Screwed (2000) Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5.0 stars
Cast: Norm MacDonald, Dave Chappelle, Danny DeVito, Daniel Benzali, Elaine Stritch, Sherman Hemsley, Lochlyn Monro, Sarah Silverman Written and Directed by: Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski Running Time: 81 minutes
Screwed stars Norm MacDonald as a much put-upon butler whose boss (Elaine Stritch) treats him like a slave. When he finally feels as though he can't take the abuse anymore, he and his dim-witted friend (Dave Chappelle) launch a scheme to kidnap the woman's dog and hold it for ransom. This leads to a bizarre chain of events that leads authorities to believe that MacDonald himself has been kidnapped, and that the ransom for his return is $5 million.
Written and directed by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who wrote the excellent biopics Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, and Man on the Moon. Their work here however more resembles their scripts for drivel like the first two Problem Child movies and the remake of That Darn Cat. There are some funny moments in Screwed, but the majority of them come thanks to the performances of the actors and not from the material itself. (One odd thing of note about the script is that all the names of the main characters are all variations of lesser known U.S. Presidents.)
The story just isn't as sharp as it should be. The events in Screwed only make sense in the film's own reality. Here in the real world, any police investigation (no matter how inept) would have the kidnapping figured out in no time. Also, there are two plot twists late in the film that serve no other purpose but to make the audience say "Ewwww...".
Norm MacDonald is one of the funniest people on the planet, but he's just not in the right role here to display his comedic talents. MacDonald is at his best when he's being sarcastic, so casting him as a poor hapless schmuck doesn't let him show his stuff. Dave Chappelle is another good comedian misused here. Chappelle is able to carry limp films like Half-Baked and steal movies like Blue Streak away from its star, but like MacDonald he's just not given good material here to work with. Daniel Benzali (the bald guy from "Murder One"... to quote "Saturday Night Live") overacts his role as the lead detective on the case. Everything in the film seems to exasperate his character to cartoonish levels, and it renders his performance just too silly for the film. The thing is, had Benzali just played the role as he always plays roles like this it would have been perfect. I guess because he was doing a comedy he felt he had to overdo it. And I'm not even sure why Danny DeVito (who makes a lot of "Penguin" noises in the film) thought this was a good idea.
The most annoying thing about Screwed isn't how much of a disappointment it is (although that is a close second)... it's how LOUD the film is. The music in the film (generic frantic music that plays at some point in every single scene) is so exhaustingly obnoxious that it wore me out just having to hear it. Also, the film just degenerates into a shouting match amongst the stars to see who can deliver their lines the loudest. Louder jokes aren't funnier jokes.
Screwed runs 81 minutes long, which leads me to the possible conclusion of the dreaded "studio tampering". Potential example of that: Danny DeVito's character is the vice-president of the "Hawaii Five-O" fan club. Why? It's adds nothing to his character and never really comes into play in the film. I doubt Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski would write details for these characters without any rhyme or reason for them. Also, Screwed sat on the proverbial shelf for a long time after completion and went through several title changes.
Everyone involved with this project has talent. Somehow though it just never came together as it should have. So who ends up getting screwed here? The audience.
Reviewed by Chuck Dowling - chuckd21@fdn.com AOL Instant Messenger: FilmJax The Jacksonville Film Journal - http://www.jaxfilmjournal.com/
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