BROKEN LIZARD'S BEERFEST

"Sounds like you guys fancy yourselves as drinkers, eh?"

"Yeah maybe just a little bit, I think we just beat the Irish"

In this next installment of underrated & overlooked comedies (see my recent write-up of 'Hot Tub Time Machine') we're gonna take a look at a film that holds a little more importance than you'd think: 'Beerfest'. Sometimes writers (JD Salinger), musicians (Jackson C Frank) and even filmmakers (Charles Laughton) have that ONE stroke of genius in their career and can never tap in to that genius again or live up to expectation. Sometimes those artists never try again and stop with their one masterpiece while other artists keep trying and trying to match their one "hit" and can never top it or even come close. The film career of "Broken Lizard" (the comedy troupe responsible for hits like 'Super Troopers' and flops like 'Club Dread') falls in to the latter category. Many people feel that 'Super Troopers' is their "catcher in the rye" and just about everything they've done since has been pretty bad. For the most part that's actually true but... 'Beerfest' stands as the one (and only) piece of evidence that proves that Broken Lizard isn't a one hit wonder. Sure its not a masterpiece like 'Super Troopers' but then again how many comedies in this day and age have come close to touching the comedic genius of that movie? You'd think the minds behind something like 'Super Troopers' who came up with stuff like the "meow scene" or the horny German couple would be able to produce non stop hits one after the other. But their follow-up; 'Club Dread' - a satirical comedy/horror about a serial killer murdering people on an island, was one of the biggest disappointments in years. Seriously, I think I laughed a total of 2-1/2 times while watching that. Then there was 'Puddle Cruiser' - Broken Lizard's early film from the late 90's which got released AFTER they gained popularity. Although 'Puddle Cruiser' has elements of 'Super Troopers' in it (both films are about a gang of irresponsible cops played by the same actors) I still only laughed 2-1/2 times. Both film were such letdowns that I didn't even bother to give 'Beerfest' a chance when it first came out. But after what's probably my 20th time watching it, I can honestly say I'm a fan...

Sure 'Beerfest' went for some cheap & ridiculous laughs (scenes of drinking animal piss and ejaculating frog semen) and yes it does feature Mo'nique in a prominent supporting role, but the core plot is quite awesome (in an over the top silly kinda way): an underground beer drinking competition (in the same secret society-esque vein as Fight Club) where different countries face off against each other for beer drinking supremacy. On the surface this comes off as some fratboy bullshit (...and it kinda is). But fratboys aren't the only demographic out there who have a fun time getting drunk and playing drinking games so plenty of people could enjoy this movie. And speaking of demographics, the plot alone pretty much alienates just about any female on the planet so this film already has a strike against it (although I have had a couple of women tell me they found this movie funny so give it a chance, ladies). In 'Beerfest' two brothers (Tom and Jan) pull together a team of their closest friends (Barry, Landfill & Finklestein) to compete in the beer drinking competition known as: "BEERFEST" in order to win back their family's respect and claim ownership of a beer recipe that belongs to their great grandfather. They're also representing America which had always been the one country kept out of the competition until now (perhaps a comment on globalization and Americas tainted image to the rest of the world?). The teams have to put their drinking skills to the test by competing in games like beer pong, table tennis, thumper, beer chugging and more. Imagine an Olympics for beer drinking. The film even managed to get a supporting cast of academy award nominated actors like Donald Sutherland and Cloris Leachmam as well as German arthouse heavyweight Jurgen Prochnow (yes, there are many 'Das Boot' references in beerfest). So not only does this movie appeal to the lowest common denominator with a love for potty humor, but even movie snobs can crack a smirk at references to films like Das Boot. If you were let down by the broken lizard crew in the past and passed this movie over (which is understandable) I highly suggest giving it a shot. What followed 'Beerfest' was quite possibly they're worst movie ever: The Slammin' Salmon - An un funny movie with a dumb premise and forced humor that didn't just fall flat but comes off embarrassing at times. I mean seriously, watching this movie after watching 'Super Troopers', you'll find yourself going: "did they really think that would come off as funny?" Look, I'm all about filmmakers branching out and doing something new but maybe the broken lizard crew shoulda just stuck too making super trooper sequels (with the exception of beerfest). Why are so many comedy troop-based movies doomed to either failure (Mr. Show's 'Run Ronnie Run', The Tim and Eric movie or almost any SNL movie), obscurity (UCB's 'Martin and Orloff') or a minor cult following (the kids in the hall's 'Brain Candy' or Derrick Comedy's 'Mystery Team')?
Highlights from 'Beerfest' include the scene where the team goes to pick up Barry only to find out he's been working as a male prostitute, lines like; "I wanna put my dick in it" (after tasting the most delicious beer ever) or "I've been shittin' pancakes ever since" and Will Forte's overall presence.

