If you don't like this movie, then **** you

Rating: 6/10 (24 October 2006)

The title of the post is an in-joke for people who've seen the movie, so relax.
I enjoyed this more than Anchorman, even Old School. I enjoyed Old School somewhat although I thought it was infantile at some points and pretty predictable.
This one seems to be a different breed. It only pretends to be stupid. You get some social commentary, people dealing with emotional hang-ups with more depth than most comedies, but not nauseating in an Oprah-esquire way.
The unconventional opening already takes out of garden-variety comedy territory. It almost seems to follow Joseph Campbell's Hero Journey motif which got a lot of press thanks to Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc. Unusual Birth, estranged from father, impressive achievements at an early age, meteoric rise to fame and the like.
But, actually, it all feels pretty natural. If you buy into Campbell's notion of hard-coded archetypes in the psyche, then it at least feels like the script for this movie came out of someone's natural creativity, and not a paint-by-numbers attempt to cash in on the Hero's Journey as a formula.
Most people care about the comedy, and I laughed plenty of times. Many jokes fell flat, but there was always something funny just around the corner. That's just the way it has to be, because there's something about Will Farrel's humor, some extreme ADD quality that makes it beyond random. It's only one step from the ridiculous to the sublime.
The ending provides closure without completely selling out and being afraid to send anyone 100% satisfied. But, you won't care too much - you'll get what you came for.
About 70% of the people in my theater stayed for the outtakes - they wanted more.