REVIEW: ‘Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie’ is less than awesome
There will be some who find the unusual comedy of Eric Warenheim and Tim Heidecker downright hilarious, enjoying the duo’s penchant for strange humor, awkward line deliveries and off-color remarks. Many others (perhaps the majority of American moviegoers) will look at Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie as a crass experiment in how to waste a good 94 minutes. Which camp will you land in?
Using some of the similar antics that made their Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job a hit on Adult Swim, the comedy is a rollicking adventure that features many digs at Hollywood, consumerism and parenting. The jokes are always strange, with many of them falling flat. But, in a weird way, it seems that Tim and Eric want these jokes to do something beyond the cheap laugh. They are building a sense of self-awareness comedy, completely buying into the ridiculousness of their chosen profession and milking the freedom that comes with a camera that’s turned on.
If the movie jumped around in a million directions (even a billion directions), it could be classified as a stupid, but funny, exercise in hilarity. But even though Tim and Eric deride convention, they actually work around a plot that’s quite conventional. The premise is fairly boring, but luckily there are a few memorable supporting characters to keep our interest.
Essentially, Tim and Eric make an awful movie that costs a billion dollars. When the financiers, headed by Robert Loggia, want their money back, the guys skip town and take a business job to turn around a failing mall. They call themselves TOBIS P.R., and with a little luck, they hope to raise $1 billion.
Along the way, the comedy duo runs into Ray Wise, Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, John C. Reilly and Will Forte. Johnny Depp and Steven Spielberg lookalikes also get some time in the story.
The plot is as stupid as it sounds, and the performances are mostly unfocused and unleashed. Apparently the movie was directed by Tim and Eric, but some improvisation probably worked its way into the fold. John C. Reilly has the best part as a sickened caretaker who battles a wolf with a suit made of pizza. Ferrell is funny, but hardly featured in the movie.
There’s something to be said about the restraints of cable television. It seems that in Tim and Eric’s jump from Adult Swim to the big screen they have opened a can of vulgar worms, deciding to lace their comedy bits with needless profanity, nudity and oddity. On the television show, they needed to work quickly and effectively to convey their humor. They didn’t have to fill a 94-minute movie with gross gags and questionable humor. As it stands, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie feels like an inferior and bloated episode of Awesome Job.
No “Great Job” this time.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
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Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie
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2012
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Written and directed by Tim Heidecker and Eric Warenheim
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Starring Heidecker, Warenheim, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Ray Wise, Robert Loggia, Will Forte and Zach Galifianakis
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Running time: 94 minutes
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Rated R for strong crude and sexual content throughout, brief graphic nudity, pervasive language, comic violence and drug use
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Rating:
