Nerdland
Samuel Goldwyn Films
While I didn’t find this film all that funny, or particularly interesting, there are some positive attributes in this Paul Rudd/Patton Oswalt vehicle. For one thing the film was directed by Adult Swim maven Chris Prynoski (Motorcity, Metalpocalypse, and Superjail!) who has previously blurred the line between absurdist satire and all-out crass humor. This film was written by Seven screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, and some that film’s themes pop up, including becoming famous through infamy. There’s no shortage of strange, unneeded, and disgusting themes to this story of trying to find fame in Los Angeles, and if that’s what you enjoy, perhaps you can find something affable in this torrid tale.
The film centers on two losers who want to become a famous actor and screenwriter. Their thirtieth birthdays arrive and they still haven’t made it in Tinsel town, so they decide that they will become famous that very day. Fame, or more commonly infamy, is an attainable goal in today’s Internet obsessed culture, so they try a variety of stunts to claim that fame. First they try to get exposure, then become a viral video, and finally turn to lives of crime. The story for this film has been pitched in multiple forms, including as a show, series of shorts, and a live action movie, which I believe would have been much better.If the execution was a little better, or the writing a tad less crass, this might have been a solid film.
Prynoski’s animation style includes blunt lines, bright red and yellow colorings, and ugly obscure faces. What’s alluring about the film is how grotesque and nauseating it looks. It looks weird, but the good kind of weird, the kind that sucks you in and lets you empathize with the lowest common denominator that this world has to offer. The writing of Prynoski’s shows often vibes well with that style and creates memorable if uncultured characters. Here we just get one-dimensional sleazy everymen, with little to no absurdist humor. Being gross is one thing, but doing so just for the sake of plot is ridiculous, especially when Prynoski relies on character to push the action in his other properties. The best aspect of this film is probably that it’s so short and doesn’t drag out its boring ending any longer than it had to.
