Film Review: Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

Film Review: Freddy Got Fingered (2001) | Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

Film critics, despite all of their snobbish claims to the contrary, are reflection of general society and, especially in today’s era of social networks, might feature some of its more annoying trends. Like edgelords of Internet, some of them apparently take try to bring attention to themselves by espousing contrarian views about films with reputation previously built on the broadest possible consensus. This might explain attempts to rehabilitate Freddy Got Fingered, 2001 comedy directed by Tom Green, which is generally considered one of the worst films ever made.

Green, who also co-wrote the script with Derek Harvie, stars as the protagonist, 28-year aspiring and misunderstood artist Gordon “Gord” Brody. His dream to start career as author of animated films in Los Angeles ends disastrously, so he is forced to return to his parents home in Portland, Oregon. There he is constantly disparaged by his father Jim (played by Rip Torn), who wants him to abandon his artistic ambitions and follow example of his younger brother Freddy (played by Eddie Kaye Thomas), who has found boring but secure job in bank. Gord, however, instead of job finds inspiration to again pursue his drreeams and it comes in form of physically disabled girl Betty Menger (played by Marisa Coughlan). This leads to inevitable showdown with father, whom Gord tries to convince to allow him to choose his own path in life.

Canadian comedian Tom Green became famous in 1990s with The Tom Green Show, sketch comedy show which aired on MTV and owed much of its success to humour being tailored for US teenagers. When those teenagers began to grow up, Green’s brand humour suddenly began to look less funny to them and Green’s career took major plunge, especially after few attempts to reach stardom on big screen. To say that Green doesn’t have talent for films would be an understatement. In case of Road Trip, made one year earlier, he managed to wreck entire film despite being merely a supporting player. With Freddy Got Fingered, which he co-wrote and directed, there was nothing to hide Green’s lack of talent and taste. Most of the gags are deliberately “edgy” and include sexual abuse and mutilation of children. This could have been tolerable, if those scenes were competently directed or were at least somewhat funny. In Freddy Got Fingered this isn’t the case and what was supposed to funny is simply revolting, and when the film isn’t revolting, it is insufferably boring, making it last like eternity instead of its actual running time of 87 minutes. Almost completely destroyed by critics and rejected by audience, this film became one of the worst Hollywood fiascos of early 21st Century, cementing its reputation with eight Razzies. Its fate probably wasn’t that surprising if we consider that Green, either consciously or subconsciously, made sure that Freddy Got Fingered becomes the closest thing Hollywood ever came to adapting Hitler’s Mein Kampf into live feature film.

RATING: 1/10 (--)