Review of C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2005) by B B — 24 Mar 2008

It tries too hard to be funny, when it would have been funnier to play it straight and let the disparity between reality and alternate reality create the humor. The filmmakers are not adept at emulation, making the mock commercials and staged historical events stick out like amaturish thumbs.

It does present some interesting alternate realities that feel genuinely clever in concept. In execution, the desire to be funny ruins most of them. "The Cotton Curtain" sticks out as one of the big offenders. Other ideas are simply carried too far beyond believability, such as the CSA conquering the entirety of South America. It began promising enough, with the Confederacy being interested in bringing back America's expansionist manifest destiny, but 2 continents of empire is moronic.

The ending note with one of the alternate reality's answer to the Kennedy family being revealed as secretly black is insultingly dumb. It's dumb as a part of their own mythology, it's dumb as a part of a screenplay, it's dumb because it is inappropriately presented for a supposed documentary.