Freddy Got Fingered (2001) - Green's nonstop insane comedy feat

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Sloppily dressed co-writer/director/star Tom Green looks more or less insane on this poster for his Freddy Got Fingered

Gord is 28 years old and lives in his parents' basement with a dream of being an animator. Now he will attempt to materialize that dream in Hollywood!

Freddy Got Fingered is written by Derek Harvie (Meet the Family (2013-14)) and debuting co-writer/director/star Tom Green (Tom Green: Endangered Feces (1999, video)).
It is an insane film that parts opinions sharply, - but I'm one of its fans!
Green creates a kind of performance comedy in it, which may remind one of Jim Carrey's overwrought performances as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994; sequel 1995), - but Green's work is just more insane and transgressive. The fact that he attracted a considerable studio budget and some established stars to this lunacy is incredible.
Rip Torn (Slaughter (1972)) runs admirably amok in the film, and Julie Hagerty (Held Up (1999)) is also hilarious.
Freddy Got Fingered is like no other film: It is vulgar and naughty, (some would say tasteless); a comedy with a mission to be outrageous, which it achieves in one crazy scene after another, tightly packed with screaming, yelling, violence and major hit songs. Green seems manic and not much of a healthy individual here, but darn is it fun to watch.
The title is fittingly outrageous and vulgar to match the movie and doesn't really have much of an import in the story itself.

Related post:

Tom Green: Charlie's Angels (2000) - McG's saucy Hollywood Entertainment winner (actor)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 14 mil. $
Box office: 14.3 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 1.02 times its cost)
[Freddy Got Fingered premiered 18 April (USA) and runs 87 minutes. Shooting took place from August - October 2000 in British Columbia, including Vancouver, and in California. The film opened #5, behind holdover hits Bridget Jones' Diary, Spy Kids and Along Came a Spider and fellow new release Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, to a 7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 14.2 mil. $ (99.3 % of the total gross). The film was released in at least 6 other markets, so the assertion that these should have grossed less than 100k $ for the film seems dubious but could be true given its critical negation. Roger Ebert gave the film a zero star rating, translating to 4 notches under this one. The film earned more than 24.3 mil. $ from North-American video sales, which, if added into the equation, would make the film a box office success. Green returned with Subway Monkey Hour (2002, TV movie), Light Coming Out of Ear!!! (2005, short) and theatrically with the little-seen Prankstar (2010). As an actor he returned in Malcolm in the Middle (2002, TV-series) and theatrically in Stealing Harvard (2002). Freddy Got Fingered is rotten at 10 % with a 2.64/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Freddy Got Fingered?

City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair

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A nostalgia/buddy poster that seems to actively want to invoke George Roy Hill's super-successful The Sting (1973), for Richard Benjamin's City Heat

QUICK REVIEW:

Some murders, corruption, torture, prostitutes and fistfights in Kansas City of the 1930's.

- So superficially and indifferently can the plot of City Heat accurately be summed up. Although its teaming up of Clint Eastwood (In the Line of Fire (1993)) and Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights (1997)) theoretically could have proven a big pleasure, - in a loony car-movie, for instance, - here they are far from it. In fact this may be Eastwood's poorest film as an actor.
City Heat is a forced noir-ish gangster burb, which is unpleasant and coarse to boot. The designs and costumes look like a costume party. The film is truly a dud.
It was originally written by Blake Edwards (Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)), who was fired as director of the film, and it was rewritten by Richard Benjamin (Made in America (1993)) under the pseudonym Sam O. Brown, who became the director, while Edwards renounced the finished film.
Eastwood got 4 mil. $ for doing City Heat, while Reynolds' jaw broke in an accident on the first day, causing him to be restricted to a liquid diet that made him lose 30 pounds during the production. He was conclusively suspected of having AIDS in the tabloids, and also developed an addiction to analgesics [painkillers]. - Bummer!

Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds even look sour and lost on this German poster for Richard Benjamin's City Heat

Watch the loud, inane trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 38.3 mil. $ (US only)
= Flop, though some uncertainty
[City Heat was poorly received upon release, although audiences in America seemed to flock to see it nonetheless. Since foreign box office results are unknown, the flop status is somewhat uncertain.]

What do you think of City Heat?
Is this Clint Eastwood's worst film?
And Burt Reynolds' worst film?

Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) - Movie recycling, - not so hip

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Santa in his sleigh gets involved on this holiday-targeting poster for Ken Finkleman's Airplane II: The Sequel

The Sequel takes place in the future, where a moon mission gets off course due to a homicidal computer, so that the passenger rocket steers straight for the sun! With a bomb!

The Sequel is basically the original comedy classic Airplane! (1980) all over again, but with less original material, (because most of it is simply recycled here), and no Leslie Nielsen. The ZAZ creators of the original (Jim Abrahams, plus brothers Jerry and David Zucker) had nothing to do with the follow-up, and it suffers in freshness and creativity, - and in its basic story.
Even so, this thin cup of tea attracted stars Rip Torn (The Mouse (1996)), William Shatner (Range 15 (2016)), Raymond Burr (Mallory: Circumstantial Evidence (1976, TV movie)) and most of the rest of the original cast back, and Lloyd Bridges (Winter People (1989)) single-handedly secures the film's third star with his hysterical acting.
It is written and directed by Ken Finkleman (The Newsroom (1996-05)).

Related post:

Airplane! (1980) - Classic deadpan/spoof/crazy-comedy!

