50 reviews
There were times we had some good laughs, but this really didn't need to be a film. The penguin footage had so little to do with what the comics were saying most of the time that it just got stupid after a while. It would have been just as good as an audio CD, maybe better.
If the comics had really LOOKED at the footage as they riffed, and if the editing were a little more creative, Farce of the Penguins would have been great. As it is, the comic timing of the voices got thrown off by what the penguins were doing, and vice versa.
The only reason I'm getting this for my video rental shop is that I think the advertising will make customers ask for it.
If the comics had really LOOKED at the footage as they riffed, and if the editing were a little more creative, Farce of the Penguins would have been great. As it is, the comic timing of the voices got thrown off by what the penguins were doing, and vice versa.
The only reason I'm getting this for my video rental shop is that I think the advertising will make customers ask for it.
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
A made for video spoof of March of the Penguins, with Samuel L Jackson taking over narrating duties with a much sharper tone, a much sassier attitude and a much fouler mouth!
Some recent spoofs that have hit the cinemas, including Epic Movie and Date Movie, have been rather below par, so I thought there might be some hope with this video spoof of 2005's renowned documentary March of the Penguins. It looked inspired enough, right down to Jackson doing the voice-over, his harsh, commanding voice in contrast to Morgan Freeman's soft, gentle delivery in the proper film. But, really, that's all that is funny, the concept of the film. Or rather, how ridiculous the idea of talking penguins is. Not just talking penguins, farting penguins, penguins that get into arguments with the narrator, penguins that swear and talk like they're from Da Getto, and penguins that, well, make idiots of themselves. The material is sadly just not funny enough to rise it above the absurdity of the story, but there are, to be fair, worser spoofs out there at the moment and considering how cheaply it's all been put together (one penguin even jokes about hating appearing in this "stock footage filled piece of crap!") that's actually quite an achievement. **
A made for video spoof of March of the Penguins, with Samuel L Jackson taking over narrating duties with a much sharper tone, a much sassier attitude and a much fouler mouth!
Some recent spoofs that have hit the cinemas, including Epic Movie and Date Movie, have been rather below par, so I thought there might be some hope with this video spoof of 2005's renowned documentary March of the Penguins. It looked inspired enough, right down to Jackson doing the voice-over, his harsh, commanding voice in contrast to Morgan Freeman's soft, gentle delivery in the proper film. But, really, that's all that is funny, the concept of the film. Or rather, how ridiculous the idea of talking penguins is. Not just talking penguins, farting penguins, penguins that get into arguments with the narrator, penguins that swear and talk like they're from Da Getto, and penguins that, well, make idiots of themselves. The material is sadly just not funny enough to rise it above the absurdity of the story, but there are, to be fair, worser spoofs out there at the moment and considering how cheaply it's all been put together (one penguin even jokes about hating appearing in this "stock footage filled piece of crap!") that's actually quite an achievement. **
- wellthatswhatithinkanyway
- May 19, 2007
- Permalink
In 2005, "March of the Penguins", the award-winning documentary about the treacherous lives of emperor penguins in Antarctica, was released, and that was the year I saw it. It was definitely eye-opening for me, since I had no clue how rough those penguins had it! Since then, for quite some time, I've been aware of the title, "Farce of the Penguins", but didn't see it for a while. This is a direct-to-DVD send-up of the 2005 documentary, with real stock footage of penguins and sometimes other wildlife, put together to make a story, with dialogue added. This could have turned out to be a really good film if it was actually funny, which it unfortunately isn't.
Down in Antarctica, the male penguins are on their long journey to the breeding grounds, where the females are waiting for them. Two of these male penguins are Carl and Jimmy, best friends who talk a lot about relationships (including past ones), and other things, on their way to their destination. Meanwhile, as the females wait, there's also a lot of talk about sexual relationships back at the breeding grounds, especially between Melissa and Vicki. Carl and Melissa are both longing for a lover, and have yet to meet each other. Eventually, after the males finally make it to their destination and meet the females, Carl and Melissa soon fall in love. However, Carl and Jimmy's friendship gets awkward after Jimmy accidentally has sex with Melissa one night in the dark while she is asleep and he feels something soft!
Basically, "Farce of the Penguins" has the same problem as many other modern comedies. Two words that can be used to describe the humour in this spoof are crude and juvenile. Some of these comedies can be described as crude, juvenile, and FUNNY, while some can only be described as crude and juvenile. Sadly, this is one of the latter. The film is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, and during the opening narration, he says some very unfunny, juvenile things about growing your pubic hairs if you want to come to Antarctica. There are definitely a lot of sex jokes in the film, which includes clips of various animals having sex put in for laughs, and these sex jokes don't tend to be funny. Another thing, you guessed it, there are some fart jokes, which are also lame. It seems the juvenile gags were just thrown in, and could have been a lot funnier if it actually took some comedic talent to come up with them. Not only is the humour severely lacking, the plot is also dull, it never improves along the way.
