Better Late Than Never on the Great Movie "A Futile and Stupid Gesture"

This past weekend I sat down and watched "A Futile and Stupid Gesture". This movie has been on my list since it came out in late 2018, but I just never got around to it. Other stuff came up, other shows were on, I forgot about it and then this past weekend, I noticed it was still streaming, and I just happened to have two spare hours. So, I finally watched it.

I am bummed it took me so long to watch this great movie. This one is totally on me. I should have watched it in 2018 because I really, really enjoyed this movie. For those that may not know, "A Futile and Stupid Gesture" is about the creation of the National Lampoon magazine, and the people who helped create it. And for those that may not know what National Lampoon is or was, it was a parody magazine, and then it became a movie making studio, creating "Animal House" and "Caddyshack" along the way. The leads, Domhall Gleeson as Henry Beard, and Will Forte as Doug Kenney, were great. Gleeson was very monotone and gave one word answers and never really changed his facial expression. He also happened to be extremely funny, and knew how to run a business. Forte, who I am a big time fan of, was perfectly cast as the wild and crazy and equally hilarious Kenney. Doug Kenney was the idea man, who would go for it no matter how many people told him no. He never quit. He was also heavily into drugs, was not the greatest husband at all and went a little too nuts sometimes. But hey, he co created National Lampoon, and he wrote both "Animal House" and "Caddyshack". He gave us two of the greatest comedies of all time. It takes a little crazy to pull that off. "A Futile and Stupid Gesture" is Kenney's story too. This is a dramatized autobiography of his life, that he personally cut short. This movie gave Forte a chance to shine, and he totally nailed it. As I said, he was perfectly cast, and for someone so self centered and egotistical, I rooted for him at times, and was saddened by the end. Forte brought that to this movie.

While Gleeson, and more so, Forte really shined, the rest of the cast was awesome. Thomas Lennon as Michale O'Donoghue was almost as perfect as Forte. He was rude, crude and crazy. Natasha Lyonne as Anne Beats, especially in her intro scene, was stupendous. Matt Lucas, you all may know him as Rebel Wilson's writing partner, was great as Tony Hendra, the English comic who had to leave Ed Sullivan because it wasn't edgy enough for him. Neil Casey was excellent as the weird and crazy and odd, but also hilarious, Brian McConnachie. Ed Helms popped us as Tom Snyder in a hilarious scene. And all the people they got to play the really famous people, the people who did the radio show, and then ended up on "SNL", were great. They were cast as to not look like the people they portrayed either. Jackie Tohn was Gilda Radner, Jon Daly was Bill Murray, Seth Green was Chris Guest, John Gemberling portrayed John Belushi, Rick Glassman was Harold Ramis and Joel McHale totally knocked it out of the park as Chevy Chase. None may have looked like the people they played, but boy did they crush everything else. Gemberling did a great Belushi when Belushi did Joe Cocker. I already mentioned McHale's performance. Tohn was as funny as I imagine Radner was. Daly did some excellent imitations of Murray on the "Caddyshack" set. And Glassman as Ramis was pitch perfect. That was one of the many things I loved about this movie, was the talk of all the very famous, very important comedy people that got their start at National Lampoon. It helped that I just read a book on "SNL", and watched the "BELUSHI" doc on Showtime because all this is fresh in my mind, but I think the way they showed it would help someone new to this.

While this is a very funny movie about very funny people, there is heavy stuff. Kenney was not a good husband, and this movie shows that. He wasn't a great friend either. He also made life hard for a lot of people that counted on him. He constantly lived in his brother's shadow, even though his brother passed when he was a kid. His parents were tough on him. And, spoiler alert, although it is common knowledge among comedy fans, Kenney did die young. Some say suicide, others say to was an accident caused by too many drugs. Glassman as Ramis said it best at the funeral, and supposedly this was a true statement, when asked how he thought he died, he said, "he probably fell while looking for a place to jump". That was a pretty telling statement coming from Ramis. It kind of perfectly encapsulates his life.

I highly recommend fans of comedy definitely check out this movie, but I also think it could pull in some outside fans. I think people that like decent biopics will enjoy it. People who like Foret will love. And people who lived in that generation will most likely have a good time with it. I know I loved it, and I think you will too. Give it a shot if you haven't already, if only for Forte's performance.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The SeedSing (half) Year in Pop Culture: The Top Five Movies of 2015

Time to fire up the projector

Being that the new year is coming up on Friday, I'll be doing my best of 2015 all week. Today, I'm going to start the week off with my top five movies of the year. Everyday I'll do a different top five and today I want to start with movies.

I see a lot of movies. Some I see in the theaters and others, I watch at home. I love movies and this has been a pretty good year for movies. So good in fact, movies like "Inside Out" and "Me and Earl and The Dying Girl" and "The Wolfpack" didn't make my top five and I really, really liked those movies quite a bit. So, on with the countdown.