THE DAY OF THE LOCUST: REQUIRED VIEWING FOR FANS OF BARTON FINK

Whores, racist midgets, creepy little children, sexually repressed bible thumpers and apocalyptic riots. Hollywood was a pretty odd place according to Nathanael West whose book, 'The Day Of The Locust', was adapted in to a film directed by John Schlesinger which went on to influence people & films like the Coen Brothers (specifically; 'Barton Fink' and 'Millers Crossing'), Alejandro Jodorowsky ('Sante Sangre'), Nicolas Winding Refn (he included 'The Day Of The Locust' as one of his influences for 'Drive') and even Matt Groening (for those that don't know, "Homer Simpson" is a character from 'The Day Of The Locust'). Whats also interesting is that this film and 'Chinatown' (another film with a similar vibe that shows the ugly side of southern California during the 1930's) were released within a year of each other. But of all the directors and films I just mentioned, 'Barton Fink' is probably the biggest homage to 'The Day Of The Locust' in that both films are essentially about "real artists" who get caught up working behind the scenes in a somewhat surreal/dark vision of Hollywood in the late 30's/early 40's (a playwright turned b-movie script writer in Barton Fink and a painter turned movie set designer in Day Of The Locust). Both films feature quite a few scene of random and somewhat dark/creepy humor that kinda make you go "...Huh??", unexpected spurts of violence and both films feature explosive endings (literally). Like 'Straw Dogs' and 'A Clockwork Orange', 'The Day Of The Locust' definitely had an effect on me as a child. Until the other night I hadn't watched this since I was a kid but the scene where Donald Sutherland stomps the little kid to death (played by a pre-bad news bears Jackie Earle Haley) is a scene that always stuck with me (i guess that scene influenced the elevator scene in 'Drive'?). The world of 'The Day Of The Locust' is an interesting one. Its the kinda world where our protagonist can essentially try to rape someone, and we're STILL supposed to consider him the "good guy". The kinda world where a dopey, pathetic sap that we cant help but feel sorry for can murder a child in a fit of rage and we still kinda sympathize for him as he's being torn to pieces by an angry mob (although with all due respect, that evil little kid had it coming).

'The Day Of The Locust' focuses on four primary characters and shows us how Hollywood and/or the entertainment industry will  chew them up and spit them out (or in some cases already has):

"Tod Hackett" - The main character. A painter who becomes a Hollywood set designer played by underrated character actor; William Atherton (most known for playing prick-ish assholes in films like; 'Ghostbusters', 'Real Genius' and the 'Die Hard' movies. This performances is quite different from his other roles). Hackett's unique artwork and figures that he draws play a major role at the very end of the film...

"Homer Simpson" - A shy, timid, and sexually repressed accountant, played by Donald Sutherland in one of his finest performances. I guess because he hasn't done anything memorable in recent years outside of his cameo in 'Beerfest' (lol), its easy to forget all the great things Sutherland has done in his career. From fucked up & sadistic ('1900') to comic relief ('Dirty Dozen') to a gentle giant on the verge of exploding ('The Day Of The Locust')

"Faye Greener" - An aspiring actress who's "look" and delivery in the film are clearly based off of Marilyn Monroe even though she wasn't around around during the 1930's. Faye is interesting in that she starts off as somewhat naive & childlike, but as the film goes on you see she actually has a dark side and her ditsy vibe my be an act. Tod & Homer are both in love with her but she decides to be with Homer because she knows she can take advantage of him on her rise to stardom.

"Harry Greener" - Faye's father. A former vaudevillian turned alcoholic door-to-door salesman who drives Faye crazy. He's already been chewed up and spit out by the entertainment industry before the Hollywood days.

Things come to a bloody boiling point in the final 10 minutes of the film when a riot breaks out at a movie premier when the body of a dead child is discovered. Then all of Los Angeles proceeds to tear itself apart. Most people who have seen 'The Day Of Locust' consider the finale to be the most memorable aspect of the film not just because of the unexpected violence or how it symbolizes the coming of the apocalypse, but because as Tod Hackett watches Los Angeles burn to the ground during the riot, people in the crowd start to look like the characters in his paintings (see below). I guess the main comparison that this films has with 'Drive' is that it focuses on main characters that work behind the scenes in the movie business and they get caught up in Hollywood life and don't know how to shut it off. In 'Drive' its almost as if "The Driver", Gosling, seriously thinks he's in an action movie probably due to the lines of reality being fuzzy for him after working on so many movie sets (fantasy) as well as being a getaway car driver for criminals (reality). I know i may get a lot of hate for this, but I honestly wouldn't mind a LOOSE adaption of this film done today as long as the right director is chosen...





