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maltatoday SUNDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2018 44 This Week COMEDIAN biopics are often surprisingly complex affairs. This is partly because making people laugh as a professional vocation is a prospect rife with contradic- tion from the start. Where does the fun start, and the work be- gin? And isn't there something achingly self-conscious – if not downright pathological – in a person who is motivated by a de- sire to make strangers laugh with them? This gives one a lot to chew on, from Martin Scorsese's initially- misunderstood King of Comedy down to the more recent explo- rations of the rift between come- dian, performer and admirer in Jim and Andy – that Netf lix fea- ture in which Jim Carrey grap- ples with the enduring and en- igmatic inf luence of late, great fellow comedy virtuoso Andy Kaufmann. And now, somewhere in be- tween comedy biopic and his- torical expose of a small coun- terculture movement comes yet another sleeper salvo from the Netf lix streaming network, this time detailing the rise and fall of the 'National Lampoon' empire. Harvard graduates Doug Ken- ney (Will Forte) and Harry Burns (Domnhall Gleeson) are some- thing like campus celebrities by the time they graduate. One being an avuncular lout with accidental lapses of charm, the other a pipe-smoking pseudo sophisticate with a laconic de- meanour and wit to match, they are founders of the 'Harvard Lampoon' – a satirical campus publication more renowned for their raucous parties than for the print magazine itself. Cap- ping off their final year with the publication of the now-cult clas- sic 'Bored of the Rings' (no prizes for guessing which literary genre favourite that bawdy book was sending up), Doug becomes high on their successful run – as well as other substances – and tries to convince Harry to join him in his mission to expand the Harvard Lampoon into its national coun- terpart. Reluctant at first, Harry soon comes around to the idea and, while a number of mainstream publishers show them the door, Matty Simmons (Matt Walsh) of 'Weight Watchers' fame finally gives them a chance to introduce their often vulgar and somewhat childish brand of comedy into the American publishing atmos- phere. What follows is a fairly typical "American Dream" story, nar- rated as such with self-aware gusto by Martin Mull playing an imagined "modern" version of Doug, punctuating the Lampoon group's historical trajectory – which, lest we forget, very much rode the wave of "liberation" and excess of the '60s and '70s – with charmingly grouchy and self-deprecating f lavour. This in itself is something of an inspired contrivance, however: the nar- ration is a pure imposition in David Wain's film – scripted by John Aboud and Michael Colton and adapted from Josh Karp's book of the same name – since Doug tragically fell to his death at the age of 33, reeling from a drug and alcohol addiction that feels depressingly stereotypical. Abandoned by his more sober – mentally if not physiologically – counterpart (that's Henry), reel- ing from both a drug and alcohol addiction that's also pushed this divorcee's latest relationship to the brink, Doug also sees the latest fruit of his labour – once again, what is now a cult clas- sic, Caddyshack (1980) – become overshadowed by the more im- mediately popular Airplane! Speaking about the incident that ended up taking Doug's life, director Ivan Reitman – who helmed Caddyshack and then went on to direct the likes of Ghostbusters, taking along with him fellow Lampoon alumnus Harold Ramis (here played by Rick Glassman) – speculated that Doug probably "fell while looking for a place to jump". A crude and tasteless – futile and stupid? – joke on the one hand, but judging by Wain's film, also a perfectly fitting tribute to the impish legacy of both the entire Lampoon project – which would even help give a head-start to the likes of Billy Murray (Jon Daly) and Chevy Chase (Joel McHale) – and Doug Kenney himself. With tongue firmly in cheek and a naughty but well-meaning urge to both amuse and offend, this adaptation is an equally un- polished treat that pulls off the punch-line more often than it misses it. The verdict A Futile and Stupid Gesture is just the kind of low-fi but well- scripted slice of mid-level fare that makes for a perfect fit with the Netf lix platform and business model. With a game lead in Will Forte and a suitably witty foil in Domnhall Gleeson's altogether more "sober" – relatively speak- ing – Harry Burns, this biopic also allows itself to incorporate a whole subculture of what would become the vanguard of Ameri- can comedy, though it catches up with it – excitingly enough – just as the bubble of success is about to burst. A fun romp of a time, balancing caustic wit with dumb farce in a somewhat uneven but overwhelmingly satisfying way. A Futile and Stupid Gesture is currently streaming on Netf lix IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Maze Runner: The Death Cure (3D) (12A) 10:20, 14:30, 17:45, 20:45 Coco (PG) 10:25, 13:45, 16:05, 18:25 All The Money in the World (15) 20:50 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (15) 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 The Greatest Showman (PG) 10:25, 13:35, 15:55, 18:15, 20:45 The Post (12A) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (12A) 10:20, 13:30, 16:05, 18:35, 21:10 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 All The Money In The World (15) 18:35, 21:15 Coco (3D) (PG) 11:10, 14:00, 16:30, 18:35 Darkest Hour (PG) 14:30, 18:00, 20:35, 23:10 Den Of Thieves (15) 11:35, 14:30, 17:45, 20:30, 23:15 Downsizing (15) 14:25, 18:05, 20:55 Early Man (PG) 11:25, 14:20, 16:20, 18:35, 20:40 Ferdinand (U) 10:55, 14:00, 16:15 Happy End (12A) 16:25, 21:15 Insidious: The Last Key (15) 14:05, 16:20, 18:30, 20:50, 23:20 Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (3D) (12A) 11:20, 14:00, 16:10, 18:45, 20:50 Jupiter's Moon (15) 13:50, 18:40 Maze Runner: The Death Cure (12A) 11:20, 14:25, 17:50, 20:40, 23:30 The Commuter (15) 14:15, 16:30, 18:50, 21:00, 23:20 The Greatest Showman (PG) 11:25, 14:05, 16:20, 18:40, 21:00, 22:45 The Post (12A) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (15) 21:15, 23:40 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Early Man (PG) 11:15, 14:00, 16:30, 18:35, 21:05 The Commuter (15) 11:00, 13:35, 16:00, 18:25, 20:45 Coco (U) 11:05, 13:45, 16:05, 18:30, 20:50 Maze Runner: The Death Cure (12A) 11:00, 14:00, 18:15, 21:10 The Greatest Showman (PG) 10:45, 13:35, 16:00, 18:25, 20:50 The Post (12A) 10:45, 13:30, 16:05, 18:35, 21:05 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (12A) 10:50, 13:35, 16:10, 18:40, 21:10 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ NATIONAL LAMPOON ★ ★ ★ ★ NATIONAL TREASURE ★ ★ ★ NATIONAL LEGACY ★ ★ SHAME OF THE NATION ★ NOT IN MY NAME FILM By Teodor Reljic The double-edged rewards of stupidity A FUTILE AND STUPID GESTURE (16+) ★ ★ ★ A game cast transforms this uneven comedy-biopic into an impish and often raucous affair, making it among the better of the Netflix Original bunch Dumb and smarter: Will Forte and Domnhall Gleeson as the men who founded the National Lampoon empire