Touches You

Thanks for the memories!

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Really great Canadian films are hard to find. They're so thinly spread that most get lost or eclipsed by the sea of American output. On the same token, truly solid, 'funny from beginning to end' comedies are just as rare, at least for my specifically demented taste, ad mark my words, you've got to have one sick puppy of a sense of humour to appreciate You Might As Well Live, a comedy so dark it feels like it has origins in some obscure back alley improv skit fashioned by the strangest people in the class. If that sounds like a glowing compliment fpr a film to get, then keep reading, this may just be the animal for you (I'm looking at all of you YLYL's lurking my feed). This one plays like a mix of John Waters and MadTV on crack. It concerns a childlike loser named Robert R. Mutt (Josh Peace), a hapless schmuck who never seems to be able to do anything right. His childhood idol, major league baseball star Clinton Manitoba (Michael Madsen, riotous) appears to him, claiming he needs three things to succeed in life: A girl, some money and a championship ring. And so he sets out on a deranged quest in his scuzzy rural town, beset by all kinds of drug dealers, vagrants, oddballs and deviants, including rabid Fred Steinke (a maniacal Stephen Mchattie) who aims to have Robert chemically castrated. It's seriously off the map, queasy humour that hits some notes so off key that laughs turn sour upon leaving you as you realize you shouldn't find it funny. But hell, I did. So if you're down, give it a go, and remember: Robert R. Mutt is NOT A douchebag!!

I couldn't. I knew from the very first unfunny scene that this would be a stinker. They show a picture of the town sign with eggs being thrown at it--isn't that a scream? Guy throws himself off bridge into a shallow creek and doesn't die--how hilarious. Stale jokes, lame jokes, unbelievable characters (look--to be funny, we kind of have to believe in the reality of at least some of the people involved), jokes about paralysis, about naked guys pressing themselves against each other (like they're gay, see? Isn't that so funny?). The film is shot in eye-scarifying garish color and everyone looks sweaty, seedy and grubby. I suppose that's also supposed to be a total laff riot. The soundtrack is twangy scratchy country-western guitar, like something out of Laugh-In's short films. Don't waste your time.

Robert Mutt is NOT a douche!!! Seriously, and as one may plainly see, it's the neighbors and just about all the others giving Robert Mutt a bad time. OK, Robert's really, really, really, really dumb. But at least he's not a mean spirited, dishonest, ignoble miscreant as most of the people portrayed in this film; with some notable exceptions!Robert Mutt is not too smart!!! Seriously, if he was, he might not be so kind towards the previously mentioned neighbors and others giving Robert Mutt a bad time. -------STORY w/SPOILERS-------- Nobody is going to spoil this movie for you no matter what they write because this kooky low budget movie is over the top. *Some* angry or boorish folk may not like it; certainly the vulgar vernacular throughout warrants strict parental advisory consideration (not for children), but for you guys and gals out there that like really funny strange humor, this movie delivers some serious absurdities and played well enough to make you lol many times over. I liked it! Robert Mudd, what a character...

Too many Napoleon Dynamite references might get tired talking about this movie, but if you can picture a sequel written & directed by John Waters in which Napoleon is now 32, suicidally depressed, and falsely accused of pedophilia (but, in a funny way) before being chased full-frontal naked through town by an angry mob, that's how awesome-tastic this movie is. And that's just the first 10 minutes! It's not a perfect 10; it achieves high on spectacle and average on truth. But wow... finally, a bunch of filmmakers who think life in Canada is cool and awful and funny and sucks just the same as it does everywhere else in the world, and who think Canadians are just as horrible and kind and despicable and silly as everybody else in the world.SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERSpeaking critically, it swaps tones cavalierly, and the easier jokes cut down the bite and sting of the much darker and fantastically awesomer comedy about Robert, a depressed loner groping blindly without any aid or support to overcome his confusion regarding his childhood sexual abuse at the hands (and mouth, probably) of his Cub Scout troop leader and next door neighbor, the odious, resolute, and sexually compelled Mr. Steinke. The topic is never explicitly addressed (or maybe "implicitly expressed"?), but that's my read on it, and I think the screenplay has more than enough moments of proof to point out. My interpretation: Robert is a gentleman and gentle man who's (whose?) life has been ruined because he had the great misfortune to be born next-door to Mr. Steinke. How could innocent little Robert have ever known that running through the lawn sprinkler would entice and seduce this trusted adult? Answer: HE COULDN'T HAVE! He's innocent and has done nothing wrong to deserve this bogeyman in his subconscious! Too gentle to be angry about the situation, Robert wrestles over and over to straighten out his life, but is constantly unsuccessful until the stronger, tougher, and more experienced Dixie, having been enchanted by Robert's innocence, kindness, and gallantry towards others, rushes in to save the day and pistol-whip the cuss out of the barbarian monster ravaging Robert's metaphorical countryside.I wanted to title this post "The Funniest Movie About Childhood Sexual Abuse Ever Made", but I don't want to spoil people's pleasure in making up their own interpretation of this dark and sweet story and character. Check it out!Ciao,Jason Holborn