The Onion Movie
Directed by: Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire
Written by: Todd Hanson and Robert D. Siegel
Starring: Len Cariou, Steven Seagal, Sarah McElligott, Ahmed Ahmed

With all the dreadful spoof movies that we’ve been subjected to over the past few years, I was beginning to wonder if the art of parody was actually on the verge of extinction. The truth is, relevant, high brow comedy has continued to thrive outside of movie theatres all along, and as any reader of the popular website The Onion will tell you, satire and parody are alive and well on the world wide web!

If you’ve never read The Onion before, well, you’re only missing out on one of the finest fake news publications ever created. While the concept may have been done many times before, I don’t know that anyone has ever done it as well as The Onion (and indeed, they also offer a serious and insightful arts and culture section, but that’s beside the point). So now imagine for a minute that the editor-in-chief and story editor of The Onion were suddenly given an opportunity to make their own feature length film. The result should be a masterpiece in the making, right? Well, hang on a minute there pardner.

The Onion Movie did actually get made, but then it sat on a shelf at Fox for a couple of years because neither the filmmakers nor the studio were particularly pleased with the final product. Finally someone had the sense to say enough is enough… let’s just get this thing into the hands of the fans, and make some of our money back!

Obviously, when you hear about a movie being released direct to DVD, you don’t usually have high expectations; in the case of The Onion Movie, this actually works in its favour. Although the film feels at times awkward, rushed and incomplete (it has a running length of just under 80 minutes), it’s certainly not so bad that it should have remained locked away in the vaults forever. There are some hilarious moments and creative ideas, and I’m glad I was able to see them. Unfortunately, it also gave me flashbacks to Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, another unpolished gem that probably could have developed into something brilliant with just a little more studio support and goodwill.

So how exactly did they make a movie based on The Onion in the first place? Well, as you can probably guess, it revolves around a lot of fake news stories, but the perspective ping-pongs back and forth between the newsroom, the stories themselves, and quick sketches involving people who are watching the news stories on TV. It’s a strange but creative way to connect everything, and although there isn’t really an underlying narrative, the various sketches do all merge for the finale of the film.

There are a couple of central pieces that keep recurring throughout the movie, specifically a Steven Seagal action movie send-up called Cockpuncher, and a Britney Spears parody, pop star Melissa Cherry. Both of these are quite funny (although the Britney Spears joke feels somewhat dated), and help carry the film. There is also a behind the scenes storyline about news anchor Norm Archer and his resistance to corporate sponsorship, and a repeated gag with film critics making self-referential remarks about the very film being presented to us.

Overall the humour is edgy and risque at points with a lot of racial jokes, which makes me think that South Park fans will dig it (although it’s perhaps a little less in your face that Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s stuff). Some of the sketches are based on clever ideas that don’t quite follow through, but they are always a cut above the Epic Movie/Meet the Spartans level of farce, and always in line with the familiar biting tone of The Onion.

It’s more than just tired pop culture references too. One of my favourite things in The Onion publication is the mundane news stories they do, where they take something completely boring and make it seem like earth-shattering news. They did a couple small moments like this in the movie too, although I wish there would have been more.

As some people have said, The Onion Movie feels more like a TV pilot than a movie, and in fact, I think it could have made for a pretty cool show. I would liken it to Weird Al Yankovic’s UHF, but updated for a new generation. I think it would have needed a stronger overall story and a longer running time in order to actually make for a satisfying feature-length comedy, but a lot of the segments stand on their own as very funny and memorable sketches.

In the end, I can see why The Onion Movie never made it to theatres, but I know there’s an audience out there that will still find this movie very worthwhile. Yeah, it’s a shame that something more couldn’t come of the project, but at least we still have their video podcasts to look forward to (not to mention the website and printed newspaper itself, which is still the best way to experience The Onion). It’s worth checking out if you’re a fan, or heck, if you just want an offbeat ADD-style comedy that doesn’t overstay its welcome, that works too. — Sean

SCORE:

Recommended If You Like: UHF, South Park, Mr. Show, Idiocracy

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