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 27.1 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain, likely a box office success (returned 1.80 times its cost domestically alone)
[Airplane II: The Sequel opened 10 December (USA) and runs 85 minutes. Finkleman was also hired by Paramount to write Grease 2 (1982). Shooting took place in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #2, behind The Toy, to a 5.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week. Its gross is down 67 % from the original's 83.4 mil. $ domestic gross, - on a budget that was only 23 % the size as the one for The Sequel. The world gross should nevertheless secure the film profitability. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Finkleman returned with Head Office (1985). Robert Hays (Starman (1986-87)) returned in Trenchcoat (1983), Julie Hagerty (The Winner (2007, TV-series)) in Lost in America (1985), and Bridges in 8 TV credits before he returned to cinemas in Weekend Warriors (1986). Airplane II: The Sequel is rotten at 42 % with a 5.33/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Airplane II: The Sequel?

30 Rock - season 1 (2006) - NY showbiz satire on speed

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+ Best New TV-series of the Year + Best Sitcom of the Year

A nice promotion photo with the main stars of Tina Fey's 30 Rock

The New York address 30 Rockefeller holds the stage for NBC's comedy hit, the best Manhattan show since Sex and the City, Tina Fey's (Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt (2015-16)) 30 Rock.  

The entry point is the hiring of the new channel boss, Jack Donaghy, who has great experience from micro-oven-programming and thinks in dynamic corporate terms and buzz words. Another challenge for the lead in the show, sketch show writer Liz Lemon, is his demand to incorporate the popular but very difficult African-American comedian Tracy Jordan into her live comedy show as its main act. 

The meta/alter ego of Liz Lemon and comedian persona Fey, (who has based the character and plot on herself and her own experiences as the head writer for Saturday Night Life from 1997-06), the self criticisms and irony is thick in 30 Rock, (and you will benefit as a viewer from knowing a bit about the lead actors.) It's funny and often sharp and fresh, and it has the feel of a modern, frantic backstage musical, (though it is mostly without the music.)
Lemon's love life, or lack of one, also takes up a big chunk of the show; her relationship to 'beeper-king' Dennis, an inevitable flirt with boss Donaghy, and the flower-man, Floyd (Jason Sudeikis (We're the Millers (2013))). Donaghy, on the other hand, dates Condoleezza Rice (off-screen), gets engaged to Phoebe (Emily Mortimer (City Island (2009))), and has an ex in Isabella Rosselini (Blue Velvet (1986)). The show is also filled with surprising celebrity appearances from the likes of Ghostface Killah (When in Rome (2010)), John McEnroe (Jack & Jill (2011)), Whoopi Goldberg (The Associate (1996)), Rip Torn (Men in Black (1997)), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea (1999)), Will Arnett (The Lego Movie (2014)) and Sean Hayes (Sean Saves the World (2013-14)).
Alec Baldwin (The Departed (2006)) has, in my opinion, the funniest character as Jack Donaghy as well as the funniest lines, as when he shouts at wig-wearing show writer Pete (Scott Adsit (Fan Girl (2015))); "Who is this leader of men? - You handsome man!" Baldwin's dead-pan chops and comedic and acting width is utilized perfectly in his larger-than-life Donaghy character.
Generally the episodes that are written by Fey are the funniest. The liberal New York sassiness and enduring focus on race can be tiring, and it's not without its hypocritical aftertaste sometimes. Sometimes punch-lines fall totally through.
The Southern character Kenneth (Jack McBrayer (Cooties (2014))) is for me over-wrought and unfunny throughout. Fey, Tracy Morgan (Cop Out (2010)) and Jane Krakowski (Ally McBeal (1997-02)), on the other hand, are as most of the show very amusing.
30 Rock is a very funny sitcom with a crazed, new millennium-type pace.

Best episode:

17 : The Fighting Irish: written by Fey and Jack Burditt (The Mindy Project (2013-15)); directed by Dennie Gordon (White Collar (2009-11))

Donaghy's Irish ancestry is explored. With Nathan Lane (The Birdcage (1996)).

Related posts:

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Watch a clip from the season here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV
= Unknown
[30 Rock S1 was first broadcast October 11 2006 - April 26 2007, and it spans 21 episodes, with 19 being 22 min. long and 2 being 26 min, coming to around 470 minutes total. Fey pitched the show in 2002 at NBC, but it took her a few years and a pregnancy before it was really in the making. Filming took place around in New York. The pilot premiered to 8.1 mil. viewers, which shrunk to 4.7 mil. by the finale, the season averaging 5.8 mil., which was considered to be not too strong, although it was likely a profitable production behind NBC's heavy curtains. The season was critically well-received, with a Metacritic score of 67 %. The season was nominated for 10 Emmys, one Golden Globe, which Baldwin won, and 6 Primetime Emmys, winning 2: For Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Elaine Stritch (Small Time Crooks (2000))). Fey continued to write for SNL and also did cameos in Beer League and Man of the Year in 2006; Baldwin was busy in 2006, also starring in Mini's First Time, The Departed, Running with Scissors and The Good Shepherd; Morgan starred in Littleman, Mind of Mencia (TV-series), Where My Dogs At? (TV-series) and Totally Awesome (TV movie). 30 Rock S1 is fresh at 71 % with a 7.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What other showbiz satires are lots of laughs?
What do you think of 30 Rock's first season?