National Lampoon's Sometimes it Sucks to be Human

A FUTILE AND STUPID GESTURE (2018)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Is it too real or too funny? That is the question, one I asked myself of Milos Forman's own biopic on the late comedian Andy Kaufman in 1999's "Man on the Moon." Then I realized, that is the point, the subversive point. Same with director David Wain's "A Futile and Stupid Gesture" based on the far too short life of one of three National Lampoon creators, Doug Kenney. The film is too real and too funny, and it finds few breaks in between but we still care despite its focused look at a man spiraling out of control.

Set during the late 1960's up until 1980, "A Futile and Stupid Gesture" stars Will Forte as Doug Kenney, a comedy writer who may have a difficult time creating comedy but he does find inspiration and, more importantly, the truth in comedy that stings like a wasp. After developing the National Lampoon magazine with the help of his best friend, the pipe-smoking Henry Beard (amazingly played by Domhnall Gleeson whom Star Wars fans may know as crimson-haired General Hux) and several others (who are left out of this adaptation because, as we are told, it would take too much time to focus on so many contributors), National Lampoon magazine gets off to a rocky start but it soon develops into the irreverent, wacky, in-your-face satirical mag it became. For example, while Doug has moved in with his girlfriend and Beard, he develops a comic for the mag with panels showing how his girlfriend broke up with him after catching him cheating on her. The scene is evocative of much of Kenney's own insular uncertainty, a man incapable of fidelity to a woman, incapable of talking to others without breaking out in sarcastic asides and brittle jokes. Kenney is not exactly a frenetic Robin Williams but he can't seem to calm down for a second, even when snorting copious amounts of cocaine. When he settles in the serene landscape of Hawaii, the solace only reminds him of what is missing in his life.

The trajectory of Doug Kenney's life is not something I am familiar with and the Lampoon magazine is something I've only glanced at, and nothing more. The films made under the Lampoon banner, the good ones such as "Animal House" and "Caddyshack" I am familiar with and have enjoyed for their anarchic mode. In a sneakily subtextual way, "Animal House" celebrates life as a rebellious act - to liberate oneself from the establishment by smoking pot and wearing togas and getting into food fights. That can apply to Kenney's life, though his demons are far more complex. His disapproving parents are cause for much pain and, with all the success and money and blow in the world, he still sees himself as a failure. I can say that blazes through with the acid pen of writers John Aboud and
Michael Colton.

As for the casting of comics in the roles of famous comedians, it is hardly a mixed bag but some are more blink-and-you-will-miss Gilda Radner-type cameos. Erv Dahl, a comic known as the Rodney guy, does a mean impression of the late comic but he is only part of the scenery, not necessarily part of the action (a funny moment during the filming of "Caddyshack" has Rodney not reacting when the director calls "action"). Same with even Doug's girlfriends though Emmy Rossum has a sharp, savvy turn as Kathryn Walker, his last girlfriend (an actress in her own right) before Doug bites the dust - her feelings for this disheveled man are real and she won't give up on him. Only Joel McHale makes more of an impression as Chevy Chase and he looks the part, clumsiness and all. But this is hardly a criticism, it is actually rather brilliant that the people in Kenney's life are like chess pieces - they move across the board seamlessly if not without faults and Kenney eventually gets his checkmate. Eh, I never said that some of my reviews did not suck and my metaphors are occasionally less than acute.

I can't say with assurance that "A Futile and Stupid Gesture" captures the anarchic spirit of National Lampoon magazine but it certainly captures the insularity and depression of Doug Kenney. Will Forte encapsulates that beautifully and masterfully, an actor who has anchored TV's "Last Man on Earth" and Alexander Payne's masterpiece "Nebraska" with an unspoken authority. In hindsight, the film also captures how Doug saw an imbalance in his own life, how none of his friends are anything but decorative pawns for him, a sense that it is all about jokes and the minute the funniness and the party atmosphere dies, everything dies within him. It is unfortunate that real life bit him hard.