This is definitely NOT the worst spoof movie I've ever seen. The worst spoof movie I've ever seen is definitely "Epic Movie", made by the infamous Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. I haven't seen any of Friedberg and Seltzer's other recent films, but they could easily be just as bad, so I'm not going to bother watching any of them, and if they were the ones who made "Farce of the Penguins", I'm sure it would have been worse (perhaps MUCH worse) than it turned out to be with Bob Saget as the writer and director. However, this spoof of the 2005 hit documentary on the lives of emperor penguins in their frigid habitat is still pretty lame, and it's probably a good thing it wasn't played in theatres, since that probably would have given it more undeserved attention. As a direct-to-DVD release, it seems to have been widely ignored, which is actually not a bad thing.
Down in Antarctica, the male penguins are on their long journey to the breeding grounds, where the females are waiting for them. Two of these male penguins are Carl and Jimmy, best friends who talk a lot about relationships (including past ones), and other things, on their way to their destination. Meanwhile, as the females wait, there's also a lot of talk about sexual relationships back at the breeding grounds, especially between Melissa and Vicki. Carl and Melissa are both longing for a lover, and have yet to meet each other. Eventually, after the males finally make it to their destination and meet the females, Carl and Melissa soon fall in love. However, Carl and Jimmy's friendship gets awkward after Jimmy accidentally has sex with Melissa one night in the dark while she is asleep and he feels something soft!
Basically, "Farce of the Penguins" has the same problem as many other modern comedies. Two words that can be used to describe the humour in this spoof are crude and juvenile. Some of these comedies can be described as crude, juvenile, and FUNNY, while some can only be described as crude and juvenile. Sadly, this is one of the latter. The film is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, and during the opening narration, he says some very unfunny, juvenile things about growing your pubic hairs if you want to come to Antarctica. There are definitely a lot of sex jokes in the film, which includes clips of various animals having sex put in for laughs, and these sex jokes don't tend to be funny. Another thing, you guessed it, there are some fart jokes, which are also lame. It seems the juvenile gags were just thrown in, and could have been a lot funnier if it actually took some comedic talent to come up with them. Not only is the humour severely lacking, the plot is also dull, it never improves along the way.
This is definitely NOT the worst spoof movie I've ever seen. The worst spoof movie I've ever seen is definitely "Epic Movie", made by the infamous Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. I haven't seen any of Friedberg and Seltzer's other recent films, but they could easily be just as bad, so I'm not going to bother watching any of them, and if they were the ones who made "Farce of the Penguins", I'm sure it would have been worse (perhaps MUCH worse) than it turned out to be with Bob Saget as the writer and director. However, this spoof of the 2005 hit documentary on the lives of emperor penguins in their frigid habitat is still pretty lame, and it's probably a good thing it wasn't played in theatres, since that probably would have given it more undeserved attention. As a direct-to-DVD release, it seems to have been widely ignored, which is actually not a bad thing.
- Beta_Gallinger
- Nov 10, 2008
- Permalink
When I first started this movie I had high hopes. The first five minutes seemed quite funny with Samuel L. Jackson's narration and the promising all-star cast. I assumed the reason few people liked this was because it had a sort of "stupid" sense of humor as seen in movies like Kung Pow that few people appreciated. Unfortunately, even with so many big names in this movie, it was difficult to find any humor at all in this.
The majority of the movie revolved around Bob Saget and Lewis Black's characters chatting back and forth about walking far and finding a mate. What made the movie bad wasn't its juvenile sense of humor, but rather the lack of overall jokes. What was shown was simply Bob Saget reenacting his job as host of America's Funniest Home Videos when he used to provide voiceovers to the five second clips in order to make them only slightly more amusing. But considering there isn't much amusing about penguins in the first place, Saget couldn't do much to make it funnier than the thoughts everyone with any sense of humor whatsoever was thinking while watching March of the Penguins.
I'll admit that the horrid editing didn't make me dislike the movie as much as the humor, but it is definitely worth mentioning that it had to have been done by someone with no real experience in the editing field. For example, when one penguin farts in the movie, a large transparent red circle appears near it. I don't know what the editor was trying to do to make the fart more visible by using a red circle. Had they added in something like a green colored gas effect, it would have been more appealing. Another example is how some of the clips blatantly reverse themselves to stay on screen while the actors talk. Very little effort was put into this movie, though considering how little the makers had to do (Nearly all the footage was cheap stock footage), they must have made a fortune by spending so little money on this.
The reason I didn't give this a score of 1 was because I'll admit that I did laugh a few times, and I appreciate that the movie recognized itself as a bad movie, like when penguins from the March of the Penguins scoff at how dumb the humor is, when the writers are depicted as a monkey banging on a typewriter, and when Samuel L. Jackson apologizes for not having the budget to make the penguins' mouths move. Still, I would not recommend this movie to anyone, regardless of their sense of humor.
The majority of the movie revolved around Bob Saget and Lewis Black's characters chatting back and forth about walking far and finding a mate. What made the movie bad wasn't its juvenile sense of humor, but rather the lack of overall jokes. What was shown was simply Bob Saget reenacting his job as host of America's Funniest Home Videos when he used to provide voiceovers to the five second clips in order to make them only slightly more amusing. But considering there isn't much amusing about penguins in the first place, Saget couldn't do much to make it funnier than the thoughts everyone with any sense of humor whatsoever was thinking while watching March of the Penguins.
