Hey folks, Harry here with our furry fingered fricker of films, Monki!!! This time he swung in to check out the Farrelly produced giggle fest SAY IT ISN'T SO. We've heard from Moriarty on this in the past... go searching and you'll find his examination of the test screening process with this film... and folks, it was a damn fine read... Now Monki on the otherhand... he's working with banana peels and coconuts, so cut him some slack and don't be so mean... Monki is a fragile beastie boy... Read on...
Hey there Harry, its your favorite monkey again with some more random beatings on my keyboard. So tonight I managed to sneak my way past security and get into an early screening of Say It Isn't So (okay, only one day before it opened, but oh well, early enough). So, along with the crusty seaman Quint I caught ourselves a new movie.
I really enjoyed this movie...I can't really say that for the rest of the audience, but I found it quite amusing. A lot of the humor is very shocking. If you don't know already, this film was produced by the Farrelly Brothers and directed by James B. Rogers (who was an assistant director on Me, Myself & Irene and American Pie).
As I said, a lot of the audience I saw this with was kind of taken aback by the humor. The movie begins off very light as we meet Gilly (Chris Klein) and learn a little about his life. He's a animal catcher for the humane society in a small little town, living a quiet little life. Through narration we learn that he is an orphan who is trying to find his mother through a private detective, (but that comes into play later). enough, Gilly finds himself falling for a hair stylist named Jo (Heather Graham) who has recently moved back to this quiet little town after a rough experience in Beaver, Colorado. As the story goes, the two fall for each other and are madly in love. Jo brings Gilly to her house to introduce him to her parents and we are treated to a white-trash version of Sally Field and a wheelchair bound Richard Jenkins using a voice box thing to talk.
After a bit, Gilly's detective finds a woman who he believes to be his mother. Jo's mother. Ut-oh.
So, Jo runs back to Colorado and Gilly becomes the town joke. Cut to 16 months later. Jo is long gone, off with her old boyfriend. Gilly is a drifter lookin' guy, long hair, mustache, a person who has given up.
Anyways, we find out that Gilly isn't REALLY Jo's brother and that another guy is. So Gilly heads to Beaver, Colorado to find his woman before she marries a jerk named Jack. Along the way he runs into Dig (Orlando Jones) who is a double amputee who plays off very well as kind of a guide for Gilly as he searches for his love.
The rest of the movie we watch this love story unfold as people are confused for being related and various other forms of hilarity.
Alright, back to the reason why half the audience really didn't enjoy this movie. This is a very extreme comedy, if I didn't know better I would have thought Trey Parker and Matt Stone had their hand in this film in some form or another.
Sure, there is some Farrelly brother style humor in it, but then it is really pushed. All the "dirty" comedy from Me, Myself & Irene is really nothing compared to this film. We are treated to all sorts of fun, nasty images in this film. Everything from ears being chopped off to anal cow penetration. I don't want to ruin the fun, go see the film.
The one thing that really took the audience aback was a lot of the humor involving Jo's father. Jo's father has had two strokes and is confined to a wheel chair. He can't move his arms or legs very far and only talks with the Stephen Hawking robot voice thingy. Now, me being the sick bastard I am find it hilarious that this is in the film at all, I love the fact that this director has enough guts to put this in a film where even comedies have to stay in the boundaries of what is "P.C." Cripple humor is a double edged sword and I believe that Quint and myself made up 66% of the audience that received this humor openly. I hate that fact, but it is the truth, and I think that caused the audience to really distance themselves from this movie in general.
Movies are just stories put to film!! Get over it people!!! It is comedy!! All comedy has a butt of some nature and in a perfect world, no one is sacred! Everyone and everything is free reign! Tastelessness is beauty, just ask Trey & Matt. (two of my gods)
Okay, more goodies. Orlando Jones really shined in this film. His Dig character was kind of a mix between Jimi Hendrix and a guide of sorts. He really steals every scene he is in much like that of Office Space.
Klein and Graham make a cute couple on screen. Graham has the odd ability to look incredibly hot in some films and then trashy in others. I'm happy to tell you guys that she looks rather stunning in this film, so no worries there. Klein still has that dull, big version of Keanu Reeves look to him, but he fit well into this movie.
Sally Field. While I loved seeing her playing a character of this nature...a trashy housewife who almost wrecks her daughters life to make her marry a guy with cash...is amusing, to say the least, I remember a different version of Ms. Feild that played a respectable mother in Ms. Doubtfire, a bewildered wife in Not Without My Daughter. Its somehow odd to see her here, and you have got to wonder if shes just hit bottom with "normal" roles, or if she just wanted a change. I really hope she just wanted a change, and I respect that if she does. I find it really cool for such a solid actress to do something for the hell of it. Maybe the Farrelly's will get Ellen Burstyn for their next flick.
Oh, there is a midget in the film too! I almost forgot. As Quint put it "the appearance of a midget in the film elevates it beyond mediocrity." So that right there is definately worth the price of admission.
So, if you want to check out a very on the edge of tastefulness flick....strike that...a horribly tasteless flick with a good soul, check out this movie.
-Monki
You want my peanuts? Wait a few hours! File your request in here!
