hopefully other festivals have more cajones than the one I work for. I have to go on record as saying that it's NOT a cinematic masterpiece, but it didn't seem to be trying to be that. It's just a balls out hilarious film with a sweetness that we can all relate to -- and for that alone, it deserves all good things.

Hacks is not tame by any stretch of the imagination, nor is it safe. It is sick, twisted, obscene, disturbing, and brilliantly funny. It manages to take the worst group of stand-up comedians (a group even worse then what you find on basic cable) as they `take their first step to showbiz mortality'. The movie is full of so many incredible lines that still continue to be funny months after having seen the film. In typical-lame-Hollywood-stereo-type-pitch terms, it is Waiting for Guffman raped by Spinal Tap while being exploited by Drop Dead Gorgeous. It is easily the funniest movie to hit the film festival market in years. It will survive in a Cineplex so pray that you can find a copy or it makes it into a film festival near you. If there was ever a movie that needed desperately to find an independent distributor to open up its market it is this.

I dont normally write reviews of things 'cause i don't want to waste the time, but after reading the first review of this film, i HAD to write to defend this movie. i saw the movie at sundace film festival in january. ohmigod - i have never laughed so much in my life. i went away from this film blown away at the kinds of things being done on such small budgets. i know the budget from this site anbd cant believe it. Hacks was beautifully shot, expertly performed, brilliantly edited and f*cking hilarious. and in an extremely intelligent way. i read the first guy's review and freaked. i agree that auple of parts (only two VERY small ones) were a bit long, but c'mon!! the movie was so quick paced - and the jokes and perfomances so funny, the slow parts were a nice break! and to suggest that things were done 'in poor taste' - PLEASE! the movie is a parody. if you really GET the joke, you understand that the film was intended to make fun of the self-righteous morons that run show business - even on the lowest rung of the ladder. i thought the movie was f-ing brilliant. you can tell that the people who made this film were very smart, clever individuals who unedrstand that just because you employ certain comedy devices, it doesn't necessarily make it 'low brow' as slower people might lead you to believe. anyway, the movie rocked and deserves to be in every friggin theater in the country. the cast of Hacks are all going to be household names very soon. mark my words. if you can catch this movie anywhere near you - i urge you to do so. you've never seen anything like it and probably never will again (unless these guys make another movie).

Okay, first of all, Mr. Director, you are NOT Christopher Guest. I can see where you were going with this, but unfortunately the end product was lackluster at best.

Right off the bat: the packaging was incredibly misleading. There were no references to this being a "mockumentary," or fake in any way. We rented the DVD in the hopes we'd found an interesting and original documentary on the darker side of comedy. Boy were we surprised.

The acting was okay, I suppose, but being a comic myself I just found most of this film excruciating to sit through. Just because you put actors on screen with lines that a bad comic might say, doesn't mean those very lines are then funny. This was by far one of the worst films I've seen in a long time.

Now it did have some positives. A few of the lines / gags were funny, but by and large I found it impossible to sit through. I actually turned the film off before the end. I tried. I really did. But much like trying to slit my wrist with a spork, the going was slow and just too damned painful.

Stay away from this movie.