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Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead
May. 5th, 2015 10:55 pmI don't have a personal history with The National Lampoon. By the time I was old enough to be interested in that sort of humour the magazine had been gone for a few years and while I saw Vacation and Animal House (and the practically Lampoon in all but name Caddyshack) I never revered them as those who elevated them to cult status do. But this week is the Chicago Critics Film Festival and my entire thought process in deciding to go see this film was, "eh, why not? I'm free tonight and it could be fun."
Fun is an understatement. Hilarious and wonderful and heartfelt and a little heartbreaking Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead weaves interviews and and clips and stills from the magazine (some animated) to tell the story of The National Lampoon using Doug Kenney as the lynchpin and it was so well done. The audience was dying with laughter and by the end I found myself mourning a time and a person I'd never really thought of before. I don't know that I have much to add. It's a lovely documentary done very well and will appeal to longtime fans and those who barely know the Lampoon alike.
One thing the movie did briefly touch upon, with some expansion from the director in the post movie Q&A, was how a magazine that boundary breaking would never fly in todays society. The stills they showed from the magazine were incredibly offensive and hilarious and would definitely send tumblr into an uproar. The inability to fail is something that's been talked about quite a bit recently in comedy circles. When everything that's said or done is recorded and shared in seconds and then picked apart by committee just looking for a reason people are very careful to barely even touch the line let alone push and go past it to see if something on that side will stick. The director, Douglas Tirola, said as they were editing they almost left out some of the most offensive stills (Hitler and KKK and failed abortion child with hangar suck in head and oh so many others that 'caused audience gasps and then bursts of laughter) because he didn't want him and the company being known as those guys who did that offensive Lampoon movie when promoting other work (he mentioned briefly a doc about a pair of lesbians who opened a vegetarian restaurant and sparked the farm to table movement which I can't wait to see) before ultimately deciding to push past the fear and go for it.
But it's a valid fear when the slightest misstep has you being lambasted by everyone who wants to feel righteously offended by everything and has the means to voice it loud and clear into the Internet. It's kind of refreshing to laugh and know no one is going to judge you for it because they're all laughing too.
Fun is an understatement. Hilarious and wonderful and heartfelt and a little heartbreaking Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead weaves interviews and and clips and stills from the magazine (some animated) to tell the story of The National Lampoon using Doug Kenney as the lynchpin and it was so well done. The audience was dying with laughter and by the end I found myself mourning a time and a person I'd never really thought of before. I don't know that I have much to add. It's a lovely documentary done very well and will appeal to longtime fans and those who barely know the Lampoon alike.
One thing the movie did briefly touch upon, with some expansion from the director in the post movie Q&A, was how a magazine that boundary breaking would never fly in todays society. The stills they showed from the magazine were incredibly offensive and hilarious and would definitely send tumblr into an uproar. The inability to fail is something that's been talked about quite a bit recently in comedy circles. When everything that's said or done is recorded and shared in seconds and then picked apart by committee just looking for a reason people are very careful to barely even touch the line let alone push and go past it to see if something on that side will stick. The director, Douglas Tirola, said as they were editing they almost left out some of the most offensive stills (Hitler and KKK and failed abortion child with hangar suck in head and oh so many others that 'caused audience gasps and then bursts of laughter) because he didn't want him and the company being known as those guys who did that offensive Lampoon movie when promoting other work (he mentioned briefly a doc about a pair of lesbians who opened a vegetarian restaurant and sparked the farm to table movement which I can't wait to see) before ultimately deciding to push past the fear and go for it.
But it's a valid fear when the slightest misstep has you being lambasted by everyone who wants to feel righteously offended by everything and has the means to voice it loud and clear into the Internet. It's kind of refreshing to laugh and know no one is going to judge you for it because they're all laughing too.
