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Jun 23, 2008

PSA: A film you need to see

My friend Daniel recently wrote a post about a theater in his native Minneapolis that had been showing In Bruges up until very recently. He was amazed, that in this day and age where hundreds of new releases hit theaters each year, that a film so seemingly small could stay in one place for 19+ weeks. As you can see in the post comments, it was a sentiment that was shared by many folks across the United States, with readers chiming in to let him know how long the film had been playing in their neck of the woods, and of other films with abundantly long theatrical stays.

It was then, with a heavy heart, that I was reminded of a movie that enjoyed an all-too brief run in theaters this year: the stoner comedy Strange Wilderness. Featuring an all-star cast (Steve Zahn, Jonah Hill, Justin Long, etc.), the zany comedy managed a scant take of less than seven million dollars, all in a run of little more than a month. All this for a major motion picture released by Paramount Pictures - what has the world come to?

I can not be clear enough: Strange Wilderness is a film that must be seen by everyone. Crossing into genres comedies previously were afraid to breach and featuring performances unseen in modern cinema, Wilderness is an epic in humorocity that will go down in the annals of comedic cinematic lore along with Airplane! and Caddyshack. No golden cows are spared, no viewer left unslayed.

The good news in all this is that, although you missed your chance to get Strange on the big screen (where it ideally would be seen), it's not too late to taste the exquisite pleasures of Zahn, Hill and company - Wilderness hit DVD shelves on May 20th. Though, if your patient, I'm sure that the movie gods will see to it that this fine film lives on in the form of cult showings a la The Rocky Horror Picture Show, sporadically finding a home in theaters for decades to come.

Here's my original review. In case you forgot, the rating looked kinda like this:

Fletch's Film Rating:

"You're the best...around!"


Note: this post was a part of Lazy Eye Theatre's Bizarro Blog-a-thon. Whatever you do, don't click on the link or the picture.


11 people have chosen wisely: on "PSA: A film you need to see"

Adam Frazier said...

one of the worst movies ever made - I mean, uh, best?

Moviehole, the site that I write for, is based out of Australia so my "boss" there sent me the clip. Pretty cool right?

Anonymous said...

Didn't get me for a second there. It doesn't start...

Clive Dangerously said...

Oh, I fell for it... The whole time, I was thinking, "Wait, didn't I read a nasty review for this months ago? Hmph, musta been another site.."

Then, BAM!

Anonymous said...

You should be tarred and feathered for even mentioning this movie again! I just smacked myself for even calling it a "movie". I really think someone took a rhino turd, smeared it on some film, and then photoshopped a few famous guys pictures on it!

Daniel said...

It was shocking to me that nobody brought up Strange Wilderness in that discussion. I did my best to keep it playing in theaters. In fact I brought along a group of friends to the very last showing in hopes that theater management would stick it to the man and keep Strange Wilderness on non-stop cycle for another two weeks. Unfortunately it didn't work. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out.

(By the way, I hope the "friend" mention isn't bizarro language...)

Fletch said...

@ Adam - Again, that's really cool. Lucky that he noticed. Who knows, we might have been blurbed hundreds of times by now! ;)

@ cinex - What do you mean by "It doesn't start..."? Lost me there.

@ Clive - glad I got somebody. :)

@ Monkeyface - Rhino turd may just be a compliment...

@ Daniel - I know I for one was shocked. I'm glad you pleaded your case on behalf of fine film everywhere.

Haha - I didn't think of that about the "friend" term. Then again, people might be suspicious if I said that I was reading something on my "enemy's" or "nemesis' blog."

Nick said...

You would have had me had I not scrolled down and seen the 'Bizarro' button. But pretty funny stuff there :P .

robkroese said...

Well, you fooled me right up until I saw Bizarro.

I watched Fritz Lang's Metropolis last night. It was so awesome that I watched it on TiVo on fast forward. Really great stuff, and not slow or ham-fisted at all.

elgringo said...

Just like Diesel, I was reading this post and thinking "who the hell is this guy and how did figure out how to use a computer?" Then I thought, "well, maybe I'm really wrong about this movie.."

Damn you for making me second guess myself. :)

Fletch said...

Me fail English? That's unpossible!

Glad I got some of you. :)

PIPER said...

Thanks Fletch,

I have saved up my money and been able to track down a 35 mm cut of this. I'm renting out a theater and playing just for the family because of this review. It only costs about $12,000 to do this, but hey it's that great of a movie. And I need to see it on the big screen to really appreciate it.