Freddy Got Fingered
dir Tom Green
scr Tom Green, Derek Harvie
with Tom Green, Rip Torn, Julie Hagerty, Marisa Coughlan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Harland Williams, Jackson Davies, Anthony Michael Hall, Connor Widdows, Fiona Hogan, Shaquille O'Neal
release US 20.Apr.01; UK 19.Oct.01
Regency 01/US 1h27
1 out of 5 stars
R E V I E W   B Y   R I C H   C L I N E
Tom Green's otherworldly comedy is given a big screen outing--and the producers must be wondering what they were thinking, because absolutely nothing about this film works. Green seems to exist in a universe all his own, where the principles of filmmaking don't apply, and nothing is ever, ever funny. He plays Gord, a 28-year-old slacker unable to get a job and dreaming of being a TV animator. He tries to go to Hollywood, but ends up back in his parents' basement in Oregon, where he torments his strait-laced brother Freddy (Thomas), wages all-out war with his hothead dad (Torn) and sticks up for his timid mom (Hagerty). He also gets a little romance going with a paraplegic nurse (Coughlan) who's a rocket scientist in her spare time.

Green overdoes everything--script, direction and performance--so much that the film is almost mindbogglingly unwatchable. Most of the humour centres on splattering blood, animal genitalia and abrasive surrealism. Green tries to find comedy in injury, disability, illness, child abuse and Pakistan. He never bothers to create a character; Gord is just a collection of goofy reactions, silly voices and physical mayhem. Meanwhile, he heaps endless indignities on the brave Torn. After the most embarrassing scene, Torn screams, "I've never been so ashamed of anything in my life!" ... supposedly about his loser son. It's all so tasteless, cruel and resolutely unfunny that it brings to mind Andy Kaufman's warped routines, in which his entire goal was to put his audience at unease. Maybe that's what Green is doing here--playing a joke on the viewers, acting like he's trying to be offensive and crass, when the film is really a sappy ode to father-son bonding. Even if that's true, this is still one of the worst films of the year. Maybe of all time.
very vulgar themes and situations, language, gore cert 18 12.Oct.01

R E A D E R   R E V I E W S
send your review to Shadows... "Well all the reviews seem to give this film a bit of a slatin'. Well I haven't laughed as much in ages. Chill out critics!" --A, Somerset 17.Jan.02

"I think this film rocks! All my friends and I love it I don't think it's the worst film ever, it's hilarious so there!" --Nancy, net 19.Jan.02

"Okay so it's full of mindless violence and crude piss taking for the sheer benifits of comedy entertainment, but it works. I mean, I haven't laughed so much in my entire life. It was orginal and a lot better than some of the comedies which are around today which start off funny but end up with more meaning than laughs. So all I gotta say is that if you find this offensive then you need to get a life and a sense of humour." --Roxy, London 6.Mar.02

© 2001 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

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