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| Hacks |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 91 |
| Public Rating: 8.46 (13 votes) |
Director: Glenn Rockowitz |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Mockumentary |
Year: 2002 |
| Writer(s): Glenn Rockowitz |
| Distributor: Film Threat.com |
| Reviewed by: Greg C. |
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“Hacks”, a mockumentary about a band of horrible standup comics touring the country, may take its cues from such classics as “This is Spinal Tap” and “Best in Show”, but it pushes the subject it skewers much, much farther than a zucchini in the pants. Some may find the material shown and discussed within offensive and crude--I thought it was hilarious, and at times, near-genius.
As the film starts off, we’re introduced to our cast of “real-life” professional comedians, each riffing on a certain type of performer that we’ve seen hundreds of on such shows as “Premium Blend” and “Last Comic Standing”. There’s the husband/wife team--he gives her support from the bleachers with signs scribbled in a notebook; she can’t tell a joke without mentioning sex, a penis or the smell of her own vagina. There’s a cripple who has a rapid-fire delivery of “What’s the deal with...” social commentary jokes, however, he doesn’t seem to be aware of a much society outside of doghouses, tortillas, and his own handicap. When worse comes to worse, he begins to sling nonsensical insults at whoever is unlucky enough to make eye contact. We then have the washed up has been, an cigar-chompin’ impersonator who makes Rodney Dangerfield’s last three movies look like high concept. Then there’s the beginner, who barely utters a word the whole movie. He’s the downs syndrome version of Andy Kauffman, doing bizarre acts and using long silences to try and get the audience laugh, before he starts throwing things. Lastly, there’s the ethnic comedian, a self-described “black albino” who considers himself a genius but hardly has any material outside of crude racial slurs.
The group has assembled at a conference (of sorts), to help them hone the fine art of comedy. The instructor is a feeble, quiet voiced hippie who looks like a pushover, but by the end of the conference has systematically destroyed almost everyone’s self confidence,
teaching them his professional style of standup that, he guarantees, will help get them gigs and break out into the big-time. The true standouts, however, are the organizers of this mismatched group of unfunnies--two nightclub owners/agents who are so blissful to the talentless cretins surrounding them that their oblivion is uproarious.
The film is a low-budget, independent endeavor, and at times it feels like it--the middle section of the film drags in spots, some of the scenes go on too long, but when the film hits the mark, it’s a bulls eye. The absolute deadpan tone the film maintains (especially in the flashback scenes showing each comic’s past “triumphs”) is sidesplitting, to say the least. The film’s final moment is also the funniest, a piece of inescapable irony that left me laughing right through the credits (and I’m not prone to laughing that hard.)
The film’s writer/director, Glenn Rockowitz, has a sharp sense of subversive comedy, something that’s all too absent in today’s culture of film. Hopefully, this is just the first taste. For all its vulgarities, offensive material and downright meanness, Hacks is one of the first films in a long time that truly is funny as hell.
Not Rated, but plenty of language and crude humor.
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