Review: Extreme Movie


Despite its title, this 2008 comedy from directors Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson is not one of the countless unfunny ‘Movie’ spoofs ala “Disaster Movie” or “Epic Movie”. Instead, it’s a sketch-based comedy about sex-related movies, unsurprising given that five of the film’s whopping ten (!) writers (which include the directors themselves) are “SNL” alum; Andy Samberg, John Solomon, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Will Forte. Forte and Samberg, of course, have also appeared on “SNL” as performers, though I’ve rarely seen either of them contribute something funny. Needless to say with so many cooks in the kitchen, the results are scattershot at best.
 

The funniest skits are a bit involving a horny puppet, Andy Milonakis’ ‘relationship’ with a prosthetic vagina (!), and the wraparound story involving horny teen Ryan Pinkston’s attempts to ask a girl out and his seriously unhelpful teacher (who is the funniest thing about these scenes). Strangely, it’s the biggest stars who appear in the weakest skits; Frankie Muniz (“Malcolm” himself) dealing with a girlfriend who constantly wants to take their bedroom antics to ‘the next level’ isn’t nearly as funny as it should have been, mostly because it’s never believably raunchy. The faux PSA announcements warning youngsters about sex would’ve been a whole lot funnier if the ‘celebrity’ involved were someone better known and less sleazy than Matthew Lillard. Where’s the joke in that casting? And whilst seeing dorky “7th Heaven” co-star Beverly Mitchell dressed up like Abe Lincoln for a sexual fetish sketch might sound funny, it’s not in the slightest. There’s an African-American spin on “Weird Science” as well, but its one joke isn’t all that funny, really. I mean, as soon as you see that it’s an African-American “Weird Science”, you just know it’s gonna go down the Big Momma route. And don’t even get me started on Jamie Kennedy’s appearance as a gay hobo/hippie in a raunchy “Candid Camera” spoof. That was weird, badly acted and totally unfunny.
 

This isn’t awful, but it’s also not necessary for you to see it, and I’ve probably wasted too much time already writing about it.


Rating: C

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