Search - Farce of the Penguins on DVD

Keith A. (Keefer522)
Reviewed on 8/24/2013...

The idea behind "Farce of the Penguins" is better than its execution. Inspired (obviously) by "March of the Penguins," this parody of nature documentaries consists of authentic footage of migrating penguins, dubbed over with funny dialogue by a cast of comedians including Bob Saget, Lewis Black, Mario Cantone, and many others. Hearing penguins kibitzing and insulting each other is funny for a while but "Farce" would've worked better as a half hour short. Stretching it out to a 90 minute feature is a bit too much.

I have to admit, though, using Samuel L. Jackson as the film's narrator was genius. Especially when he referred to Antarctica as "The a**hole of the world."

3 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

A good idea wasted...

Jem | MD, USA | 01/12/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Amazon's review is pretty spot on. I loved March of the Penguins (Widescreen Edition). So, the idea of spoofing the hit documentary was a good one. How funny would it be to hear what those penguins are thinking? "My feet hurt." "Are we there yet?" "Seventy miles to get laid?" Maybe singing 99 Bottles of Beer? But, this good idea was wasted.

The movie focused on the crude - there's a LOT of profanity, and sexually explicit jokes. I was expecting that. But, that's all there is. The opportunity for less crass humor was completely ignored, so the film essentially becomes a one-liner, over and over again. Marcus, the "black" penguin, is an almost painful cliché - he's got a big penis, the ladies love him and he drops the f-bomb every other word. Funny for a minute or two, but after that beyond boring. The love story, dragged out ad infinitum by songs, was overdone. Samuel L. Jackson was a great choice as narrator - a huge contrast with Morgan Freeman. And when Gilbert Gottfried's penguin tells him that "Morgan Freeman has more talent in a freckle on his a@@" it's laugh out loud funny. But, such moments are few and far between.

I think what's most frustrating about this film is watching the extra features. Bob Saget gathered a HUGE cast of recognizable talent to do tiny bit parts and main parts (a few didn't even make it into the film). The extras show a lot of very funny lines that were recorded but edited out of the final film - not surprisingly, those lines didn't warrant the R rating. The "deleted scenes" were better than the movie! It's as though Saget decided he wanted to do Eddie Murphy's Raw instead of Bill Cosby. Using both would have made this film a real winner, and worth re-watching. As it is, about 15 minutes of the movie is funny - the other 60 minutes drags out those 15. If you're curious rent it, but don't waste your money buying the DVD.
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