I'll admit that the horrid editing didn't make me dislike the movie as much as the humor, but it is definitely worth mentioning that it had to have been done by someone with no real experience in the editing field. For example, when one penguin farts in the movie, a large transparent red circle appears near it. I don't know what the editor was trying to do to make the fart more visible by using a red circle. Had they added in something like a green colored gas effect, it would have been more appealing. Another example is how some of the clips blatantly reverse themselves to stay on screen while the actors talk. Very little effort was put into this movie, though considering how little the makers had to do (Nearly all the footage was cheap stock footage), they must have made a fortune by spending so little money on this.
The reason I didn't give this a score of 1 was because I'll admit that I did laugh a few times, and I appreciate that the movie recognized itself as a bad movie, like when penguins from the March of the Penguins scoff at how dumb the humor is, when the writers are depicted as a monkey banging on a typewriter, and when Samuel L. Jackson apologizes for not having the budget to make the penguins' mouths move. Still, I would not recommend this movie to anyone, regardless of their sense of humor.
- schmidtmike555-1
- Jul 18, 2008
- Permalink
I love Bob Saget, and many of the other comedians that starred in this thing. But I can't for the life of me understand why any of them agreed to do it. I've seen Saget's standup, and I think he's very talented. But it does NOT translate well to a movie.
When the dialogue wasn't raunchy, it was incredibly trite, which offended me even more than the lewd humor.
For starters, Samuel L. Jackson belongs in something either a) intelligent or b) badass. This film was neither. And furthermore, I've actually lost some respect for Lewis Black due to his involvement in "Farce." What a stupid title, too. Way too obvious.
And why would you make fun of "March of the Penguins?" It's completely uncontroversial and didn't make a big enough splash in pop culture to be a worthy target of parody, so I guess they figured they had no choice but to make the penguins use the F-word.
Of course, the crappy paste-up job with the footage didn't help this film, either.
I'm not easily offended by off-color humor, but I am offended by respectable comedians reading VERY un-funny dialogue. What a shame.
When the dialogue wasn't raunchy, it was incredibly trite, which offended me even more than the lewd humor.
For starters, Samuel L. Jackson belongs in something either a) intelligent or b) badass. This film was neither. And furthermore, I've actually lost some respect for Lewis Black due to his involvement in "Farce." What a stupid title, too. Way too obvious.
And why would you make fun of "March of the Penguins?" It's completely uncontroversial and didn't make a big enough splash in pop culture to be a worthy target of parody, so I guess they figured they had no choice but to make the penguins use the F-word.
Of course, the crappy paste-up job with the footage didn't help this film, either.
I'm not easily offended by off-color humor, but I am offended by respectable comedians reading VERY un-funny dialogue. What a shame.
There is this notion out there that Bob Saget is actually a funny guy when not playing a TV dad or hawking home video footage. It's not true. Yeah, okay, it's a bit of a kick to imagine the dad from Full House doing blue humor, but beyond that, he has no comic instinct. The gags in this sad apology for a film are adolescent in the worst way. I can only assume that all the names involved in this disaster owe Saget something, or he has some dirt on them, because they can't possibly be serious about this one. It's a one-gag movie and a poor send-up of a film that was overly precious in the first place. The most farcical thing about this film is the fact that it was ever made in the first place.
- pablocarlos
- Jun 8, 2007
- Permalink
I just finished watching Farce and overall it was decent. Don't be sucked in by all of the celebrity voices because most of them only have one-liners. Bob Saget is Carl and Lewis Black is Jimmy. The movie follows these two on their long journey to mate. Along the way they interact with their penguin pals as Carl talks about his past girlfriends. Overall the movie wasn't as funny as I was expecting, but still made me laugh. Many fart and crude humor jokes are used, but in a funny way. Tracy Morgan was by far the funniest part of the movie. I was surprised by the R rating and was hoping for some adult humor. That is exactly what I got. Oh almost forgot, Samuel L. Jackson as the narrator was also extremely good. Go see The Farce of the Penguins when it comes out so Bob Saget can be reincarnated!!!
- sicknick02
- Nov 7, 2006
- Permalink
This extremely minimal production yarn might be an embarrassing excuse for a mockumentery, but is not the completely useless piece of celluloid trash that some are making it out to be. Keeping in the stoner-addled tradition of things in fact, one may even squeeze off a few scatological belly laughs in the otherwise depressingly low-brow, low budget affair. Apparently it boils down to this: Writer/Director Bob Saget has a lot of friends in Hollywood. They may not all be on top of their game, many even out of the limelight for some time, but a common friend indeed they have with their oft-ridiculed, former television dork dad.
What Saget gets to exploit out of this is a plethora of B-listers, which makes for an impressive cast on paper .but do not be fooled. On top of the disengaging sound quality which reeks of home studio, almost all of the frequent one line cameos done by celebrities are so apathetically subdued that one cannot help but think most of these people are phoning in a favor to an old Hollywood friend, with absolutely no intention on getting any attention in this project; who can blame them? Even at 80 minutes, relying on a low grade stash of penguin stock footage in order to manipulate a crude plot into this joke must have sounded drastically unappealing to most participants.
