A Futile and Stupid Gesture

It's a Wonderful Life except the guy realizes life would have been more fulfilling if he died of a coke overdose about thirty-five years ago. Or he realizes he should have killed Chevy Chase about thirty-five years ago. I'm pretty sure one of those two things is the message of this movie.

Scattered and perfunctory filming of an interesting story hews too closely to the standard "rags to riches to rags" formula and misses the opportunity to really capture the feel of the era, though some of the featured impressions of Chase, Belushi, Murray etc. are good for a few chuckles. Enjoyable as he is, Mull's inclusion narrating as Kenney's "future self" (?) is the most puzzling choice, given Kenney's ultimate fate. Nothing particularly egregious here, but equally nothing memorable.

Not really that good, but it's a hoot to watch all the cameos.

I like Will Forte, but I think biopics might not be his forte, ha-ho zing, I haven't actually seen this

Much like Walk Hard (which is a parody of biographies so it makes sense there) this film cares more about being a comedy than the biography portion. Also like Walk Hard much of the most interesting bits of the movie is seeing who they cast to play certain famous people. It's entertaining to watch but not a must see by any means.

Meh....started out interesting, but was pretty bland throughout the middle. Nothing was laugh out loud in this, but I did enjoy all the cameos and the portrayals of other famous people. Harold Ramis was fucking spot on. Biopics are usually lukewarm for me (check out my "Ray" review for reasons). The irony of Joel McHale playing a younger Chevy Chase was not lost on me.

I completely forgot I watched this. It's fine, I guess, but feels useless.

I don't know if it is just me but Will Forte is always Will Forte. I think it is a bit of a disservice for him to be the lead in a biopic - even one as unconventional as this.

A fun experience for the actors to play their comedic heroes, but not so much for the audience.

Does a good job capturing the deadpan absurdist wasp frat humour of National Lampoon magazine's glory days, which isn't to all tastes. Flat spots in the third act slow the film's earlier breezy momentum.

Anyone looking for a true-to-life, in-depth look into the creation and downfall of National Lampoon is going to want to look past A Futile and Stupid Gesture. But if you want a light, breezy, moderately engaging comedy that tells that story at a surface level of depth, well, it works as that. It'll make you laugh a bit and it'll awe you with its talented cast. It just won't engage you on an emotional or intellectual level, which is something most people like from their biopics.

This movie is right up my alley. I love learning about the history of comedy and I am fascinated with comedy during the sixties. I loved the way they used famous comedians of today to portray the comedians of that era; Martin Mull even points it out. I'm sure that the real events weren't as light-hearted as this movie but then they wouldn't have been as interesting either. I didn't know much about Doug Kenney before watching this movie. I'm glad he was center stage instead of anyone more famous.

Unlike most Biopics it's a Comedy first and foremost. This helps keep things considerably more interesting when the film inevitably wades into more standard Biopic territory. If you're a fan of Will Forte or director David Wain then don't miss this one. Both of them did an outstanding job. Could the film had been a little more in-depth and emotional? Yes, but that's not really the story the filmmakers wanted to tell. What the audience ends up with is probably a better overall film because of it.

It has some funny parts and the most extensive wig collection seen on film since Dangerous Liaisons.

A very engaging film that's equally successful as a biopic and as a comedy. The ending, in particular, is very well done.

Viewed January 26, 2018.

It's pretty light for dealing with a mental illness but it's a fun cast and the dig with McHale playing Chase is pretty classic.

Extremely likeable, but forgettable.

Superficial overview of Kenney and the creation of National Lampoon is structured as a series of major event reels from his life. Consequently, timelines are compressed for the sake of pacing, so we don't really get a sense of what made him tick. Forte tries his best, and there are moments where we feel he is tapping into the personal contradictions that contributed to Kenney's destruction, but the balance between comedy and drama is off, and the attempts at the latter mostly fail to convince.

A touching look at a man who let hubris take power.

