Review of A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018) by Dangerfar — 26 Jan 2018

Sharp and quippy, AFASG rides the rails of an interesting life as it helped wind up the American Lampoonery that would drive much of comedy for the next several decades. It's best comedic moments come as a product of quick-witted banter delivered with perfect deadpan panache by Forte.

An array of present stars playing older stars is fun to watch, and the directorial style and cadence manages to be both novel and familiar at the same time. Its moments of levity are better than its moments of weight, where it sometimes falters under a familiar and probably heavily pushed downward spiral.

And we've seen this arc before. We've seen funny and charming protagonists suffer under the weight of their own egos on drugs in the 70s, and we've seen successful individuals tortured by being the wrong sibling and never feeling as though they live up to their parents' expectations.

But, well, it's of course fitting in this case (at least the drug-fueled self-berating part seems confirmed), and was indeed an oft-repeating tale. "The happiest days I've ever ignored" makes for a fitting punchline to a comedic tragedy such a this, a reminder of our frequent insistence on depression and self-destruction in the face of beauty and joy.

I didn't know much about Kenny prior to watching this movie, and after watching it I can't help feeling like from what I saw it's the kind of movie he would want to have made about himself. Irreverent, cheeky, and fun, with the man who took everything and nothing far too seriously at the center.

A futile and stupid gesture maybe, but an amusing one, and sometimes that's all we really need.