With an impressive cast list and no ambition, Movie 43 will humor and possibly offend audiences.
Movie 43 has one of the longest lists of popular names in recent Hollywood history. With actors such as Hugh Jackman, Seth MacFarlane and Richard Gere making appearances in the film, Movie 43 certainly doesnt lack talent. Generally speaking, a movie with a cast of this size and caliber is usually something of Oscar-quality, such as Les Miserables. Movie 43 breaks away from this stereotype by being one of the raunchiest, most hilariously offensive comedies in years.
The plot of Movie 43 revolves around a struggling screenwriter (played by Dennis Quaid) attempting to pitch his work to a major studio. The screenwriter’s various pitches are presented in the form of a collection of short comedy films that have increasingly ridiculous and outlandish plots. From a family that home schools their son while still somehow replicating the various negative aspects of high school to a parody of all those inspirational sports movies with racial undertones, Movie 43 seems to cover all aspects of popular culture. Upon getting introduced, each short film attempts to outdo the previous one in terms of offensive comedic shock value. It certainly sets itself apart from other movies with ensemble casts.
The concept of presenting a screenwriter’s ideas as short films is at least somewhat original in a Hollywood that seems to be flooded with remakes, sequels and adaptations. The humor, however, was something that seems to have been done multiple times. The thing that sets this attempt at raunchy comedy apart is its endeavors to go above and beyond all its predecessors, setting a new bar for the tasteless and inappropriate. In that aspect, Movie 43 succeeds.
Despite the magnitude of the cast, the acting was not particularly spectacular. The performances from the various A-Listers were not by any means bad. After all, the film was meant to be a raunchy comedy, not Oscar bait. Among the cast, Dennis Quaid really stands out as the screenwriter who would literally kill to pitch his ideas. The real-life duo/couple of Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts was also something of a highlight as the parents who took home schooling to a completely new level. Terrence Howard also stood out as a not-so-affectionate caricature of the coaches in movies like Glory Road and Remember the Titans.
Movie 43 definitely wasnt intended to be a masterpiece. Its clear that the whole purpose of the film was to bring together Hollywood’s biggest stars of the past decade and feature them in a film that would only be remembered by audiences for being the most over-the-top comedy of the 2010s so far.. Despite its lowbrow humor, Movie 43 has to be given some credit for bringing all those stars together. Also, lowbrow humor is still humor if it elicits even some laughs.