This film is R18+ rated. I'm not sure if I've ever reviewed an R-rated film before, but I guess there's a first for everyone. When one reviews films, one has to rely on other opinions to remain balanced. One of the people I like to read is James Berardinelli. He runs the popular 'Movie Reviews' site and posts on the newsgroups. He is a fair reviewer, however I feel that he can be particularly easy on what I thought was a poor film. So what am I to think when he rewards a film zero stars? This really piqued my interest.
Freddy Got Fingered received zero stars - one of very few in a huge back catalogue. So is it bad? Or should I say 'how bad is it'?
If bad taste were dollars, Tom Green would be Bill Gates (with a better haircut and cooler old lady). He is Gordon ('Gord') Brody, a cartoonist who wants to sell his drawings and concepts to a big studio. His parents are played by Rip Torn (notably The Larry Sanders Show) and Julie Hagerty (Airplane). His olds are decent blue collar folk who are sick of their 28 year old unemployed (unemployable?) son living at home. The 'Freddie' of the title is his thoroughly normal younger brother. How he gets fingered is revealed in the movie, but lets just say he wasn't 'fingered' by homicide cops in a police lineup. Let your dirty mind run wild and you'll probably guess right...
That just about sums up the plot. The various scenes that occur often make no sense and have no place, but then this is not a normal movie. Along the way we meet his friend who plays a sort of straight guy to a screwy Tom Green. 'Gord' meets a nymphomanic wheelchair-bound doctor-cum-amateur rocket scientist. Their relationship is odd to say the least.
The adult situations defy description. Oh and on that theme, Tom Green performs a sexual act on not one but two animals and how do I put this - the act is done to completion. And it involves his father on the 'receiving' end. There is way too much animal genitalia in this film and acts that involve such.
This film also has so many and varied uses of expletives I can't think of another feature short of Eddie Murphy or Andrew Dice Clay that comes close.
There are cameos from Shaquille O'Neill and Drew Barrymore (of course). This film has its moments, unfortunately they involve nothing I can adequately describe in polite company.
The anamorphic picture is fine and of good quality. It does look a little cheap and low budget and it'll never pass as anything close to reference, however it is a pleasingly consistent high quality transfer devoid of any noticeable flaws. Maybe some aliasing in some places and it is overly soft but I don't care. Colours are good and the night scenes are passable. Let me tell you, if you see this, the last thing on your mind will be the transfer.
The sound is Dolby 5.1 at 384k/s, however this is a highly dialogue driven film. There is a noticeable lack of any surround activity and anything that needs more than Dolby Stereo. There are a couple of 'action' scenes where there is 5.1 activity but it's rare. The score makes no impression except it's a generic bouncy track filled with modern and classic popular hits with the associated excellent Dolby clarity. The dialogue is, however, very precise and even Tom Green's characteristic shouting and 'vocal work' do not stress the track.
This is a rental. Perhaps 15 minutes of non-skippable advertisements at the start is an extra? What about 'scene access' and menus? No I didn't think so. Mercifully you can use the menu button to skip to the menu. If this were not there, there would be no review I'm sad to say.
Written and directed by Tom Green. What do you expect? Shakespeare? Can you stand Tom Green? Are you Drew Barrymore? Do you like the sort of antics that go beyond even what might be considered bad taste? This is for you... it might even make a nice date movie if you find the right girl.