Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with my first round of coverage of the South By Southwest Film Festival. I'm going to review two films... but I'm gonna give you folks the short and sweet versions since if I go to sleep right this very moment I might get 7 hours of sleep before my big day of panels (yay character actors and comedians... hrmmm... SSSaaarrrahhhh Silllveerrmmannn... drooollll) and movies tomorrow. So, that means when I finish the short, short version and post it... I may have about 5 hours.
The two flicks I'm going to touch upon are THE WENDELL BAKER STORY, a Wilson Bros triple threat with Andrew Wilson directing Luke and Owen Wilson in a comedy shot and set in Austin, TX, and the Sundance phenomenon documentary called THE ARISTOCRATS about the dirtiest joke of all time with the best of the best of comedy, both old school and new.
THE ARISTOCRATS
I'm actually going to start on THE ARISTOCRATS. If you have no idea what the title refers to (as I didn't before I dug a little into it before it played SUNDANCE), it is a famous joke that is at least one century old and possibly more than two centuries old. It begins with the set-up of a vaudeville (or talent agency) auditioning acts. A family act comes in, usually the parents, young children and an animal or two, and does something so incredibly shocking and disgusting that the hearer of the joke is taken aback. This usually involves any bodily function you can think of, incest, bestiality, rape to women, men and children, feces, blood, snot, pubic hair... whatever is shocking. All of this stuff is up to whoever is telling this joke, but the punchline must be the recruiter or talent agent going "What do you call yourselves?" with the response, "The Aristocrats!"
The whole thing is open to improv and interpretation, which is what this documentary is all about. Every comedian will tell it differently. There's a kind of competition in the comedian community where they try to top each others and make it grosser and more disgusting and more funny.
Here's an example that Trey Parker and Matt Stone did to give you an idea of what this is all about:
TRY THIS ONE! THIS WORKS!
There's so many comedians in this thing I can only give you a partial list, with a few specific moments afterwards: Stephen Wright, Robin Williams, Sarah Silverman, Penn and Teller, Fred Willard, George Carlin, Carrot Top, Whoopi Goldberg, Rip Taylor, John Stewart, Lewis Black, Doug Stanhope and Andy Richter (who both tell their version of The Aristocrats while holding their toddler children), Dave Thomas, The Smothers Brothers, Martin Mull, Harry Shearer, Bob Sagat (oh my god... I'll get to him in a minute), Chris Rock, Don Rickles, Rita Rudner, Paul Riser, Kevin Pollak, Larry Miller, Emo Philips, Howie Mandel, Richard Lewis, Gilbert Gottfried, Carrie Fisher, Phyliss Diller, Drew Carey, Billy Connolly, Jason Alexander, The Staff of The Onion, Eric Idle and Eddie Izzard.
Holy shit and that isn't even all of those involved.
This is the most disgusting, filthy, lewd, crass and disgustingly funny film I may have ever seen in my life. It's certainly the funniest film I've seen this year. The audience went batshit for this film. One of those movies where people were laughing so hard and in such great numbers that a quarter of the movie was drowned in laughter.
Director (as well as comedian) Paul Provenza does an admirable job of crafting a 90 minute documentary basically about one joke and keeping it constantly funny and fresh. A lot of it had to do with editing and pacing, but he also got some great stuff from his subjects. They didn't just tell the joke, but described the reason it's a favorite of comedians, how a difference of structure will change it, etc. Always interesting and when working with the best of the best, the who's who of comedy it never lacks for chuckles, either.
This is one of those movies that makes your face and ribs hurt. Either it's Kevin Pollak doing The Aristocrats as told by Christopher Walken, Bob Sagat going off on the most insane tangents and being the filthiest mother fucker on the planet, Carrie Fisher putting her mother and father (and a goat) in it, Sarah Silverman realizing she was once raped by Joe Franklin (I think that was the one she said) after telling her version or Gilbert Gottfried stealing the movie (whoda thunk it?) you've always got a fresh angle on this joke.
This is getting a limited (unrated) theatrical run and if it is playing in your area I cannot recommend it highly enough (for SXSW attendees that missed the screening, I think I heard one of the SXSW officials announce that it'll screen again at the ACC theater on Tuesday, but definitely get that confirmed before you park yourself over at the Convention Center!)
This one will be owned by at least one person in every dorm room in America once it is released on DVD. Without a doubt. It's that fucking funny... but then again this is coming from someone who gets off on asking famous people what their favorite dirty jokes are in interviews...
THE WENDELL BAKER STORY
Wendell Baker is a likable guy. He's very energetic, charming and a supremely nice guy. He's with a beautiful woman who adores him (Eva Mendes), but the problem is Wendell likes to involve himself in illegal activities, be it an insurance scam or selling finely crafted fake Texas licenses to illegals from Mexico. Let's just say, things go bad for Baker (Luke Wilson) and he ends up in prison. His woman leaves him and he's left with time to think about his life and which direction he wants to go with it.
Imagine that, but as a comedy. The film is a success. It's not perfect, but I really enjoyed it. Especially when Wendell gets out of prison and goes to work for a Nursing Home, run by Owen Wilson. It's Wendell's relationship with the patients that really make this movie worth recommending. I mean, Luke Wilson holds the film pretty well until that time, but when he's working off of Owen and Eddie Griffin the movie gets really charged. Add on to that his relationship with some great older actors... the wonderful Harry Dean Stanton ("Ordinary fucking people. I hate 'em."), Wilson/Anderson regular Seymour Cassel and Kris Kristofferson and you have the heart of the film.
It's a sweet film that mostly works and hell... it was great to see Austin filmed so lovingly. Since I've been out of Austin for almost 6 weeks, traveling around the world, and have just returned with a couple days rest before this day, the opening montage of the 360 Bridge, the UT Tower and other very familiar spots this acted as an almost re-introduction to the city that I've lived in for almost 12 years.
Plus Will Ferrell's got a hilariously funny bit part in it that is worth finding this movie just to see.
So, that's it for me... I'm gonna post this fucker, then hit the sack. If all goes well I may get 5 and a half hours before I have to run out to begin my day of watching Stephen Tobolowsky and David Krumholtz (who I hated in my younger years for being the bastard that got to kiss Wednesday Adams in THE ADAMS FAMILY VALUES) as well as watching a panel with Patton Oswalt and Sarah Silverman. I have such a huge crush on Sarah Silverman it's not even funny. And Patton Oswalt is a hot chunk of man meat in his own right. So I expect to be fully aroused all day. Just thought I'd let you know.
Be back soon with some reviews of Elijah Wood's soccer badboy flick HOOLIGANS, UNLEASHED and Sarah Silverman's flick JESUS IS MAGIC. 'Til then, this is Quint signing off!
-Quint
