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Movie Review: Freddy Got Fingered
By Eric Tariq Johnson 03/05/2001
The movie Freddy Got Fingered attempts to revive Tom Green's hilarious stunts from his television show,
The Tom Green Show. Apparently, there was no one around to tell him not to waste his time making
the movie. Frankly, the film is a waste of one-and-a half hours and a huge disgrace to the genre of comedy. Green's humor is a little too old now, and it is obvious that he has lowered it to the level of distasteful behavior.
The director made a famous mark in the world of comedy with his on the spot, raw, daring and humorous tricks
a'la candid camera. What made his television show funny was that he would actually do these wild and sometimes twisted things to and in front of real people and record them on camera. People laughed, knowing that no one except Tom Green would ever do such things. For example, he would swim in a mall fountain in scuba gear - only to get kicked out by security guards - and randomly poke fun at people on the street with a loud speaker. Green once walked into the middle of a soccer game and pretended to score a goal. That was raw humor. Unfortunately, his film
Freddy Got Fingered is not.
The humor in the entire movie seems so out of place - even more out of place than a cameo by Shaquille O'Neill. Perhaps Shaq is trying to revive his acting career. Someone should have told him that
Freddy Got Fingered was not the place to do that.
Behind all the hoopla of disgusting humor though, there is one positive note about the movie. One of its underlying themes is incorporated in a father-son relationship and the illustration of an aspiring artist following his dream. Gord Brody (Tom Green), a 28-year old struggling animator, is constantly harassed by his father (Rip Torn) to get a job and move out. He eventually does move to Hollywood to try to make it big. He works on the side placing cheese on sandwiches in a factory, ultimately fails in his attempt, and ends up going back home.
As the movie progresses, however, the focus on his relationship with his father appears to be just an excuse to get the film going. That theme gets lost in all of the sick comedy throughout the film that is so annoying you want to leave before the first half is over. If the main objective of the film is to get a message about relationships across, then it failed. If the main objective was to get laughs, then it failed miserably. The film should be an embarrassment to Tom Green himself.
Simply put, Freddy Got Fingered is not a film you'd want to spend money to watch. If you want to laugh, go pick up any Robin Williams, Steve Martin, or Jim Carrey comedy from your local video store.
Moviegoers are getting tired of the same themes over and over. It is time for directors and producers to move on and do some new things.
Freddy Got Fingered is rated R for sexual content, strong language, and disgusting humor.
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