Thankfully a few of Saget's crew actually rise to the occasion, that is to say that they do not let their hubris get in the way of embracing the full-on stupidity of the project. It is in those low-fi moments of tasteless class that a few voice actors and the rancid production actually get to shine in it's context. Samuel L. Jackson, as the narrator was an excellent choice, although even his central dialog feels like his head is somewhere else (to the scripts credit, they actually throw in a joke to echo this sentiment). The only other voice actors that make an earnest contribution to this goof are Lewis Black (who thankfully had a large role) and Tracey Morgan, making all other voice actors seem completely indifferent. For the few genuinely hilarious moments that reached further then this trite March of the Penguins farce, I am unexpectedly happy for, but for a majority of screen time, viewers need either be indulging their chemical dependencies, or mocking aloud with friends in order to receive anything special out of this shell of a movie.
What Saget gets to exploit out of this is a plethora of B-listers, which makes for an impressive cast on paper .but do not be fooled. On top of the disengaging sound quality which reeks of home studio, almost all of the frequent one line cameos done by celebrities are so apathetically subdued that one cannot help but think most of these people are phoning in a favor to an old Hollywood friend, with absolutely no intention on getting any attention in this project; who can blame them? Even at 80 minutes, relying on a low grade stash of penguin stock footage in order to manipulate a crude plot into this joke must have sounded drastically unappealing to most participants.
Thankfully a few of Saget's crew actually rise to the occasion, that is to say that they do not let their hubris get in the way of embracing the full-on stupidity of the project. It is in those low-fi moments of tasteless class that a few voice actors and the rancid production actually get to shine in it's context. Samuel L. Jackson, as the narrator was an excellent choice, although even his central dialog feels like his head is somewhere else (to the scripts credit, they actually throw in a joke to echo this sentiment). The only other voice actors that make an earnest contribution to this goof are Lewis Black (who thankfully had a large role) and Tracey Morgan, making all other voice actors seem completely indifferent. For the few genuinely hilarious moments that reached further then this trite March of the Penguins farce, I am unexpectedly happy for, but for a majority of screen time, viewers need either be indulging their chemical dependencies, or mocking aloud with friends in order to receive anything special out of this shell of a movie.
- oneloveall
- Jan 29, 2007
- Permalink
For a documentary with no notoriety fueled by a very political filmmaker, March of the Penguins did very well for itself when it was released last year. It made quite a hefty bit of money, and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary. But for all the quiet moments not featuring the voice of Morgan Freeman (who can narrate my life story anytime he wants to), I think most people would be hard-pressed not to be imagining what the penguins are actually thinking. So it should be no surprise to anyone that Bob Saget, everyone's favourite '90s TV personality, took this idea and ran with it. And what resulted was Farce of the Penguins.
Saget takes the basic premise from March of the Emperor penguins arduous journey to procreate, and created a whole storyline and dialogue to go along with it. The film, narrated this time by Samuel L. Jackson, follows the story of Carl (Saget) and Jimmy (Lewis Black), two friends making the journey with all the other male penguins to find love and make a baby. Jimmy is content with life the way it is, but Carl is going through somewhat of a mid-life crisis. He wants to find a woman he can stay with, but cannot face the inherent contradiction involved in the life cycle of penguins and their mating rites. It frequently pans off to the wait the female penguins are doing, and how nervous Melissa (Christina Applegate) is over the prospect of having a baby with someone she barely knows. Her friend Vicky (Mo'Nique) tries to console her, and attempts to stick by her side during the long wait.
It does not sound incredibly complicated, and in the end, it really is pretty straight-forward. Through digital manipulation and stock footage of various penguins (and all sorts of other wacky animals too), Saget has helped create something wildly irrelevant, but downright hilarious in many instances. Yes, it is incredibly vulgar, and yes, it is even more so ridiculously silly than anything. But does that make the movie any less fun? Slightly, but not by a whole lot. Granted you can take the stupid humour Saget is pitching, than you should be able to find quite a few moments of laughter throughout the proceedings. It gets a little repetitive in certain instances, but there are some really terrifically funny moments sprinkled throughout its way-too-short runtime to help make up for this.
The main voice talent is not amazing, but they get the job done. Saget and Black feed off of each other nicely for the majority of the film, playing jokes off of each other fast and furiously. At certain points however, they really do not seem like they work as well chemically as they did only minutes before. It makes for plenty of awkward transitions, and really unbalances the film. On the other hand, Applegate and Mo'Nique just sound terribly bored. They make a few funny jokes here and there, but sound stiff when they any sort of lengthy conversations. No one was holding them at gunpoint, so I do not understand why they could not have put at least a bit more enthusiasm into their voices.
What actually makes for most of the funny material in the film are the wildly outrageous cameo voices. There are far too many to name off, but making an attempt at trying to figure out whose voice belongs to who is a challenging activity all in itself. Once the end credits come up, you just may be a bit surprised at just who turns up (such as the pseudo Full House reunion). The movie parodies and random musical numbers featuring Saget belting out some pretty heart-warming tunes, is also pretty enjoyable. And of course, Jackson's brilliant narration is simply hysterical.
