It took almost thirty minutes for the movie to earn its first laugh, though it sustained the same shtick in the scene for too long and lost the humor, nevermind additional instances of the same gag elsewhere in the length. I was surprised when another soft laugh was elicited around the one-hour mark, though this example was in a scene that also went overboard on a joke that had been overused from the very start. 'Men & chicken' almost earned a laugh or two at a few other points owing to the exaggerated characters and situational comedy, but never quite achieved the desired effect. In fact, for the most part it's not just that this film doesn't inculcate a sense of fun, but also that it's actively antithetical to the same. Would-be humor is mostly crass, crude, cruel, and/or downright low, and sometimes altogether appalling in some of the ideas that are broached, while the characters are mostly simply unlikable. There is cleverness in the scenario, but it amounts to nothing meaningful until it's far too late to make a difference.
For my part, I don't think this is very good.
All the contributions of those behind the scenes are terrific. Despite the fact that the content is plainly dubious, I do like the cast and recognize excellent, wholehearted performances as all unreservedly embrace the absurdity. In the wildly offbeat nature of the narrative and would-be humor I see a kinship with the imaginative features of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Charlie Kaufman, Yorgos Lanthimos, and others, while there are also some genuinely worthwhile themes in the writing. Why, maybe I'd have appreciated this more from the outset if it weren't marketed as a comedy, or if the absolute tawdry boorishness were toned down. To that point: 'Men & chicken' is unquestionably at its best in the last 20-30 minutes, when it largely dispenses with its attempts at comedy and becomes a more sincere quasi-fantastical drama. If this last stretch better represented what the picture was as a whole - if the picture overall didn't try so hard (and fail so hard) to be a comedy - I think I'd be writing very different words right now.
Yet the fact remains that all the best value of this movie, a considerable amount of it when all is said and done, is cloaked behind an effort to be funny that falls terribly flat. Thoughtful, mature, and even brilliant concepts of storytelling are locked behind a screenplay that too much bears resemblance to the juvenile trolling that undisciplined teenage boys might demonstrate in the schoolyard or on the Internet. For what is done well, and for its potential that we finally see before the credits roll, I'd love to say that I like this more than I do; for the substantial obnoxiousness that overshadows that worth, I wonder if I'm not being too kind as it is. I'd rather totally hate a film than be bored by it, so I won't say that I regret watching 'Men & chicken.' I am, however, highly disappointed if not outright aghast at how wrong this went.
For my part, I don't think this is very good.
All the contributions of those behind the scenes are terrific. Despite the fact that the content is plainly dubious, I do like the cast and recognize excellent, wholehearted performances as all unreservedly embrace the absurdity. In the wildly offbeat nature of the narrative and would-be humor I see a kinship with the imaginative features of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Charlie Kaufman, Yorgos Lanthimos, and others, while there are also some genuinely worthwhile themes in the writing. Why, maybe I'd have appreciated this more from the outset if it weren't marketed as a comedy, or if the absolute tawdry boorishness were toned down. To that point: 'Men & chicken' is unquestionably at its best in the last 20-30 minutes, when it largely dispenses with its attempts at comedy and becomes a more sincere quasi-fantastical drama. If this last stretch better represented what the picture was as a whole - if the picture overall didn't try so hard (and fail so hard) to be a comedy - I think I'd be writing very different words right now.
Yet the fact remains that all the best value of this movie, a considerable amount of it when all is said and done, is cloaked behind an effort to be funny that falls terribly flat. Thoughtful, mature, and even brilliant concepts of storytelling are locked behind a screenplay that too much bears resemblance to the juvenile trolling that undisciplined teenage boys might demonstrate in the schoolyard or on the Internet. For what is done well, and for its potential that we finally see before the credits roll, I'd love to say that I like this more than I do; for the substantial obnoxiousness that overshadows that worth, I wonder if I'm not being too kind as it is. I'd rather totally hate a film than be bored by it, so I won't say that I regret watching 'Men & chicken.' I am, however, highly disappointed if not outright aghast at how wrong this went.