Review of Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012) by Krista L — 01 Feb 2012

DEE OH BEE EYE YES.

PEE ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim(er) are two of the best modern comedians out there right now. While other comedians are sticking to what is popular, Tim and Eric prefer satirizing social mores and making a really odd form of black comedy to accompany their sketches. In a way, that doesn't necessarily mesh together with what we commonly know as humor. It comes across as a form of anti-comedy.

However, unlike Andy Kaufman and his trolling, Tim and Eric use their anti-comedy to subvert comedy tropes and all sorts of cliches buried within the recesses of pop culture. Hell, that's the gist of "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" and it's definitely the entire theme of Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie. A movie lampooning the dustiness of the underdog story, the emotionally trite laziness of sick and/or orphaned kids, the overuse of romantic comedy, and the general naivete of Hollywood itself and its reluctance to be "real" in anyway, Tim and Eric go over-the-top and hit you where it hurts in making fun of everything we've taken for granted.

Now, I've heard critiques of this film. Some people say "oh my god the show was split into sketches - this isn't therefore it must be spotty" while others claim that the story is shit. Well, having seen quite a few episodes of Tim and Eric, I can safely say that the story is supposed to be shit. After all, Tim and Eric are taking on Hollywood by giving it what it wants: a terrible, cliched story about two guys who open a mall. However, they place in enough absurdity, awkwardness, and discontinuity that instead of just being a cliched underdog tale, Billion Dollar Movie ends up becoming the Irreversible of comedy: radically defining everything that film can do within a certain genre.

So, what's the fuss? Well, Tim and Eric implement gross-out humor quite a bit in this film, so some people have picked on that (and, alas, Freddy Got Fingered, itself a satirical/trolldom masterpiece about Hollywood norms and its consequences on the modern American psyche). However, they HAVE NOT OBVIOUSLY SEEN "Awesome Show," which is chock full of goofy sound effects, cheap editing presets, and (most importantly) the sick and twisted gross-out humor found in this very film. It's nothing new - it's Tim and Eric doing what Tim and Eric do. They can do more things, but at the same time, I've seen ridiculous sex scenes in their show before. I've seen body parts being flung off in the show. I haven't seen a penis getting pierced though. Maybe they were keeping us on our toes and giving us something to make fun of Hollywood's affinity for sex (or lack thereof).

Plotwise, this film is incredibly simple: Tim and Eric make an extremely ambitious movie for $1 billion, itself a take on the ambitious directors of New Hollywood who completely destroy their integrity by getting into blockbusters (looking at you, Spielberg and Lucas). However, they can only get three minutes of salvageable footage, having spent their money on ridiculous exaggerated celebrity cliches (like the big "pay me a billion dollars to act in your movie" that happens all the time). With that, our two idiot heroes go off and try to earn their money back by doing the first thing that comes to their minds: trying to reopen a dead mall. With that, they meet the usual Awesome Show lot: Taquito (John C. Reilly), an odd mix of Steve Brule and David Liebe Hart who's the former owner's son; Katie (Twink Caplan), Eric's very poorly-developed love interest and object of desire; and Jeffrey (Noah Spencer), your usual would-be orphan kid.

Good things: the satire really works. Like most of what Abso Lutely produces, it's very high on satirical content. It will make you feel sick at times and it will annoy you, but it still has a very valid feel to it - as if Tim and Eric are communicating something very important than just "look at us do stupid shit." In that sense, it gives Freddy Got Fingered the prestige it deserves. However, it also cements the reality that Tim and Eric are the Kurt Vonneguts of our generation - they create their own worlds and make fun of ours through their proxy. Also, with the satire, even the annoying bits of comedy are funny. It's either so-bad-it's-good or pure hilarity for the most part.

Bad things: I wish they could've sped the film up a tad. Then again, slow-as-fuck films are common-place in Hollywood. And for the most part, the film flew by quite a bit. Didn't notice that I watched this until 1:50 am. I gotta go to sleep soon - I have a fuckton of classes and I can't sleep in at all. This is just nitpicking - nothing truly terrible. The humor's still perfect, the acting's still insane, and the film is just right with that Tim and Eric touch.

Just watch the film, alright? Take it as a sign of gratitude from Dobis P.R.

A+.