Coming in at number five, we have a tie. My number five movies are "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "Kingsman: The Secret Service". These are both blockbustery type movies, "Avengers" way more so. "Avengers" was fantastic. Go back and read my review. This was an absolutely breath taking super hero movie. There was action, adventure and even a bit of a love story. We also got Hawkeye's back story, and that made me like a character I once never really cared for. My favorite scene was when the Avengers were fighting Ultron and his army of robots and everything was in slow motion and we got to see each hero fight in super slow motion, it was excellent. "Avengers" Age of Ultron" is one of the greatest superhero movies of all time. "Kingsman", on the other hand, was a gory, action heavy, hand to hand and weaponry combat movie for the ages. This movie was criminally under the radar. I heard almost nothing about it while it was in the theaters and I didn't watch it on DVD for about five months. But, I'm so glad that I took the time to watch because this movie was incredible. My review was put up fairly recently. I loved pretty much everything about this movie. The opening fight scene with Colin Firth and the bar patrons was phenomenal. The fight scene in the church, once again featuring Firth, was one of the coolest things I've seen in a long, long time. The tests given to the future Kingsman were heart racing and incredible to watch. The main character, Eggsy, was expertly played. Samuel L Jackson was excellent as the villain. "Kingsman: The Secret Service" is the perfect summer action movie. Go check it out if you haven't seen it and I promise you, you'll love it.

My number four movie is "The End of the Tour". This is one of the most quiet, yet most poignant movies I've seen. Jesse Einsenberg is great as Rolling Stone writer David Lipsky. He plays the jealous, yet enthralled writer perfectly. I cannot picture anyone else in this role. Jason Segel, as David Foster Wallace, is absolutely phenomenal. He plays Wallace so realistically, it's almost like watching a documentary. He shows vulnerability, anger, sadness and genius all very, very expertly. He one hundred percent deserves an Oscar nomination for this role. This movie is basically just these two talking for two hours, but it never seems boring or dull. I was into the story and the movie the whole time. "The End of the Tour" is great.

Coming in at number three, I have "Ex Machina". This movie was so creepy and eerie because something like this could very well happen in the very near future. I mean, honestly, how far away are we from having robots walking amongst us? It's going to happen. Some rich, eccentric genius is going to create a humanoid robot and it will only grow bigger and bigger from there. Oscar Issac plays that eccentric genius billionaire so well. He is every bit creepy as he is lonely in this movie. He has his own lush home in the woods and he invites an employee, played by Domhnall Gleeson, to come out for what seems to be a vacation. It couldn't be more different. He is thrown into a type of lab project to see how he interacts with a female robot played so well by Alicia Vikander. This is another movie small in structure, but huge in story. As I said, something like this is going to happen very soon and this movie made me terrified for that future. It was haunting and terrifying and I'm not looking forward to the robots taking over. The final scene, I won't spoil it, was one of the scariest things I've seen in a movie in a very long time. It still aunts me. "Ex Machina" was the best horror movie of 2015, even though it's categorized as science fiction.

My number two movie is "What We Do in the Shadows". This was the funniest movie of the year by far. "WWDITS" follows the lives of vampires living together in a flat in New Zealand. Being that it was made by Taika Waititi, one of the "Flight of the Conchords" primary directors, it was so funny. It was done mockumentary style and it was perfect. Jermaine Clement, playing Vlad the Poker, was so great. A once powerful vampire, he now was not so powerful after his break up with "The Beast". He was excellent in this movie. Taika Waititi played Viago, the pretty boy vampire, and he was great as well. He was worried about keeping the flat clean and he longed for his lost love that was now in her mid to late 80's. The scene where he lays paper down to keep the blood of a victim off the couch, then hits a vein and bloods spills everywhere, is hilarious. The star of this movie, to me, was Johnny Brugh who plays Deacon. Deacon was a German vampire during the reign of the Nazis and he fled to New Zealand after stating, "if you are a Nazi, people hate you. If you're a vampire, people hate you. If you're a Nazi vampire, forget about it. I had to get out of there and flee to someplace safe". His character had me in stiches the whole movie. "WWDITS" is the best comedy of the year by far.

My number one movie should come as no surprise to anyone, "Mad Max: Fury Road". What else is there to say about this movie that hasn't been said already? It's the best action movie ever. It has the best social commentary. It lets a female be the lead badass. It has the best imagery in a movie in about 30 years. I mean, this movie is perfect from start to finish. Tom Hardy is excellent as Max. He's just as understated and hard core as Mel Gibson was in the original "Mad Max". Hugh Keys-Byrne was so creepy and so good as the ultimate bad guy, Immortan Joe. His breathing apparatus he wore still scares me when I watch the movie. Nicolas Hoult, playing war boy Nux, was surprisingly badass and totally cool. All the young ladies that played Joe's wives were awesome for many different reasons. But, Charlize Theron as Furiosa was absolutely phenomenal. She was the biggest badass, the toughest fighter and the smartest person in the whole movie. She was so great. Much like Segel for "The End of the Tour", Theron one hundred percent deserves not only an Oscar nomination, but she deserves to win. She was so perfect in this role. She beat so much ass and won at the end of the day. Theron was incredible. "Mad Max; Fury Road" is not only the best movie of 2015, it's probably the best movie I've ever seen. It's that good.

So, there you have it, my top five movies of 2015. Tell me what I left out in the comment section and come back tomorrow for my top five albums of the year.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is lover of movies and a passionate lover of good movies. Feel Ty's love by following him on twitter @tykulik.