We’re into the serious world of high concept now, people. Remember all those struggles D.W. Griffith and Sergei Eisenstein went through to establish cinema as a legitimate art form? Well, this here flick sure makes all those struggles worthwhile. Big Red – midget, former mascot, porn star – dies, and leaves his millions to be fought over by midget-hating son and gold-digging wife. The terms of the battle: each must coach one of the titular teams through a series of ridiculous contests and pranks.
What we have, then, is a mixture of story with would-be outrageous stunts, some real, some staged. In other words, not unlike the work of Sacha Baron Cohen. That is, if you removed every semblance of wit, intelligence and satirical bite from his work, and tossed in Ron Jeremy and Gary Coleman. The film is sophomoric and puerile, which is exactly what it wants to be, but it also works far too hard to get reach those goals. Depressing.
Video
The picture quality certainly captures the mockumentary aesthetic – shot on video, with naturalistic, if rather drab colours. The contrasts are a little dark, too, but again, this is in line with the type of flick this is. Just so you know that you won’t be watching this for the eye candy, then.
Audio
Again, nothing special. Though nominally in 5.1, the surround elements are barely touched, except in the lively-sounding menu. The dialogue is clear enough, though, and the case could certainly be made that an ultra-slick sound mix would run counter to the documentary feel the movie is going for. I guess the problem is that since the film is just not that funny, the drabness of the sound and picture make it even more of a struggle to get through.
Special Features
Deleted Scenes (15:08).
Character Featurettes (17:43): More mockumentary silliness, this time with the cast remaining in character for a mock featurette that extends the joke far too long.
Trailers.
Final Thoughts
If the title has you falling down laughing, then fine, you might get some chuckles out of the piece. Otherwise, run far away.