Unfortunately for this film, the main problem with the film is that it does not have enough steam to make it from beginning to end. Towards the opening, the whole digital manipulation and vulgar jokes are alright, and are pretty enjoyable to watch. But by the end, it just becomes an eyesore. I realize that the joke(s) can only go so far, but Saget had to anticipate this fact, and should have done more to try and resolve it. As a whole, it just feels way too weak to work as a full-length movie, and easily explains why the film is going straight-to-video this January. It could have easily done with a good polish, and a little bit more going for it. By the end, we are just waiting for the film to finish so we can turn it off, and that is not a good thing at all.
I do contest that I laughed pretty hard at more than a handful of scenes, and I would be lying if I did not say that I did enjoy Farce of the Penguins. It is not for everyone, and easily may be written off as being far too stupid to watch, but it definitely is worthwhile. If for anything, as a companion piece to March, just so more people have creative ideas as to what these penguins are thinking.
6/10.
Saget takes the basic premise from March of the Emperor penguins arduous journey to procreate, and created a whole storyline and dialogue to go along with it. The film, narrated this time by Samuel L. Jackson, follows the story of Carl (Saget) and Jimmy (Lewis Black), two friends making the journey with all the other male penguins to find love and make a baby. Jimmy is content with life the way it is, but Carl is going through somewhat of a mid-life crisis. He wants to find a woman he can stay with, but cannot face the inherent contradiction involved in the life cycle of penguins and their mating rites. It frequently pans off to the wait the female penguins are doing, and how nervous Melissa (Christina Applegate) is over the prospect of having a baby with someone she barely knows. Her friend Vicky (Mo'Nique) tries to console her, and attempts to stick by her side during the long wait.
It does not sound incredibly complicated, and in the end, it really is pretty straight-forward. Through digital manipulation and stock footage of various penguins (and all sorts of other wacky animals too), Saget has helped create something wildly irrelevant, but downright hilarious in many instances. Yes, it is incredibly vulgar, and yes, it is even more so ridiculously silly than anything. But does that make the movie any less fun? Slightly, but not by a whole lot. Granted you can take the stupid humour Saget is pitching, than you should be able to find quite a few moments of laughter throughout the proceedings. It gets a little repetitive in certain instances, but there are some really terrifically funny moments sprinkled throughout its way-too-short runtime to help make up for this.
The main voice talent is not amazing, but they get the job done. Saget and Black feed off of each other nicely for the majority of the film, playing jokes off of each other fast and furiously. At certain points however, they really do not seem like they work as well chemically as they did only minutes before. It makes for plenty of awkward transitions, and really unbalances the film. On the other hand, Applegate and Mo'Nique just sound terribly bored. They make a few funny jokes here and there, but sound stiff when they any sort of lengthy conversations. No one was holding them at gunpoint, so I do not understand why they could not have put at least a bit more enthusiasm into their voices.
What actually makes for most of the funny material in the film are the wildly outrageous cameo voices. There are far too many to name off, but making an attempt at trying to figure out whose voice belongs to who is a challenging activity all in itself. Once the end credits come up, you just may be a bit surprised at just who turns up (such as the pseudo Full House reunion). The movie parodies and random musical numbers featuring Saget belting out some pretty heart-warming tunes, is also pretty enjoyable. And of course, Jackson's brilliant narration is simply hysterical.
Unfortunately for this film, the main problem with the film is that it does not have enough steam to make it from beginning to end. Towards the opening, the whole digital manipulation and vulgar jokes are alright, and are pretty enjoyable to watch. But by the end, it just becomes an eyesore. I realize that the joke(s) can only go so far, but Saget had to anticipate this fact, and should have done more to try and resolve it. As a whole, it just feels way too weak to work as a full-length movie, and easily explains why the film is going straight-to-video this January. It could have easily done with a good polish, and a little bit more going for it. By the end, we are just waiting for the film to finish so we can turn it off, and that is not a good thing at all.
I do contest that I laughed pretty hard at more than a handful of scenes, and I would be lying if I did not say that I did enjoy Farce of the Penguins. It is not for everyone, and easily may be written off as being far too stupid to watch, but it definitely is worthwhile. If for anything, as a companion piece to March, just so more people have creative ideas as to what these penguins are thinking.
6/10.
- DonFishies
- Dec 18, 2006
- Permalink
This movie is dreadfully unfunny. There are teeny bits of hah-hah in it, but they are utterly lost in the Antarctic wasteland that is "Farce of the Penguins". It is like one of those SNL sketches that may have been humorous for the first 60 seconds or so, but are dragged on and on until the audience is ready to throw pointy objects at the performers just to make them STOP already! Maybe - just maybe - if I time traveled back to my younger days and watched this movie with some herbal enhancements I no longer approve, it might have struck me as pretty funny.
But I doubt it.
But I doubt it.
- Beavistex34
- Jan 30, 2007
- Permalink
If you're watching this movie without high expectations, or if you've ever seen Bob Saget's stand-up, you'll enjoy this movie.
Samuel L. Jackson sets the tone right away, as well as the credits. After the first five minutes of this movie, you should expect about the same for the rest.
