The-Plague

Super Troopers is like an amazing night with a high school sweetheart that ends with me shouting "were gonna live forever!" Then she goes off to college and 17 years go by and she is now married and seems happy. Super Troopers 2 is her getting divorced and us trying to recapture that magic in our early 30's and the night ends with an O.T.P.H.J and me saying "well...I guess I'll see you around."

Spoiler free!

First off, I consider myself a huge Ross Patterson fan. I own all of his movies and his book and I'm pretty sure I have a lock of hair floating around somewhere in my house. That being said, it saddens me that I couldn't give this movie the stellar review I'd hoped. First off, the movie is outrageous, which is great; the title alone is enough to make a viewer chuckle. Second, the main actors did an amazing job especially Jesse Merlin who portrayed Helen Keller's gay brother. Now for the bad news. It seems to me that director Ross Patterson simply took the elements that worked in his previous movies (Voice overs for example) then did them to death in Helen Keller vs. Nightwolves. The scenes with Saint James Street James didn't even compare to those in Poolboy 2 Drowning Out the Fury, and a lot of the times the over the top elements of the movie went on just a bit too long and became annoying. To put it in simple terms, I just didn't find myself laughing very much (even while viewing during alcohol consumption), and that is why a viewer watches a Ross Patterson movie, to laugh. Any fan of crazy comedies will get a kick out of this movie, but in terms of Ross Patterson movies it is a HJ. It will never be your first choice, but after a sad sigh you will take it. No hard feelings Ross, looking forward to the next one.

While I am a huge Kevin Smith fan, I do admit I did not enjoy Red State very much so I went into this hoping that Smith would redeem himself in my eyes. I say not a bad job considering this whole movie was created from a podcast discussion. The movie is stale at times and some of the dialogue runs long, (no, not Justin Long), but it was funny. Johnny Depp's character was hilarious, Justin long's performance was notable, and Michael Park was amazing. I literally believed the man was bat shi* crazy! There was some gore and bloodshed, but this isn't a horror movie, and I think a lot of people went into it thinking it was and that explains some of the bad reviews.

For a movie based on a totally absurd premise, Tusk was pretty good, unfortunately I don't see it having much re-watch value. I might watch it again just to laugh at some of the dialogue, but it certainly isn't Clerks or Chasing Amy. Tusk is basically The Human Centipede with some humor thrown in Kevin Smith style. I recommend a watch, but there will unfortunately never be a Tusk poster on my wall.