A Gun Fetishist's Wet Dream

Rating: 6/10 (6 February 2017)

"Deadpool" was billed as a superhero movie for adults. I was skeptical about that claim, because I'm still not convinced that those two terms aren't mutually exclusive. I've seen it now, and as near as I can tell, "adult" really means that it's got a dirtier mouth and more graphic violence, which makes me despair a bit about the state of adulthood in America. But I will say that I enjoyed it much more than any superhero movie in recent memory, because it's actually funny and doesn't take itself seriously. But that's also fairly faint praise, because I've pretty much given up on superhero movies and can't even remember the last one I saw.
Ryan Reynolds can be very funny, but he can also be very annoying, and he's about equal parts both in this film. The movie has a potty mouth that is mostly used to clever and witty effect, and some gratuitous nudity is always a-OK with me. But what kept me from really enjoying this film was the casual violence, much of it played for laughs. I guess this is where the "adult" thing comes in, because I just can't find myself enjoying the gun fetishism in a movie like this. The actual gun problems in the real world are too immediate and too concerning to me to be able to relax into the fantasy of a movie like this, and my stomach curdles at the thought of the whooping and hollering that I have no doubt went on in audiences of this film as the bullets and the blood flew.
And though there was talk, however brief, about this film actually getting some Oscar attention, that talk was ridiculous. Nothing about this movie was that good.
Grade: B-