XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

BoomerDT You will probably like this somewhat abstract bio of Doug Kenney, one of the founders, original writer and editor of the hilarious satirical magazine "National Lampoon." NL had a great run in the 70's, an era of terrific and edgy satirical humor. The 'Poon would spawn an entire generation of comedy that still continues, unfortunately it hasn't been done as well as most current so-called counter culture comedy primarily serves as a propaganda wing to promote a left wing agenda, while Kenney and the NL were truly equal opportunity satirists...they went after everyone.Kenney is best known for writing "Animal House" and "Caddyshack" two exceptionally creative and funny movies of the late 70's. It made him very wealthy but apparently it didn't buy happiness. It's a mostly lighthearted bio, amusing but not loaded loaded with gut busting lines and gags like the films he scripted-although they do try too hard with some scenes that are obviously preposterous BS. If you have no interest in the era or the subject matter you will probably wonder why a bio was made of such a self-indulgent and pretentiousness narcissist.

Gre da Vid Not all creative people have problems, but it seems that they all get caught up at some time or another, with problems due to too much time and money. An interesting story in the life of one of the founders of National Lampoon Magazine.

Eric266 POILER: I really enjoyed this film. I have watched several of the documentaries concerning Animal House and Caddyshack and Doug Kenney's name comes up quite often amongst the cast and crew. Chevy Chase and he were really close and Chevy still feels some guilt over leaving Hawaii right before Kenney's death. The man was apparently a comic genius who couldn't escape his childhood baggage.The format is well played with Will Forte as the young Doug and Martin Mull as kind of older, alternate universe Doug, if Kenney had lived, narrating the film. The rest of the cast is well known, playing unknown actors and writers. It took me a second to recognize Natasha Lyonne (American Pie) as Anne Beatts, Thomas Lennon (Reno 911) as Micheal O'Donoghue, and Joel McHale (Community) as Chevy Chase. All of them are covered in 70s hairstyles and McHale does a really good job of mimicking Chase's speech patterns and even his trademark pratfalls.The film excels in showing how Kenney rose from a malcontent to a Harvard grad to a fledgling magazine editor to movie writer. Forte is especially compelling and funny as Kenney. He doesn't quite have the acting range to pull off the downward spiral of the person, but he does an excellent job with the jokes and the other aspects of Kenney's life. Where the film fails is trying to shoehorn too many characters into its 100 minute run time. There is even a humorous scene of older Kenney (Mull) explaining to a bunch of supporting characters that there wasn't enough screen time for all of them so they get ignored. But the film goes to great pains to cram in other famous people such as Gilda Radner, Christopher Guess (Seth Green), Bill Murray, and John Belushi. The actors playing Murray and Belushi came off as actors lampooning (no pun intended) the famous comedians. Belushi was such a huge personality, I doubt anyone could portray him properly in such a short cameo.Another special mention goes out to Emmy Rossum. She is a stunning screen presence and even though her appearance is short, as Kenney's last girlfriend, she lights up the screen. She is a gorgeous actress as well.There is also a fun nod to Animal House with Mark Metcalf (Neidermeyer) portraying a publisher.The movie moves fast through the various periods of Kenney's life, but I think he would have enjoyed it. He comes off as funny, yet troubled, a brilliant comedian, but an emotionally stinted adult. A Futile and Stupid Gesture is anything but. The only thing I would have added, is maybe some post interviews with the actual people portrayed in the movie who knew Kenney, even if they were archival for some (Belushi and Ramis). Still, this was a well-done film.

rabbitmoon The film moves along with a sense of invention and wit, like the supermarket economy version of an Edgar Wright movie, and feels like it might shift up a gear at any moment. But that 'intro' style vibe just kind of continues... right through until Kenney starts to unravel, where it just loses steam and doesn't have much of interest to say. Whereas say, in Fincher's The Social Network the film revolves and relies upon a compelling theme of loyalty's breaking point, or the value of ideas, AFASG's theme seems to never transcend 'hey, some people unravel the more successful they get!' I don't know what it is with these Netflix films, they all seem to be very eager to be impressive and likeable, but without really having a heart and soul. Its like a new genre aimed at people distracted on their phones or something.