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Released by: Magnolia Films
Released on: May 8, 2012.
Director: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim
Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, Jeff Goldblum, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
After five seasons on Adult Swim, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, the duo behind Tim And Eric Awesome Show Great Job bring their bizarre brand of humor to the big screen in this, their feature film debut. The movie begins with a message from the Schlaaang Corporation, hosted by Chef Goldblum (Jeff Goldblum), that informs us about their special movie watching chair, the kind that locks your legs into stirrups and puts a breathing tube up your nose to properly immerse you in the film before the movie itself starts. From there we see a movie that Tim and Eric, more or less playing themselves here, have made - it's three minutes of a Johnny Depp impersonator wandering around Paris in a diamond suit. The man who bankrolled this film, Tommy Schlaaang (Robert Loggia), is not happy about this and demands that they give him his one billion dollars back - but it's too late, they've spent all the money on makeovers, a fancy house, and a guru (Zach Galifianakis) named Jim Joe Kelly who gives them advice and spiritual guidance for $500,000.00 a day.
Unfortunately, the money is gone - so rather than deal with the problem Tim and Eric decide to heat to the Circus Disco to do loads of drugs, get drunk and get a cock piercing or two and it's here that they see a TV commercial where a man named Damien Weebs (Will Ferrell) will pay someone one billion dollars to run his mall. They figure this is their golden ticket and start their own PR company called DOBIS and promptly gallop out to the S'Wallow Valley Mall to meet with the gun toting weirdo who introduces them to a sick orphan named Taquito (John C. Reilly) and basically leaves them on their own to sort all of this out. The mall is in shambles and is populated by squatters and a large man-eating wolf, but there are a few interesting tenants still holding on: there's the grouchy Allen Bishopmen (Will Forte) who runs a sword store, kindly middle aged Katie (Twink Kaplan) who runs a celebrity lookalike balloon kiosk and who will prove to be the love of Eric's life, and of course Dr. Doone Struts (Ray Wise) who runs the Shrim Healing Center. Oh, and there just might be a ghost called The Yogurt Man haunting the yogurt stand, so they've got that to contend with as well. Tommy Schlaaang, however, is still on the hunt and if he can't get his money back from Tim and Eric, he's going to kill their mothers. Maybe the janitor who used to run the used toilet paper store can help, if Tim doesn't piss him off by stealing his son…
It that all sounds reasonably insane, you're not far off the mark but those familiar with the duo's TV show would expect nothing less. The movie isn't as consistently hilarious as the show is, probably because, as stated, their material seems to work better in short sporadic bursts and isn't quite as suited for feature length but for the most part they make it work. There's just enough of a story here to keep us interested in what happens and Katie makes for a nice enough character that even if Tim and Eric come across as complete dolts we at least care about what happens to her. Let's be honest though, this isn't the type of movie you go to for character development, you watch something like this because you want crazy antics, screwy set pieces and wacky jokes.
On that level, the movie delivers - there's no shortage of absurdity here, and the film rewards those who pay attention to the little things by placing a lot of just completely random nonsense, albeit very funny completely random nonsense, in the background. Supporting characters and bit part players are frequently just as funny as Tim and Eric are and often times more for how they don't react to things than for what they actually do. Examples? James Quall (who fans of the TV show will recognize) doing a horrible standup comedy routine about nothing but bread, Dr. Doone Struts's healing methods involving a bathtub full of 'Shrim' shit out the asses of his six sons who eat only the softest meats, and a sex scene between two characters involving horrible tongue kissing sound effects and a dildo strapped to a forehead - among quite a few others. The film has no trouble earning its R rating.
The film drags a bit in the middle but moves towards a fun, if somewhat predictable, conclusion. There isn't a whole lot of substance here, but there doesn't need to be - it's not that type of movie.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Tim And Eric's Billion Dollar Movie looks surprisingly good in this AVC encoded 1.78.1 widescreen 1080p high definition presentation. The low-fi cable access look of the TV show is carried over to some of the opening jokes but once the storyline itself starts, the image is sharp and colorful throughout, showing good detail and nice black levels. There are bits and pieces throughout the movie made to look like VHS inserts, it's all part of the joke, but most of the material, shot in high def, is impressive looking and it shows a lot more detail than you might actually want it to at times. Shrim!
The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix is also quite good and while long stretches of it are fairly front heavy, the rears kick in often enough that there are plenty of surprisingly immersive moments in the movie to geek out over. Dialogue is clean and clear, the levels are well balanced save for a few bits that are intentionally pumped up a bit for comedic effect, and the score and sound effects all sound appropriately weird. Optional English closed captioning is provided as are Spanish subtitles.
Extras are plentiful and generally as berserk as the feature starting with a commentary track from Tim and Eric who offer what is actually a really interesting mix of factual information and their own oddball trademark comedy. Yes, there's quite a bit of joking around here and what not, as you'd expect, but they also manage to tell some interesting stories about how this project came together and what it was like trying to take their style of comedy, which really is tailor made for short bursts, and trying to turn it into a feature film. Definitely worth a listen.
From there, cruise through the featurettes starting with the eight minute Good Evening S'Wallow Valley which is a hilarious 'behind the scenes' style segment including cast and crew interviews and on set footage all done Tim and Eric style. It's pretty funny and worth a watch - a little more irritating is a twenty-three minute Interview With Tim And Eric in which the pair sits down in an empty theater to offer their thoughts on what it was like making a billion dollar movie. This one gets tedious. It's funny in spots but a lot of the time it just sort of rambles on, while a four minute HD Net: A Look At Tim And Eric's Billion Dollar Movie is little more than a glorified trailer for the feature.
Rounding out the extras are eight minutes of deleted scenes, seventeen minutes of extended scenes, two trailers for the feature, two still galleries, four promo spots shown on Adult Swim, previews for a few other Magnolia properties, and the Shrim Dance screensaver which plays the Shrim dance from the movie over and over and over again for hours. Menus and chapter stops are also included and the disc fits neatly inside a Blu-ray case which in turn fits neatly inside a slipcase with identical cover art.
The Final Word:
If you weren't a fan of Tim And Eric Awesome Show Great Job, this movie isn't going to change your mind, but it's pretty safe to say that if you dug the show, you'll dig the movie. Yes, it is more linear than the show ever was and has more of a narrative too, but the movie still has that same 'love it or hate it' kind of lunatic humor even if it is slightly more refined here than it has been in the past. Magnolia has done a pretty bang up job on the Blu-ray - it looks and sounds very good and contains a pretty selection of extra features too - definitely recommended for fans, and be sure to watch it all the way through the end credits for an appropriately Gross finale.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
