Oh it's funny. But it's not great.

Rating: 6/10 (14 July 2013)

I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy myself watching this movie. It's pretty hilarious at times, and in a few parts quite well written/ad-libbed. But this only lasts for about half the movie. Once the cabin fever starts really heating up, the movie takes a turn that is far too strange and unneeded for it to be funny, or for it to work. It becomes a big mess of good one-liners and shocks, but no real substance or wit any more. There are a few excellent sequences, like Franco's almost-ascension, and a cameo from a brilliantly surprising actor as a gimp, but really the film totally lost its magic for the last half-hour at least. Much of the movie, regardless of its sometimes unnecessary absurdity, is like watching a video put together by a group of great friends, who you don't know at all. Much of the charm comes from the group's in-jokes, which are funny when they appear in films like Knocked Up, Funny People, etc (most Apatow movies), but they fall flat and get irritating in a two-hour-long movie. They're a great group of comedians, who can deliver some good laughs. But without structure, without real substance, they just can't pull together a whole movie. It's funny, it's somewhat entertaining, but overall it is severely disappointing.