Although this movie wasn't green-lit for theatres, it suffered from the same mentality of Idiocracy -- a movie for adults that would not have had a large audience.
How does the public see Bob Saget these days? He was quiet for some years after Full House, where he played the "aw shucks" father, and being the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, but then there were rumours of his stand-up being raunchy. That's what drew me to see one of his shows, and it won me over. He was probably funnier because he wasn't what I expected -- but like other comics he was just on par.
That's what you could say about the movie. It was funnier than you expected, but if you match it up with other movies of it's like, it may not match up.
But if anything, it is MUCH funnier than most other "farce" movies.
Which may not be saying much.
Samuel L. Jackson sets the tone right away, as well as the credits. After the first five minutes of this movie, you should expect about the same for the rest.
Although this movie wasn't green-lit for theatres, it suffered from the same mentality of Idiocracy -- a movie for adults that would not have had a large audience.
How does the public see Bob Saget these days? He was quiet for some years after Full House, where he played the "aw shucks" father, and being the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, but then there were rumours of his stand-up being raunchy. That's what drew me to see one of his shows, and it won me over. He was probably funnier because he wasn't what I expected -- but like other comics he was just on par.
That's what you could say about the movie. It was funnier than you expected, but if you match it up with other movies of it's like, it may not match up.
But if anything, it is MUCH funnier than most other "farce" movies.
Which may not be saying much.
- bluecat061
- Dec 27, 2007
- Permalink
Bob Saget is a talented comedian, without a doubt. Anyone who only knows him from "Full House" and "America's Funniest Home Videos" is missing out on a lot. He is by no means a wholesome, family-oriented comedian that most people expect. His brand of comedy is uniquely edgy, and the fact that these dirty things are coming out of Danny Tanner's mouth makes him even funnier. Like with one of his previous directorial efforts "Dirty Work," "Farce of the Penguins" has several moments where you're laughing at the film more than with it. Unfortunately, this film has way too moments where it breaks the fourth wall, with moments like two French penguins (supposedly from the hit "March of the Penguins") watching the film and snobbishly criticizing it for being too crude. I can't deny that I was laughing throughout at least 70 percent of the film. It's certainly not a bad idea for a film: Making a parody of "MOTP" by using found footage and providing funny voice-overs. But like I said, the novelty wears off after a while. What is the novelty? The penguins are supposedly talking to each other...yet their mouths don't move. OK, I know you're supposed to suspend disbelief when watching movies, but this is a little too much disbelief to suspend. Even if this were an animated flick, the penguins mouths would be moving, helping the audience suspend disbelief. The voices are provided by tons of talented comedians, including (one of my favorites) Lewis Black, Whoopi Goldberg, Mo'Nique, Carlos Mencia, and Mario Cantone. Luckily, the way overrated Dane Cook only has a small cameo. The main voices are provided by Saget and Black, who both deliver plenty of laughs. OK, I'm not going to totally bash the film's visuals. There are moments where the stock footage is used wisely. Saget had a lot of experience providing voice-overs to found footage when he hosted "America's Funniest Home Videos." I'm sure that helped him conjure up the idea for this film. But film is, after all, a visual medium. So watching the same boring shots of penguins waddling across the ice or simply standing around gets tiresome after a while. I appreciate Saget's effort, but the idea could've been executed more effectively. Look out for Gilbert Gottfried's cameo. It's probably the funniest moment in the film.
- guyfromjerzee
- Mar 3, 2007
- Permalink
Bob Saget makes a foul mouthed send up of the March of the Penguins. Having enlisted dozens of actors and comedians to provide voices, Saget has cobbled together a spoof of the award winning documentary March of the Penguins. Its penguins going on about sex and food and relationship and sex and bodily functions and sex with the bluest of blue language (so keep the kiddies away).
How is it? More often than not this is very funny. The comedians provide lots of laughs in what are mostly asides to the man story of penguins going off to mate. Many of the jokes are the sort of one liners that can be used in other circumstances and there's a good chance that the film will end up being endlessly quoted.
The trouble comes when the movie doesn't end after twenty minutes. Lets face it, as funny as the movie is, after twenty minutes you're ready to turn it off and go on to something else. Don't get me wrong the one liners continue to be funny all the way through but with out any real "plot" other than the mating cycle of the penguins the film becomes just a series of unconnected jokes, which is fun for a while but ultimately just becomes boring. I'm not sure I'd watch it a second time.
Worth a rental with friends, but not worth buying.
How is it? More often than not this is very funny. The comedians provide lots of laughs in what are mostly asides to the man story of penguins going off to mate. Many of the jokes are the sort of one liners that can be used in other circumstances and there's a good chance that the film will end up being endlessly quoted.
The trouble comes when the movie doesn't end after twenty minutes. Lets face it, as funny as the movie is, after twenty minutes you're ready to turn it off and go on to something else. Don't get me wrong the one liners continue to be funny all the way through but with out any real "plot" other than the mating cycle of the penguins the film becomes just a series of unconnected jokes, which is fun for a while but ultimately just becomes boring. I'm not sure I'd watch it a second time.
