Don your nautical themed pashmina afghans and join me on a ride of pure ridiculousness. If you thought “I’m on a Boat” was funny for any reason, then watch this film. The basic premise of the movie is that Andy Samberg plays a man-child wannabe stunt-man who wants to raise the conveniently priced $50,000 the save his dying macho step father so that he can finally kick his ass. Oh, and to win the girl.
With half the soundtrack dedicated to the montage inducing power rock of Europe, and the other half professionally scored and performed by a large orchestra, the film takes the job of being ridiculous very seriously. And it succeeds. The setups are self aware, but they are more like a wink from across the room than a hard shove from behind (yes, I’m looking at you Dance Flick, Not Another Teen Movie, and Scary Movie 18) because the performers follow the adage of playing the comedy straight. I mean, as straight as you can when you are throwing bodies into, through and over swimming pools, trailer hitches, and 15 buses, respectively. But unlike the sophomoric injury humor of Jackass, no one here gets hurt, at least not physically. Especially when they have metal objects jutting out of their eyes.
Don’t expect the touching moments of a typical Apatow or Mottola film and buy into the silly this is selling and you will laugh out loud. The plot points may be by the numbers, but the jokes know how dumb they are and how to revel in that foolery. And also, who knew that jokes were self away? Why was I not told of this? I won’t stand for it. But I will stand to recommend this movie.