I'm a big Forte fan. i think he is one of the more underrated comedic actors our generation has seen so this was enjoyable for me. Does it really work as a biopic? ehhh. but NL didn't always work as a comedy magazine.I never really identified with that generation of comedy but they got some great stuff.There's a certain level of heartbreak that you feel when SNL overtook them but I feel that certain eras of snl are far more radical and dangerous than NL could ever be b/c of the nature of TV

David Wain 6.

Not knowing anything about Doug Kenney or National Lampoon before watching this film, it was, in the end, thoroughly entertaining and enlightening. Loved Gleeson and especially Joel McHale as Chevy Chase. Not as big of a fan of Forte in the lead role. I had no idea how the early years of National Lampoon were shaped, and man, what a glorious time to be alive. What amazing energy must have been present. Will comedy ever again aspire to such lofty heights? Movie was ok, though, no great.

The cast is a real who's who of comedy, playing the who's who of comedy from a generation past. It's probably a little too self-aware, but it's really funny and does do some creative things. I also think this may be my favorite Will Forte role--even though you never forget it's him, he's excellent in this.

Entertaining but found the characters more irritating than funny, especially Forte's character

Funny to start with, got sadder even before the ending

Eh, kind of a disappointment. It's about a landmark in irreverent, satirical comedy but doesn't really succeed on those terms in its own right. Not that it needs to but it seems to be trying that approach and it's just not that funny or lively. It's also not that great of a biopic either, as it just kind of coasts along recreating moments without really digging into Doug Kenney with any depth. Generally well made and amusing but nothing special.

From the perspective of a viewer with a near-zero awareness of the National Lampoon or its history, the film delivers a well paced and expensively staged period comedy as it explores the tragic successes of a skilled, unlikeable comedian and his team.

Not bad.

This film has some interesting moments and it deals with the history of the National Lampoon. Some of the casting is good but some of the actors don't seem like the real life counterparts at all. Overall I would recommend this film.

Lots of puns and humor makes it entertaining. It was also interesting to learn about some of the back story behind the creation of the National Lampoon empire. Two contrary adolescence personalities are driven to market their brand of funny to the world, and the rest is history. I don't know how accurate it was, but it was fast paced, amusing and interesting.

I probably should have turned this off as soon as I realized they weren't going to say anything about George Trow.

good movie

Fair Harvaaaard SHUT IT EGGHEAD

Gets a nice just-this-side-of-insufferable riff-energy going for a while and there are even some insights into a very particular kind of unconsummated romance between nominally straight men, but there's nothing else to distinguish it from the rest of the cursed brood borne of this ever-increasing prominence of comedy, and works about comedy, in the culture, which is awful for the culture and even worse for comedy.

A Futile and Stupid Gesture, nitelikli Netflix filmlerinden. 70'lerde cesur komedi anlayışıyla hem mizah dergisine, hem de sinemaya damga vuran Douglas Kenney mercek altına alınırken, belgesel filme de giren anlatım diliyle oldukça keyifli hale geliyor. Kısa, öz ve yeterince iyi.

More interesting than I could have possibly thought, and Will Forte is surprisingly good in the lead, but the production suffers from the the sort of direct-to-streaming quality that Netflix has become known for.

I guess it was just his personality, but the modern-Doug narrative device (his words, to the film's credit) unfortunately tends to laugh off some of the more disturbing elements of his rise to fame (namely death, drugs, and sexism). Still, it's one of a few fun bits that add some freshness to what is mostly a formulaic (though funny) biopic. Forte and Gleason are great (with a shout-out to McHale's on-point Chevy) and an effectively emotional final scene is a testament to their character work.

I would recommend this solely for those who Love Will Forte. It is over 90 minutes of Forte spitting one-liners which was worth it for me. The story is mediocre as it has the very familiar ebb and flow of a biopic without diving deep enough into Doug Kennedy beyond a few blantent lines. Shouting "I don't want to be a failure" doesn't really cut it as mature dialogue. At least everyone looked like they were having a good time.