'The Day Of The Locust' is just one of many great cynical, darkly comical, horrific, "off", sometimes violent films from the 70's that's kept alive only by their cult audiences like 'The Ninth Configuration' (1979), 'Wise Blood' (1979), The Ruling Class (1972), '99 & 44/11% Dead' (1974) and so many more.

DON'T LOOK NOW: ANTICHRIST 35 YEARS BEFORE ANTICHRIST

I had 'Antichrist' on heavy rotation a while back (still not sure how I was able to watch that movie so frequently), and it hit me that 'Antichrist' is very similar to Nicolas Roeg's 'Dont Look Know'. This may not be a huge revelation to some of you, but for some reason the comparison between the 2 films didn't hit me right away. In the era of creepy/demon/ghostly children films like; 'The Omen' (1976), 'The Exorcist' (1973), and 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968), Nicolas Roeg's 'Dont Look Now' (1973) may not be "the best" out of the aforementioned films (although it does maintain a heavy cult status), but the one thing it has on all the other movies of its kind is that it focused on the (realistic) horror of losing a child. Sure 'The Exorcist', 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'The Omen' focused on parents trying to cope with the horror of having a possessed or evil child, but 'Dont Look Now' focused on the realistic marital problems that come after the loss of a child (Nicloas Roeg just kinda disguised it in the form of a Roman Polanski influenced psychological thriller/borderline horror). Its one of those films where you find yourself asking; "Is this a horror movie? (all the creepy imagery) is it a drama? (the death of a child and the marital problems that follow after it) or a thriller? (the suspenseful music, the lighting and the editing)"
In the film, "John" (Donald Sutherland) and "Laura" (Julie Christie) are a married couple still trying to get past the death of their daughter who drowned a little while back. During a trip to Venice (John, an architect, is in Venice to restore a church) they cross paths with a blind woman and her sister who claim that they can still see their dead daughter. Naturally this upsets the couple but as the movie progresses, John starts to have visions of his daughter to the point where starts to believe he really sees her. At the same time, Laura forms a relationship with the psychic sisters and at one point in the film they perform a seance/ritual to try and speak to Laura's daughter from the dead. Through the seance they're able to reach the daughter who warns Laura that John is in trouble. Like Nicolas Roeg's other films ('Bad Timing' & 'The Man Who Fell To Earth), there's a side story/subplot involving a serial killer. This part of the story connects with the everything at the very final scene of the film.
As far as other comparisons outside of 'Antichrist' go, even though Stanley Kubrick was already very established by the early 70's, there seems to be some striking similarities between 'Dont Look Now' and 'The Shining'. Not to say Kubrick stole anything from Nicolas Roeg, but i rarely hear anyone mention these two films in the same sentence...

'Dont Look Now'

'The Shining'

The combination of the psychic character from 'Dont Look Now', along with the "glare" shot is very reminiscent of  'The Shining' and its psychic elements...

This scene from 'The Shining' is very similar to the scene on the left in that they show our psychic character in a trans-like/ glare shot

With 'Antichrist', the similarities are almost uncanny. Outside of the basic plot that i already mentioned (a psychological thriller/border-line horror film about a married couple trying to get past the loss of their child), both films dabble with religious elements: in 'Dont Look Now', Sutherland's character is hired to renovate a church. Because of that, the presence of God & religion are always in the back of our heads. In 'Antichrist', besides the obvious title, Charlotte Gainsbourg's character starts to delve in to a "religion" of her own (is witchcraft a religion?). In both films, the wife of the grieving couple dabbles with the supernatural behind the husbands back. In 'Dont Look Know', Julie Christie has a seance to try and speak to her dead daughter, while Gainsbourg is studying to essentially become a witch in 'Antichrsit'. Both films also feature un-edited graphic sex scenes as well as similarly startling scenes that are edited in the same fashion (the fox scene from 'Antichrsit' vs. the final scene in 'Dont Look Now'). There's no way 'Dont Look Now' didn't pop in to Lars Von Trier's head while writing and/or filming 'Antichrist'...

'Dont Look Now'

'Antichrist'

'Dont Look Now'

'Antichrist'

'Dont Look Now'

'Antichrist'

'Dont Look Now' may not have the same cult status as 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' or be as powerful as 'Bad Timing' (Nicolas Roeg's masterpiece about a tortured relationship which seemed to mirror lead actor; Simon Garfunkle's real life at the time), but in my opinion its still a great film full of startles, (a few) thrills, sensuality and Nicolas Roeg's trademark/cutting edge editing style which is both disorienting (perfect for a psychological thriller) and ahead of its time. If you have yet to see this and are a fan of some of the other stuff I mentioned earlier ('The Exorcist', 'The Omen', 'The Shining', etc) chances are you'll enjoy this very much.