annamagnani

Jim Cummings as the lead ruins this movie. Cringe and irritating performance. Had he not been the lead, who knows how much more of a solidly entertaining film it could be. The rest of the cast is competent to enjoyable, particularly Chloe East as the Sheriff's daughter and Riki Lindome as a deputy.

I get that presumably Cummings's sheriff's bizarre behavior is to add intrigue, suspicion that he, along with half a dozen others is a suspect as the perpetrator of the grizzly murders. But my God. His manic gesticulating, bug-eyed flailing and constant f-bomb dropping is painful to witness. It's like watching a high school theater nerd looking in the mirror, trying to imitate Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Might be fun for him but irksome to watch.

This episode felt a bit like a throwaway although I imagine some plot point is built on in future episodes. The immediate takeaway was how nepotism can really spoil a project and in this case it's the casting of Jake Cannavale as The Gunslinger. Hoo-boy he STUNK. His performance was so bad I had to Google who are his parents because them being in the biz was the ONLY explanation for how he could have been cast in this role. I get wanting to cultivate a young audience but my God, there have to be better cute young actors out there whose careers could have been launched by this part.

Thankfully Amy Sedaris was in the mix and had a couple of moments to, if not shine, at least pivot from the Cannavale debacle. If only Jerri Blank was given such a chance to go to trade school she might have avoided her wayward path.

I certainly laughed at times watching this movie but by the time it was over, I was thoroughly bored. It really would have made a much better short film or even a very long skit. I started to feel like I was trapped in the basement of a college drop-out stoner who watches too much CNN. There are a couple of standout moments but I think a person could take a leak, make some popcorn and take a phone call and still get the gist. As much as Parker and Stone jab at self-indulgent Hollywood stars, they really should have tightened their own belts in terms of editing. Of course the puppets are impressive and the created sets were really interesting. At some point though, who cares? It's the kind of movie that while I'm glad it was made, I wish it were more complex. Perhaps that would be possible with more a more nuanced director but Parker and Stone seem content to just throw spitballs.