FDR: American Badass!

"FDR: American Badass!" is a very frustrating movie. While I loved the audacity of the plot and loved some of the VERY low humor, the film, overall, is pretty bad. It looks like a film that really needed a rewrite here and there and the low humor was sometimes so low that it made me feel ashamed to watch it. In fact, eventually I just turned the thing off--it was that bad.

The film starts off wonderfully....really wonderfully. In fact, it was so good I was expecting to love the film. In this bizarre alternate reality, it's 1931 and Franklin Roosevelt CAN walk. However, he and his friends are attacked by a Nazi werewolf and FDR kills it--but only after it bites him and gives him polio!! These scenes and those in the hospital, though crude, made me laugh out loud several times. I was ashamed of myself...but it WAS very funny.

Unfortunately, what follows proved that although they had a great idea, the writers didn't have any more. The film was filled with too much scatological humor (I am talking about REALLY scatological--literally) and the repeated sexual references become boring and boorish. In fact, it starts to look like a movie written by a group of 7th graders--really, really crude ones at that. In fact, the film degenerated quickly to a totally unfunny mess. I turned it off when you see Roosevelt Jr. Taking a dumb in a pitcher (and they showed it). Why?! What's funny about this? Who would give them money to make this? Were they drunk or on acid when they made this?! I dunno--all I know is that after initially loving the film, I quickly tired of it and couldn't take any more.

The spoof genre is one that most of the time goes horribly wrong. There are some that have worked really well over the years like Airplane, Naked Gun, Scary Movie, and Top Secret, but sadly very few really do much more than just annoy viewers. The latest FDR American Badass is not so much a spoof of other films, but just a silly over the top tale of history and violence. Is it possible that this silly premise could actually deliver a fun film or will it be another of the plain stupid ones that will be forgotten?

FDR American Badass follows Franklin D. Roosevelt as a werewolf hunter tracking down the like of Adolf Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito in his customized wheelchair of death. Let's start by admitting that there is nothing about this idea that is just ridiculous. This isn't the first of the presidents to tackle supernatural creatures, but it is the first to realize how silly it is and dive in head first. This is a really silly, over-the-top dumb film that will entertain if you let it. Barry Bostwick plays up his version of FDR while channeling Roosevelt, with a dash of Burgess Meredith's Penguin from the Batman series. His version is over the top and far from politically correct that really makes this film work. Set in a world that makes little to no sense with characters that seem to fit right in makes this film work. The effects and action are silly and low budget, but if they had done much more than that it just wouldn't work. They clearly knew what this film was and never tried to take itself seriously. Filled with over the top characters, silly make-up effects, a ridiculous storyline and a gaggle of nasty jokes, FDR delivers exactly what it sets out to do and brings the laughs with it.

Make no mistake, this isn't a good movie by any means, it's one that if you can get in on the joke you will have a fun time. This film sports a surprising cast of recognizable actors besides Bostwick including Lin Shaye, Bruce McGill, Ray Wise, Kevin Sorbo, William Mapother, Paul Wilson, Ahmed Best, Deon Richmond. How can any movie not work with Sorbo as Lincoln, Kenny from the Cosby Show, as well as Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito as werewolves?

From the outset this film looks cheap and you might consider not bothering to watch it based on that but if you stick with it the great cast suck you into it's unbelievably ridiculous world. Barry Bostwick's performance Carry's the film. There's a lot of modern street talk that he manages to pull off, even though some of it is borderline to silly but at the same time he turns in some great speeches that would be worthy of a far more serious film.

There's not much point in explaining the film, it's far to daft to attempt an explanation but it works, that's mostly down to the cast, the production, direction is excellent too, given the low budget nature of the film they made the most of what they had.

A fun idea, but the filmmakers behind it have no talent or intelligence whatsoever. This is a horror/sci-fi/action comedy about Franklin Roosevelt. In this movie's alternate history, FDR contracted polio from the bite of a Nazi werewolf. The Axis forces are all led by werewolves, and FDR, with his souped-up, machine-gun wheelchair goes to war himself against them. The concept is gold, but the screenwriter (Ross Patterson - he deserves to be called out by name) does little with it besides tell dick jokes and have old people swear and smoke weed (always comedy gold, right?). There's a good dose of racist jokes, too, with Werewolf Hirohito being unwatchably offensive (basically the only joke involving the Japanese is that they can't pronounce the letter "r"). Barry Bostwick is kind of amusing at times as FDR, but he's pretty much asked to carry the whole movie so he just mugs as much as possible. The only cast members who come out clean are Bruce McGill as FDR's head adviser and Ray Wise as Douglas MacArthur. Kevin Sorbo (who co-produced) shows up as the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. William Mapother, a character actor I've always liked (particularly from In the Bedroom and Lost), shows up for a while, too. This is painful.

At first I thought this would be funny. The premise gave the clear impression that it would be a great spoof. Then I started to watch it. I laughed a bit admittedly as much because seeing FDR drop "F" bombs caught me off guard, but didn't find myself in hysterics over it. I was tired, I went to bed. This morning I went back just a bit before I left off. I looked at this movie in a whole new way. I turned my brain off and found myself really getting a kick out of this. I didn't look at it as a cheap low budget movie that was trying too hard, but instead saw it for what I believe it is, a brilliantly acted and written movie that isn't trying too hard, but trying just enough to LOOK like a cheap low budget "B" movie. Now and then I forget that if a movie is made to LOOK like a cheap BAD movie, it's accomplishing the goal so well, you believe that's exactly what you're watching and you don't see the tongue planted firmly in the cheek. I missed that last night but saw it plain as day this morning. This movie is FUNNY if you just pay attention without really thinking it through too much. Yeah, I just confused myself, but I stand by all that.

Barry Bostwick does a bang up job as does his supporting cast, all of whom are some of the best character actors out there. Anyone who watches this and finds themselves disappointed should do as I did, watch it again with a different outlook and odds are, you'll appreciate this insane masterpiece as many of us have. Now I think I may have to go back and watch this from the beginning again!