TB4000
02-28-2004, 02:51 PM
Club Dread - It Ain't That Bad
I am fully aware of the fact that I recently reviewed Eurotrip, another rated R flick seemingly created for the sole purpose to give underage teenyboppers that supposedly snuck into the theatre the opportunity to see breasts in real time without that pesky static of the adult channel. I went into Club Dread with an open mind because; well….I liked their first outing, Super Troopers. The Broken Lizard comedy troupe is as different from the rest of that Saturday Night Live/Mad TV ilk as Einstein is to G.W. Bush (no, not dead from the neck up). They’ve been hailed as this generation’s Monty Python, and as much of a stretch as that may appear, I personally do see it in their comedy, which isn’t just idiotic gross out humor, though they do that from time to time to appease the masses. Their humor stems basically from the dialogue, which can range from subtle to blatant jabs at anything and anyone. The trailers and commercials make Club Dread out to be another in a line of stupid comedies, and although it can give off that vibe on occasion, it’s much smarter than the ads let on.
Club Dread is basically the five guys’ take on the horror genre. It was done once before with Scream, and again with Scary Movie, but this is nowhere in the same field as the two formers. It’s a straight horror film, as the pretty graphic violence dictates, but the only difference is that the characters actually are given hilarious dialogue, most of which you can tell is ad-libbed, which is usually much more funny than anything scripted. The issue this time around is the fact that a machete wielding psycho in a tiki mask is stalking each of the employees of Pleasure Island, a beach resort solely reserved for the spring break set. Included on the maniac’s to-kill list is Putnam, the professional Indian tennis player with dreads rivaling Marley and a grating British accent rivaling…anyone from Britain, Juan the dive master, Lars the resident masseuse whose skills of sensual massage can bring anyone, male or female, to orgasm within seconds, Dave the X-addicted DJ, and Sam, self proclaimed captain of the island’s “fun police”. Also included are Bill Paxton as Coconut Pete, owner of the island, and Brittany Daniel and Lindsay Price as Jenny and Yu, respectively, the requisite females of the group whose job it is to scream whenever false or real scares arise.
What makes Club Dread a better movie than those Scary Movies and Eurotrips is that their comedy is very subtle. It takes a while to build up to the punch line, they don’t just throw joke after joke after joke in your face hoping to score with one. I have to admit, Jay Chandrasekhar, the leader of Broken Lizard and director, has a talent for this kind of thing, man. If a joke isn’t entirely funny, he has a way of shooting it that lets the audience know that he knows it kinda sucked, which is always an interesting route to go when you’re behind the camera, and the deadpan way the characters all deliver lines that are supposed to be funny make them even more so.
Comedy is a very, very hard thing to pull off…when it’s funny, it’s funny, and when it’s not, it’s The Hot Chick. As hard as it is to believe, this is no Hot Chick.
I am fully aware of the fact that I recently reviewed Eurotrip, another rated R flick seemingly created for the sole purpose to give underage teenyboppers that supposedly snuck into the theatre the opportunity to see breasts in real time without that pesky static of the adult channel. I went into Club Dread with an open mind because; well….I liked their first outing, Super Troopers. The Broken Lizard comedy troupe is as different from the rest of that Saturday Night Live/Mad TV ilk as Einstein is to G.W. Bush (no, not dead from the neck up). They’ve been hailed as this generation’s Monty Python, and as much of a stretch as that may appear, I personally do see it in their comedy, which isn’t just idiotic gross out humor, though they do that from time to time to appease the masses. Their humor stems basically from the dialogue, which can range from subtle to blatant jabs at anything and anyone. The trailers and commercials make Club Dread out to be another in a line of stupid comedies, and although it can give off that vibe on occasion, it’s much smarter than the ads let on.
Club Dread is basically the five guys’ take on the horror genre. It was done once before with Scream, and again with Scary Movie, but this is nowhere in the same field as the two formers. It’s a straight horror film, as the pretty graphic violence dictates, but the only difference is that the characters actually are given hilarious dialogue, most of which you can tell is ad-libbed, which is usually much more funny than anything scripted. The issue this time around is the fact that a machete wielding psycho in a tiki mask is stalking each of the employees of Pleasure Island, a beach resort solely reserved for the spring break set. Included on the maniac’s to-kill list is Putnam, the professional Indian tennis player with dreads rivaling Marley and a grating British accent rivaling…anyone from Britain, Juan the dive master, Lars the resident masseuse whose skills of sensual massage can bring anyone, male or female, to orgasm within seconds, Dave the X-addicted DJ, and Sam, self proclaimed captain of the island’s “fun police”. Also included are Bill Paxton as Coconut Pete, owner of the island, and Brittany Daniel and Lindsay Price as Jenny and Yu, respectively, the requisite females of the group whose job it is to scream whenever false or real scares arise.
What makes Club Dread a better movie than those Scary Movies and Eurotrips is that their comedy is very subtle. It takes a while to build up to the punch line, they don’t just throw joke after joke after joke in your face hoping to score with one. I have to admit, Jay Chandrasekhar, the leader of Broken Lizard and director, has a talent for this kind of thing, man. If a joke isn’t entirely funny, he has a way of shooting it that lets the audience know that he knows it kinda sucked, which is always an interesting route to go when you’re behind the camera, and the deadpan way the characters all deliver lines that are supposed to be funny make them even more so.
Comedy is a very, very hard thing to pull off…when it’s funny, it’s funny, and when it’s not, it’s The Hot Chick. As hard as it is to believe, this is no Hot Chick.