Maybe I’m just not cool enough to get “Beer: The Movie”. Of course I am, that’s crazy talk. Apparently, spinning off from uber-rock station Fuse, “Beer: The Movie” is the on-screen adaptation from the comedy show where a bunch of rockers engage in comedy skits, and candid pranks is so utterly random it’s not even funny. Seriously, “Beer: The Movie” is not even funny.
That’s the problem with digital filmmaking, anyone can get their hands on it, and anyone can make their own film, and while this gives young filmmakers a chance to share their art, it also gives anyone who thinks they can do comedy a chance to do nothing but show us that comedy is hard, and rarely achieved by anyone. However, you have to appreciate the attempts from the cast to entertain us.
But, while the producers would love to liken the film after trash like “Jackass” and films like “Kentucky Fried Movie”, Hoare’s film is never as daring or utterly threatening as either and excels at short skits that never seem to make any sense, parties that are only really funny if you’ve been there, and jokes that go on way too long without an actual punch line to deliver.
The film within a film formula perfected by “Kentucky Fried Movie” is lost on Hoare’s production which instead feels like a pastiche of home movies edited together by a group of friends who look like they’re having a lot of fun, but never let the audience in on said antics, while it also mimics “Jackass” with wild skits that are rarely anything but. I approached “Beer: The Movie” with a pure open mind, was let down by what I knew was supposed to be comedy, but never really understood why.
In one skit two guys try to debunk an intruder who claims he’s Jesus, one of the cast discusses how Tom Sizemore used to be a bad-a*s but fell from grace due to his drug use, and a fake commercial for a new drug which has been done a hundred times over. Meanwhile it’s interrupted by the group of cast members having a party, which includes drinking and sexual jokes which fails to spark any sort of laughter. The only truly funny skit features the two creators discussing their ambitions with a guidance counselor and confusing him to the point of rage.
But beyond that, “Beer: The Movie” is not so much of a laugh out loud comedy, more of a misguided alienating comedy that’s not really funny if you don’t know the people in it. I gather even the open-minded comedy buff will be hard pressed to find entertainment value here. I sure was.
