A badass George Washington honors his fallen friend Abraham
Lincoln by taking on the British and founding the nation of America. COMEDY
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America: The Motion Picture (2021)Directed by Matt Thompson
Written by Dave Callaham Starring Channing Tatum, Jason Mantzoukas, Olivia Munn, Bobby Moynihan, Judy Greer, Will Forte, Raoul Max Trujillo, Killer Mike, Simon Pegg, Andy Samberg |
You have to be slightly impressed with a film like this. In a world where actors and characters are getting cancelled constantly (some deserving more than others) and people getting so easily offended, I’m genuinely surprised a film like this released with no issues. One which plays fast and loose with the American Revolution while delivering plenty of jokes on various issues facing us today like race, gender equality, and gun control. That’s just to name a few. So, how does this film just slip through the cracks? Easy, actually. Take a ridiculous premise and proceed to completely waste it with an extremely committed, talented cast. Also, smartly release it ahead of a packed Fourth of July weekend movie schedule so it’s almost guaranteed to slip past people undetected.
I’ll start with praising this film for committing to its insane premise. This isn’t meant to be a Ken Burns documentary on our history and how we became our own country. Instead, this is an animated comedy, red-blooded, drug and alcohol fueled, pure American take on our history. This is a film filled with insane moments like Benedict Arnold being a werewolf, Washington having secret chainsaw arms, and Paul Revere being turned into a robotic horse man hybrid. You heard me right on all of that. And it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Luckily, this ridiculousness is easy enough to follow thanks to the filmmaker’s commitment to the material and the cast giving great, comedic performances. The pacing also helps with its almost breakneck like speed of moving from joke to joke. But this leads to my negative. The film isn’t all that funny. For me, at least, most of the jokes fell flat. Other than the insane ending, I spent a good chunk of its runtime just slightly amused at best. This is an extremely ambitious film. It attempts to make some sort of point at our political and social climate today by playfully poking fun at our history. Specifically, the most important time where we became our own country and truly became America. It fully commits to its insane plot and the cast is great. But the jokes fall flat most of the time. Still, with all that said, this isn’t a bad way to spend time with the bros and beer. ‘Murica! |
If a Florida State frat boy overdosed on crystal meth while studying for his American History final, this movie is what would be coursing through his brain in his final moments of beer-chugging life. Holy shit, is this an insane pile of movie. The history buff in me wants to find these filmmakers and kick them in the dick for making the bad guy King James and not King George, among other things. The film buff in me wants to know what these guys were snorting to even come up with something like this. But ultimately, the American in me wants to hop on the back of a bald eagle with my AR-15 and join George Washington's epic army of American bros.
In a world where all of American history seems to be occurring all at the same time, party animal George Washington (Tatum) and his best bud, political rebel Abraham Lincoln (Forte) are betrayed by their friend Benedict Arnold (Samberg), who is also a werewolf. He kills Lincoln who, with this dying words, insists George carry on his dream of a country free from British tyranny. George assembles a dream team of American badasses to take on the Brits, namely Thomas Edison (Munn), a female science genius, Sam Adams (Mantzoukas), a frat boy/beer aficionado, Paul Revere (Moynihan), who can talk to horses, and Geronimo (Trujillo), the sensible one. Together, they take on the oppressive King James (Pegg), who plans to soak the colonists in tea and turn them British. This movie is insane, and you need to understand that or you won't last ten minutes. I regret to say that the film's biggest problem is that it just isn't that funny. It's creative as hell, sure, but it's anything but subtle. There's a few chuckle-worthy moments, and it's not as gratuitous as I expected, but in the end, it's more stupid than anything else. It feels like that "America, Fuck Yeah" song from Team America: World Police come to life. But hey, if that's your thing, here's another one to watch on the Fourth of July. |