Jonathan Swift...Meet Moe Howard!

 

I watched the 3 Stooges as a little boy, along with Laurel & Hardy.  I may eventually pick up a Laurel & Hardy DVD if they ever release a decent collection.  I won't turn the channel if the 3 Stooges happen to be on, but I won't seek them out.  Still, I have great memories of them.

 

The Marx Brothers, on the other hand, I apparently have swallowed whole as a kid.  I remember watching, not the box set HeadRAZZ put up, but the other one with Coconuts, Horse Feathers, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, etc.  My friend loaned it to me, and she needed the captions to watch it.  When I watched it, not only did I NOT need the captions, but I was already there for nearly every punchline Groucho delivered.  I asked my Mom if we watched the Marx Brothers films when I was really young.  She replied she tuned them in every time they were on.

 

I love the Marx Brothers, and I bought the box set HeadRAZZ put up.  Still need to buy the other.

 

 

The only good thing about this is Chris O'Dowd. He plays Edward, a Lilliputian general who has a crush on Emily Blunt like any sane non-gay man. He was the only thing about the film that actually made me laugh. Fortunately for him, he was in Bridesmaids the year after this came out.

 

Speaking of Blunt, she's very disappointing in this. Her main role is to sit around and look pretty. I saw her in Looper earlier today and she was much better in that. Hell, she was better in that crappy Wolfman remake. Also disappointing is Jason Segal. Segal's one of the funniest people working today so his comedic black hole of a performance is unexpected. Amanda Peet gives another crappy performance as Gulliver's editor.

 

Rob Letterman's direction is bad. It gives of the whiff of not giving a sh*t. The script is terrible as well. I'm surprised that Jack Black wasn't involved since the whole film is just him mugging for the camera. There's a lot of jokes that border on Seltzerberg territory. There's a scene where the only joke is that Gulliver is on movie posters like Avatar and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Wait, let me rephrase that: Gulliver is on movie posters for 20th Century Fox releases like Avatar and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I don't think I have to say what studio released this film. In another scene, Gulliver "plays" Rock And Roll All Nite on Guitar Hero. The "joke" is that the game characters are Lilliputians dressed up like KISS. Also, Gulliver most have photographic memory considering these jokes. The posters are dead ringers for the originals and since the Lilliputians can't have heard of them, the only explanation is that Gulliver can remember posters really well, which clashes with the film portraying him as an idiot slacker. The special effects for this are just ass. Jack Black is just horrible here. He deserved his Razzie nod. The toilet humor in this is horrific. In one scene Gulliver pees on a fire to put it out. Now, I've heard that is actually from the book, but I don't have a problem believing that it was handled better their. Jonathan Swift wrote an awesome poem about eating babies, but actually about the treament of the Irish, so it probably means something. If I'm wrong, tell me. In another gross out scene, Gulliver puts a guy in his buttcrack. But, the absolutely worst scene in the whole movie was when Edward commands a Transformer and beats up Gulliver. You didn't misread that, there's f*cking Transformers in this movie. This is something out of a Seltzerberg movie* and, like most of the special effects, it looks like ass.

 

Fun fact: Jonathan Swift isn't mentioned in the end credits. I have a very strong feeling that his ancestors don't have a problem with his name not being on this. Grade: D-

 

Next-up: Troll!

 

*in fact it is: there was a similar scene at the end of Meet The Spartans