The Underground Comedy Movie (An Honest Review)

It's been a late night.

In fact, it's been such a late night, that here it is nearly nine-thirty in the A.M. and I haven't gone to bed yet.  I blame a good friend of mine, who happens to be snoozing on my bed in a comfortable booze-filled slumber. Awe, ain't that sweet?   Anyhow, she and I were gabbing and drinking late into the night (that's 1.75 liters, btw), always a fun thing to do, and somehow got onto a conversation where she was talking about this guy she'd gotten to know online.  This guy was none other than Vince Offer.

Never heard of him?  Sound vaguely familiar?  Don't give a damn?

All fair responses, and perhaps most sound.  Vince Offer, notable for his key star roles as the "Slap Chop" and "ShamWow" guy, made a movie a little over a decade ago.  I know, what?  It was called, "The Underground Comedy Movie."

The film cites crass comedic (awesome alliteration!) stabs at the worst of the worst: necrophilia, masturbation, defecation, attractive girls doing very unattractive things, boob watch...the list could go on.  But having been labeled by several sources as being "one of the worst films ever made" is oddly in itself a sort of award for notoriety.  The film was direct to video, sold somewhere around 100,000 copies from sales by infomercials, and is generally considered distasteful by reputable critics of today--to put it politely.

Personally, I kinda liked it.  It got disgusting at times, but that was part of the point.  It was horribly low budget at times, but that also appeared to be part of the point.  It tried too hard in all the wrong places, which...I'm not sure was the point, but it definitely made me give a physical expression of response, however mild that was.  What I saw was what my friend explained to me about the film before I watched it: "It's watching a young man's ideas and dreams come to light, not work out, but make it into the light nonetheless.  It's a horrible film.  I wish I would have bought a copy when I had the chance!  You need to watch it!"  Oh, tequila...

I see what she meant.  Apparently, Offer had hosted some public access variety show which the film is based on, and went from there.  It's crude, and at times just flat out boring or tacky.  But it got me to chuckle a few times because of how awkward and absurd it allowed itself to get.  For films to "let go" like that, takes guts, and usually you don't triumph, but coming out triumphant is not the point so much as making a notable stab in people's memories.  

Point in example: "Hey, it's that dude who sold those awesome rags and choppers.  Damn, he had a really horrible movie, did you see it?"  "No, man, didn't see it.  What made it horrible?"  "Oh man, no, dude, you just gotta see it, it's...seriously, dude, it's fuckin' horrible.  You gotta see it!"

If there's one thing I never forgot that my dad pointed out about watching film, it's that you pay attention to whether or not it affected you.  If it was so bad that you just had to talk about it (albeit fondly and over several mixed drinks, cleverly weaved into a thread of enticing conversation), it affected you.  If it had a scene that was unforgettable, or you wished it had been, and you shared your pain with others, it affected you.

And affecting is the key to infecting the feelers out there for interest.  The more it's spoken about, the more likely you are to go "whoa, the ShamWow guy had a real dead body in his movie!  That's messed up!"  Whether or not that is true, I'm not sure, however, fascinatingly, the general word holds strong that he used a real dead woman in his film during the "porno" scenes.   Yeah, if that doesn't make you curious, then this film will surely pass you by.

BUT, if you're like most of the bored, sleepless, hapless, curious, lolzy internet folk out there, like myself, then you can't pass up knocking this little number off your list, much in the same way that films like Troll 2 and Kazaam should be forever stricken from all existing memory banks, however somehow they manage to stick with you because, gosh darn it, "they're just so damn horrible!"

Screw it.  The bottom line best used to describe the film is its own tagline:  "A series of comedic short films guaranteed to offend."


...'nuff said.