When you don’t have a large budget to upgrade your production, the only thing one has is the story. Written by Nick Snowden, Funny Fat Guy has a fantastic ending, that’s worth sticking around to experience. The problem is you might be tempted to shut it off before you get to it.
When it comes to storytelling, you have to earn your ending. You have to give audiences a reason to arrive at your finish. The biggest hurdle of the story is that it’s about a bad stand-up comedian. How long do you or I want to stick around listening to bad jokes, especially when they are intentionally bad? Remedy this by making the reactions to those bad jokes compelling and truthful to audiences, that they’ll want to see how the entire story unfurls. Unfortunately, Funny Fat Guy doesn’t do that. On top of that, the jokes of the good comedians aren’t that great either.
“…has a fantastic ending, that’s worth sticking around to experience.”
The other hurdle is that this tale of a guy who always screws up his life is rather depressing. How long are we going to watch a train wreck of a man before shutting it off? Building up a train wreck over time, and making it more and more gruesome could prove an engaging watch. But with Funny Fat Guy, it is not until the hour mark that the real story, the actual plot, finally kicks in. It’s at this point that Charlie emerges as more than just a screw-up in, but as a toxic person. His toxicity begins compounding his reaction to his misfortune and the success of his closest friends, making for a compelling character arc. The film should have started with Charlie’s self-destructive nature because this is what the story is all about. It is what gives the story its energy and is the most interesting part of Charlie.
Stick around for the ending of Funny Fat Guy. It takes a little while to figure out where the story is going, but once you’re in, the conclusion pays off. Let me also set expectations. The ending is good, if not exceptional, but it’s no Sixth Sense. It takes a calculated risk and ultimately pays it off.
"…His toxicity begins compounding his reaction to his misfortune and the success of his closest friends..."