Worth a rental with friends, but not worth buying.
- dbborroughs
- Feb 13, 2007
- Permalink
We tried watching this but could only handle about 20mins. We didn't laugh once, it simply was not funny. Could have been if it was animated but it was just poorly edited footage of penguins with celebrity voice overs that didn't fit. I give it a zero out of ten because it simply isn't a movie, it has no plot but that is not just it, it has nothing. I am usually pretty generous and have never before given a zero.
Save you time and let this one go by.
EDIT: I thought I summed it up as best I could but for some reason there is a requirement for ten lines of text. What to say that I haven't already said... I am really surprised that the celebrities would read the script and see the concept and still take part in this. I can't imagine this had any budget but considering it is just using stock footage of penguins, probably from the March of the Penguins movie, there was literally no production costs, so maybe there is where they had the money to pay the voice-overs.
Save you time and let this one go by.
EDIT: I thought I summed it up as best I could but for some reason there is a requirement for ten lines of text. What to say that I haven't already said... I am really surprised that the celebrities would read the script and see the concept and still take part in this. I can't imagine this had any budget but considering it is just using stock footage of penguins, probably from the March of the Penguins movie, there was literally no production costs, so maybe there is where they had the money to pay the voice-overs.
I always knew Bob Saget was destined to make a god-awful parody movie, ever since his early days on Full House. And I knew it would turn out like it did. This was a terrible, extremely unfunny film that seemed to put in stupid sex jokes just to make it adult. It's about a lonely penguin Carl (voiced by Saget) who is horny, and on his way to the penguin mating grounds with his buddy penguin Jimmy (voiced by Black). My first thought when watching this is how did they get such known celebrities to become involved in this. Samuel L. Jackson narrates the thing, and really just wastes time. The main supporting roles are played by Christina Applegate, M'Onique, Whoopie Goldberg and Tracey Morgan. And there are dozens of cameo voices including most of the cast of Full House. Even with a talented cast it just seems really unneeded. The movie only had about 30 minutes of plot, and it was stretched paper thin. Just to add time, they'd add random cussing penguins (or even a random panda bear voiced by Harvey Fierstein) talking to the narrator for several minutes. Several stupid subplots came in, including Carlos Mencia playing a penguin trying to get to the top of a mountain. And to top off all of this awfulness, it also looks horrid. It's all done on archive footage of penguins that no one can tell apart. I hated this idiotic "parody" movie, and I hope Bob Saget lays low for the next 40 years.
My rating: BOMB/****. 71 mins. R for sexual humor and language
My rating: BOMB/****. 71 mins. R for sexual humor and language
- mswatsoninc
- Sep 26, 2007
- Permalink
Too bad they don't have a "no star" vote. This movie is that bad. I watched "March of the Penguins" on video with a group of friends, and the ad lib comments made by our group were funnier than any of those made in this "Farce" version.
Not only is this film not funny, it is not even interesting. The clips they use are a mishmash of penguins from various parts of the world - few of which match the dialog that accompanies them. The dialog is lame, and not funny in the least.
I cannot give a review the entire movie, as I had to leave the room 30 minutes in. (And only made it the first half hour to be kind to our host that night). When I returned near the end, I learned that it became even more mind-numbingly boring through the endless repetition of both images and bad jokes.
Not only is this film not funny, it is not even interesting. The clips they use are a mishmash of penguins from various parts of the world - few of which match the dialog that accompanies them. The dialog is lame, and not funny in the least.
I cannot give a review the entire movie, as I had to leave the room 30 minutes in. (And only made it the first half hour to be kind to our host that night). When I returned near the end, I learned that it became even more mind-numbingly boring through the endless repetition of both images and bad jokes.
- kookooketchu
- Dec 29, 2008
- Permalink
I must admit, I had high hopes for this movie. I saw that Bob Saget was directing, and thought I was in for some ridiculous, dirty humor. However, this was not the case. Bob Saget played the sensitive, boring penguin and was quite disappointing. Besides this let down, the movie was just not funny. The low production quality didn't bother me, I just didn't find much of it to be funny. In the whole hour and ten minutes, there were probably 2 or 3 funny parts, most of them involving cameos. The only thing that saved me from giving this one star was the narration by Samuel L. Jackson, which was great at times. Don't waste your time or money on this boring movie.
3/10 overall quality, with a 2/10 watchability factor I like a mindless comedy as much as the next guy. Heck, I have my own list of my favorite BAD movies that are funny. But this...is just...pathetic, like all Bob Saget's comedic attempts. And it's not the fault of the co-stars, they try their best, but not even the brilliant Lewis Black could pull this lousy script out of the gutter! It's about as funny as reading the phone book out loud. Not to mention WAY too many gratuitous uses of the "f" word...most of which didn't make any f'n sense (hehehe) Sorry...had to do that.
In conclusion, my advice is go ahead and watch it for yourself, you MIGHT like it, but only if you like Saget's comedy style, which is about 5-10% of the population roughly.
I can't speak for everyone, but if I might skirt a copyright violation: This movie gets two thumbs up....so I could gouge out my eyes and ears! ;)
In conclusion, my advice is go ahead and watch it for yourself, you MIGHT like it, but only if you like Saget's comedy style, which is about 5-10% of the population roughly.
