Post by StevePulaski on May 2, 2017 13:45:06 GMT -5
Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (2006)
Directed by: Mike Clattenburg
Directed by: Mike Clattenburg
From left: John Paul Tremblay, Mike Smith, and Robb Wells.
Rating: ★½
NOTE: This film was recommended to me by Willie Mays for "Steve Pulaski Sees It," a month where I watch twenty-five films requested by friends, fans, and readers.
This is my introduction to Trailer Park Boys, the Canadian cult-favorite TV show that made household names out of characters named Julian and Bubbles who endlessly exhaust their plans to pull off something called "The Big Dirty." Unfortunately, dear reader, I highly doubt I'll be seeking out more of the show or its several film installments anytime soon.
Where to begin? Trailer Park Boys: The Movie is a slog of comedic dead-ends, operating in a vacuum of being an unrealized, Office-style mockumentary on far less privileged characters and Jackass with a narrative arc. The film revolves around three bust-outs who have made the most out of their unattractive titular roots by robbing parking meters and coin machines in order to obtain untraceable petty cash to scrape by. One character hasn't been the same since he stopped growing and selling marijuana, and that's a shame because perhaps he could've provided the audience with some in hopes to more easily achieve an authentic laugh.
When one job goes awry, one of the men, the bug-eyed Bubbles (Mike Smith), runs off, leaving the other two, Ricky (Robb Wells) and Julian (John Paul Tremblay) behind to get eighteen months in prison. Once they're released - or, better yet, kicked out, resulting in Ricky being upset because he cannot compete in the prison hockey tournament - they return to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park to be harassed by their tenant Jim Lahey (John Dunsworth) as they are trying to plan the aforementioned "Big Dirty," a heist that will allow them to retire. Ricky makes an attempt to rekindle with his girlfriend Lucy (Lucy DeCoutere) despite her moving on since his arrest, while Julian gets closer to his horny new flame Wanda (Nichole Hiltz).
In the meantime, Bubbles just wants to have enough money to provide his cats with cat food in addition to furnishing his plywood-assembled shack with the bare necessities of life.
Some have stated that in order to appreciate Trailer Park Boys: The Movie, you must be familiar with the show, while others claim it has no continuity with the program, so familiarity is irrelevant. The problem I had with the film wasn't my lack of knowledge on these three characters (believe me, they're not hard to define nor very complex people), but it was the film's shocking inertness and lack of anything resembling comic timing, charisma, or spirit. The film's listless attitude is comparable to a satisfied C or D student, not the least bit concerned that they're investing time and money into something in order to be labeled "below average" and remain content.
Co-writer/director Mike Clattenburg directs the show in a sterile manner, settling for an awkward, reality-TV show like presentation that doesn't work with the narrative nor the characters. This kind of presentation belongs in a show that's more developed, with characters that aren't as thin or as easily defined with humor or wit that extends past four-letter words and lackluster bromances. It especially falls short in trying to make the film's almost non-existent humor rise to prominence, but Trailer Park Boys: The Movie ostensibly takes scenarios that would ordinarily be humorous and sucks the comedy element out, leaving a shell of the original material.
By now, there are certainly people that will be quick to tell me that I don't get the series and they are absolutely correct. I do not, nor have I ever made myself out to be a connoisseur of comedy. I had a conversation with a friend the other day about how there is always a comedy that a person loves that was critically bashed or despised by everyone else that makes that same person laugh with each repeated viewing - sometimes, they can't even explain the film's effectiveness as it just works and hits the right, subjective spots. For me, those comedies are Bio-Dome and Grandma's Boy, both films I love watching whenever I get the opportunity.
Trailer Park Boys: The Movie is proof once again that one person's comedy is another person's travesty.
Starring: Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay, Mike Smith, John Dunsworth, Lucy DeCoutere, and Nichole Hiltz. Directed by: Mike Clattenburg.