Screwed Review
by James Brundage (cnull AT mindspring DOT com)May 14th, 2000
filmcritic.com presents a review from staff member James Brundage.
You can find the review with full credits at
http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/2a460f93626cd4678625624c007f2b46/00749ece25ab063e882568de001da736?OpenDocument
SCREWED
A film review by James Brundage
Copyright 2000 filmcritic.com
filmcritic.com
Rarely does a film like Screwed come across my desk: a film so utterly
easy to insult, from its title on in, that writing the review is an
absolute piece of cake. Somehow, the producers of this film chose the
title Screwed over such options as Ballbusted, Foolproof, and
Pittsburgh, probably hoping to attract a teenage crowd with its
would-been-risque-if-not-for-the-likes-of-S.F.W. title and its screwball
Norm-MacDonald-needs-better-work antics. Sadly, this marketing
technique will probably succeed and result in, well, a lot of people
feeling screwed.
Screwed concerns a butler (Norm MacDonald) and a chicken wing vendor
(David Chapelle) who team up to try to, well, screw a bitter old hag out
of five million dollars. Needless to say, the plan goes south, and the
two have to run all over Pittsburgh (which is obviously not really
Pittsburgh) to get away with their perfect crime. Norm sleeps with some
girl in a bit part that should have been bigger, David convinces good
old Norm to fake his death with the help of a mortician (Danny DeVito),
and all the while we watch the hag bitch and gripe, not really caring
The antics in Screwed are childish, the humor pandering to a sub-human
chord that will resonate with no one with an IQ over 80. Norm MacDonald
once again shows that the pinnacle of his career will most likely be
doing the Weekend Update on SNL (a shtick which has been stolen and
improved upon by “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, a job Norm
MacDonald should campaign for vigorously). David Chapelle shows that
his comedic talents lie in stand up and not physical antics. The
pleasure that Screwed offers is in the supporting role of DeVito, which
is pretty much only a pleasure because watching DeVito in such a darkly
comic role is so very different from the average part you see him
pigeonholed into.
Screwed is the perfect title for this movie if only because, after
watching it, you feel screwed six ways from Sunday by virtue of how
absolutely wretched this pitiful excuse for a film is. Writer-directors
Scott Alexander and Larry Karazewski, the writing team behind Milos
Forman’s last two flicks, Man on the Moon and The People vs. Larry
Flynt, should probably stick to writing other peoples’ movies. Behind
the camera, they prove that directing is not their strong suit, and that
the input that others add to the script proves invaluable to the end
product. Letting them direct, it seems, just gets a lot of people
screwed.
RATING: *1/2
|----------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|--------------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Scott Alexander and Larry Karazewski
Writer: Scott Alexander and Larry Karazewski
Starring: Norm MacDonald, David Chapelle, and Danny DeVito
www.screwedmovie.com
--
Christopher Null - cnull@mindspring.com - http://www.filmcritic.com
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
