Review - Movie 43 (2013)

Starring Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman and Naomi Watts.
Directed by Brett Ratner.

What I thought would be a unique idea of a comedy turned out to be the most disorientated load of crap I've ever seen. Movie 43 features a star-studded cast (pretty much three quarters of Hollywood) but it also reminded me why I should stay clear and avoid star-studded comedies.

The movie opens up with three teenage boys as they search for the most banned movie ever on the internet - a movie called Movie 43. As they search for this film, they stumble across weird videos on the internet. These internet videos are what forms the basis of this movie. The boys searching for 'Movie 43' forms the main plot of the story. We are then shown these various videos (comedy shorts/scenes) that the boys are watching while they search. The comedy shorts becomes the highlight of the movie until the boys eventually find Movie 43 which turns out to be absolute garbage - just like this movie. Oh the irony.

The film is structured in a somewhat unique way. Instead of having just one general story, we get to see multiple independent comedy shorts/scenes running alongside the main plot. In turn, the movie characters are the ones watching strings of comedy on the internet. Too bad the comedy shorts and the movie overall were not funny. AT ALL. These individual shorts consisted of overlong dumb gags, terribly forced humor and corny acting. Each featured some well known names in the movie industry and it was really sad to see them making complete fools of themself in this mess.

The biggest issue I had with Movie 43 is that the main plot was stupid and made no damn sense. The plot really lost itself along the way and failed to be the "glue" that held this movie together in some way. It got drowned in silliness and the rest of the movie followed suit. The characters were just going through the motions and it wasn't long before the film's very poor writing surfaced. Everything was just dumb and disorganized. The only comedy short which I found remotely funny was the one that involved Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts homeschooling their son (played by Jeremy Allen White). This was the best scene in the entire movie and provided me with a few chuckles. A few other scenes showed promise but eventually became drawn out and ridiculously stupid attempts of humor. After the end credits rolled, another stupid comedy short was featured - adding salt to the wounds.

I do believe Movie 43 was written and directed by toddlers. It is a unique comedy structure which unfortunately got placed in the wrong hands and was totally DEMOLISHED. Though it features a well known cast, not even they could save this mess of a comedy.

Rating: 1/10


Movies Also Watched:

The Story of Luke (2013)
A sweet indie dramedy - 8/10

A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
A great comedy with superb performances and dialogue. - 10/10

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
A campy but decent enough adaptation which somehow managed to survive Keanu Reeves horrible performance. - 7/10

An Education (2009)
A charming coming-of-age tale with solid performances. - 8.5/10

Cube (1997)
A gripping sci-fi horror but it lacked a true meaning. - 7/10