Posted By Dave Howlett on February 3, 2013

There are good movies and there are bad movies, and then there are really bad movies. But beyond even those, there are some movies that are so fundamentally misconceived and haphazardly executed that they almost achieve a state of grace, leaving whatever audience they find scratching their heads at what they’ve just seen. Usually, these take the form of low-budget cult oddities like Plan 9 From Outer Space, The Room, or Birdemic: Shock And Terror. Strange cults sometimes arise around these films, with fans watching them over and over, learning every line, studying making-of minutiae, and sharing them with their friends. Movie 43 is, in its way, every bit as terrible as these films, but without any of the rewatch value. Its mystique arises instead from the almost dizzying array of talent involved, and the fact that the final result is so stupefyingly, jaw-droppingly lame. It almost has to be seen to be believed. Almost.

Movie 43 positions itself as a sort of modern-day Kentucky Fried Movie or Amazon Women On The Moon, a loose series of goofy, raunchy sketches strung together by a wafer-thin framing sequence. A desperate screenwriter (Dennis Quaid) pitches a script to a Hollywood development executive (Greg Kinnear), who promptly shows him the door when his supposedly-serious film scenario about a career woman on a blind date turns nightmarishly crass. The writer, eager to continue his pitch, begs the exec, cajoles him, and finally holds him at gunpoint, in order to keep sharing his short, unconnected skits about pooping, menstruation, crazy parents, foulmouthed leprechauns, and a game of Truth Or Dare that spins wildly out of control. I counted at least two Oscar winners (Kate Winslet and Halle Berry) among the cast, along with several other nominees, including 2013 hopefuls Hugh Jackman and Naomi Watts (both of whom must be feeling a bit like Norbit-era Eddie Murphy right now). Peter Farrelly, who helmed Dumb & Dumber and There’s Something About Mary with his brother Bobby, directs the wraparound scenes as well as a handful of the short skits, while Brett Ratner, James Gunn, and Steven Brill contribute others.

And none of it works. The failure of Movie 43 on almost every conceivable level is frankly astonishing to behold (even the title is never explained). Some sketches, like a fake PSA asking you not to abuse vending machines because they have tiny children inside them, are surreal and ill-conceived but mercifully short. Others, like the one that features Batman (Jason Sudeikis) tormenting Robin (Justin Long) during a speed-dating session, are torturously unfunny and seem to go on forever. It’s nearly impossible to recommend Movie 43, because it truly is awful, but it’s hard to completely condemn it either—if nothing else, it treats you to sights you could never have imagined on your own, like Hugh Jackman with a scrotum dangling from his neck, or Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott torturing a leprechaun (Gerard Butler) for his pot of gold, or Elizabeth Banks being endlessly sprayed with urine by a cartoon cat. Movie 43 feels more like a star-studded fever dream imagined by a puberty-stricken, poop-obsessed 13-year-old than a motion picture—by the time it’s over, you’ll barely be able to convince yourself that you didn’t just hallucinate the whole thing.

Categories: Movies, Reviews
Tags: Anna Faris, Birdemic, Brett Ratner, cartoon cats, Chloe Grace Moretz, Chris Pratt, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, comedy movies, Dennis Quaid, Dumb & Dumber, Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks, Emma Stone, Greg Kinnear, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, James Gunn, Jason Sudeikis, Johnny Knoxville, Justin Long, Kate Winslet, Kristen Bell, leprechauns, Leslie Bibb, Liev Schrieber, Movie 43, Naomi Watts, Norbit, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Seann William Scott, sketch comedy, Steven Brill, Terrence Howard, The Room, There's Something About Mary