Funny, but simply too long

Rating: 6/10 (18 November 2015)

Oh, those silly little minions. They're sort of like modern-day Smurfs, only funny. Though I haven't seen the Despicable Me movies, it's not hard to see the minions contributed a great deal to the films' popularity, so it was just a matter of time before they'd get their own film. After all, Minions is a dream come true for everyone wanting more minions. While this film is obviously Slapstick Central, that's also its biggest flaw.
We're treated to the history of the minions as they travel from one age to the next in search of a Boss to serve, an evil mastermind worthy of their service. After accidentally killing the Dinosaurs and the Egyptians, they hide in a cave on what I think is the North Pole. They build their little village and there was much rejoicing. But...they felt something was missing. Slowly but surely, the minions got bored since they didn't have a villain to serve. That's when one of the minions, Kevin, got an idea: he'll venture out into the wild with a few volunteers to find an evil mastermind. The two volunteers are Stuart who literally doesn't know what he's getting himself into, but is excited because others are excited, and Bob, basically useless but excited. Their travels lead them to New York, Orlando, in the lair of super-villain Scarlet Overkill and eventually England.
Unsurprisingly, it's the minions that are the biggest source of humor. A lot of detail went into their interactions with the world and each other. The presence of a lot - perhaps too much - slapstick isn't surprising. What is surprising are the number of in-jokes and cultural references, some of them quite clever. I liked the British Police officers who pour tea into their cups even when they're in a high-speed chase. Also cute is when several minions try to get to England and end up on what appears to be the moon...which is eventually revealed to be a set where the fake moon landing is being shot, oh snap!
The downside is that, like all slapstick, you quickly reach the limit of how much you can take. I like Laurel and Hardy, but I've usually had my fill after an hour and a half. Minions thankfully intersperses its slapstick with a lot of cultural references, like the ones mentioned above, but yet another minion crashing into an immovable object quickly loses its potency after about 90 minutes. The same goes for the villain, Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), who I just couldn't get into. She and her partner(-in-crime) Herb (Jon Hamm) have some funny interplay, but her antics get old real quick.
It takes a particular kind of person to step into Minions and be surprised with the end result. You know what you're getting yourself into: minions, minions, slapstick, and even more minions. (Did I mention the minions?) While the slapstick got old after a while (your mileage may vary though), the in-jokes and cultural references add to the film's durability.