I can't speak for everyone, but if I might skirt a copyright violation: This movie gets two thumbs up....so I could gouge out my eyes and ears! ;)
- NotMoreMovies
- Jan 30, 2007
- Permalink
FARCE is a foulmouthed spoof of MARCH, and follows the same plot line. In fact, the footage looks uncannily like MARCH, although it apparently was culled from various stock sources. Bob "Full House" Saget wrote and directed this very adult comedy, and plays the hero with Lewis Black as his clumsy sidekick. Some of it is funny, a lot of it is not, and it goes on way too long. Saget employs about 30 celebrity voices, some for just one line, and many worked with him on THE ARISTOCRATS. The humor is straight from the toilet. Rest assured FARCE will never see the light of day on regular TV. They'd have to bleep every other word. I must say I am tickled to think some parents may inadvertently bring this home for the kiddies to watch, despite the R rating. The absolute lewdness that makes up 99 percent of FARCE actually begins before the opening of the movie! Among the special features, Saget does an absolutely insane 10-minute riff on the making of the film. He is truly demented, a "blue" Woody Allen much as he was in THE ARISTOCRATS. This is the guy who hosted 10 years of AFHV and for nearly as many years starred on the squeaky clean FULL HOUSE. Who knew?
- xredgarnetx
- Jan 27, 2007
- Permalink
This is one of the worst movie I have ever watched in my entire life. Here, penguins have been abused and insulted by showing them as if they are foul mouthed loathsome creatures. Here are some of the major faults of the movie: 1) They have insulted a masterpiece documentary 'March of the penguins' by inserting all kinds of vulgarity in language and have insulted love by showing it just as fun, and I abhor them for this.
2) It looked as if the editor had pasted scenes of other movies in between the movie. eg. the owl 3) There was a conversation about global problem, about friendship and what not. I could not decipher the main plot of the film.
4) Samuel Jackson is shown to explain about the penguins nicely in the start but then he messes it all up by using foul words on them.
5) The voicing were terrible. It was like a monologue, no voice modulation in showing different emotions.
I think the director should be sued for making such a film. Its pathetic to watch and rubbish to listen.
2) It looked as if the editor had pasted scenes of other movies in between the movie. eg. the owl 3) There was a conversation about global problem, about friendship and what not. I could not decipher the main plot of the film.
4) Samuel Jackson is shown to explain about the penguins nicely in the start but then he messes it all up by using foul words on them.
5) The voicing were terrible. It was like a monologue, no voice modulation in showing different emotions.
I think the director should be sued for making such a film. Its pathetic to watch and rubbish to listen.
- sashank_kini-1
- May 14, 2007
- Permalink
You can't go into this movie with hopes of a witty comedy with the cleanliness of Full House (despite it being made with Bob Saget and Jon Stamos and Dave Coulier being in it). Bob Saget's stand-up humor is not like Full House or AFHV, and it shines through brightly in this parody of March of the Penguins. Now, I liked March, I thought it was a great documentary. However, I knew this movie would be basically the opposite of this, and a lot of dirty humor, and I wasn't disappointed. You can't have standards when watching this movie, and sometimes, it's best to just watch a literally mindless comedy. You can't be serious about everything all the time. Even parodying of Morgan Freeman (who did an excellent job narrating March) with Samuel L. Jackson was great too.
- TheGhostofFreedom
- Apr 8, 2007
- Permalink
I'm a HUGE Bob Saget fan, so as bad as the reviews were for this one, I'm all in. yup, written, produced, directed, and starring Saget, it's a clear parody of March of the Penguins. Got TERRIBLE reviews here on imdb, but there are some funny jokes in here. the penguin footage is pretty repetitious, but the conversation moves along. similar to Sausage Party, or Bee Movie. this one is pretty R rated. a whole lotta cussing. but it's fun. so many "in" jokes, if you pay attention. why is this rated so low?? is it because it's pretty raunchy? deserves a higher rating. Narrated by Samuel Jackson, it stars some of Sagets' standup friends, Lewis Black, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Belushi, Alyson Hannigan, and of course, his buds from Full House! so many good actors... take a minute and check out the cast list. or turn off the picture and just listen to the dialogue. bathroom humor. funny stuff.
Farce of The Penguins is one of the worst, most boring, lamest and stupid wastes of money it has ever been my extreme disappointment to have endured. It is so bad that watching it all the way through is in itself a Christ-like endeavor. It is so bad, so mind numbingly boring and dull that I found myself losing large blocks of memory and suffering gaps in time as I drifted in and out of semi consciousness as it dragged by minute after stupor inducing minute. Seconds felt like miniature eternities. Imagine watching Dune the whole way through without the half a dozen interesting bits to keep you partially interested. Now imagine that except at 1/2 speed and Lewis Black making anal sex jokes as the rest of the incredibly banal commentary slows to almost sub atomic speeds. It was similar to experiencing several boring people that you would otherwise never listen to talk during a mostly white screen filled with waddling penguins set on a loop for 2 hours. Kill it with fire. Seriously.