This really is a film for the modern cinema audience who think that movies started in 1977 and Seth Rogan is a great comedic talent. Bafflingly showered with praise by American critics when it was released there a month or so ago, it is puerile, pretentious nonsense.
It stars Paul Dano as Hank, a man stranded on a desert island ready to commit suicide. Just as he is about to do that, a dead body washes up on the beach and he goes to investigate. When Daniel Radcliffe’s corpse (Manny) start to break wind profusely, Hank has the idea of using him like a jet ski, propelling them both along by the methane Manny emits. Washed up on another beach, it seems that Hank just has to navigate through some woods to get back to civilisation. He decides to take Manny with him.
For the first 20 minutes the “jokes” just consist of Manny noisily farting. I found it extremely tiresome, but I have to say large chunks of the audience in the cinema were in hysterics every time he parped. After becoming reanimated, Manny is aroused by a Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition so we then get another 20 minutes of erection and masturbation gags. At that point, I would gladly have stepped into the noose that Hank had fashioned earlier, but again others were rolling in the aisles.
It is at this stage, the writer/directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert decide to inject some profundity into the story but I found their efforts to be crass and embarrassing. From their IMDB profiles they both look like unbearable hipsters, and I am making a note to avoid their work in the future.
In a year when we have had the truly offensive Dirty Grandpa and the astonishingly inept Point Break, this isn’t the worst film of the year, but it is close.
Rating: 2.5 out of 10