Thanks to the Internet's potential as a creative outlet, countless scores of people have used it as a resource to let their voices be heard. Whether it's through artwork, music, writing, or uploading things on YouTube, the Internet remains a safe haven for creative expression.
Many have carved niches for themselves by critiquing pop culture. Reviews of movies and TV shows, comic books, video games, music... they're all over the Internet. While some (such as myself, for instance) take to written reviews, others set up shop as video reviewers. They're a dime a dozen, but one of the more popular ones that I've encountered is Doug Walker, who has made a name for himself online as "That Guy with the Glasses."
It was on YouTube where Walker got his start, making humorous edits of famous movies that he called "5 Second Movies." He would develop a broader following when he created "The Nostalgia Critic" in 2007, a following that would grow further in the following year once Walker left YouTube for his own website and sparked a (fictional) feud between the Nostalgia Critic and James Rolfe's popular character, The Angry Video Game Nerd.
Walker's site has since blossomed, featuring not just his own work but content from dozens of other people from around the world. While many of them assembled in 2009 to celebrate the site's first anniversary and bring the Critic/Nerd feud to its conclusion, it was the site's second anniversary celebration that we're here to discuss today. A group of some of the site's more popular contributors reunited for Kickassia, a six-part movie that was posted episodically on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com last May and released on DVD a few months after that. With the site having reached its third anniversary earlier this month, I thought I'd take a look back at Kickassia and see how it turned out.
In the Nevada desert, not far from the town of Dayton, is a micronation known as Molossia. Sitting on roughly one acre of land, it is proudly ruled by its president and founder, Kevin Baugh (playing himself). Molossia's existence has recently come to the attention of the Nostalgia Critic (Walker), who fosters a great desire to have an entire country all for himself. When Baugh refuses to hand over control to the Critic after being politely asked, the Critic decides that if diplomacy won't work, hostility will. He assembles a small army out of a few of his website's personalities — among them The Nostalgia Chick (Lindsay Ellis), Linkara (Lewis Lovhaug), Spoony (Noah Antwiler), Angry Joe (Joe Vargas), and The Cinema Snob (Brad Jones) — and stages an invasion of Molossia.
The invasion is a successful one; Baugh is deposed, and the Critic renames the country "Kickassia" upon installing himself as its new head of state. As the TGWTG.com crew begins establishing their roles in the Kickassian infrastructure, the Critic makes the bold decision to retain Baugh's alter ego, the mysterious Baron Fritz Von Baugh, as a holdover from the previous government to ease the transition from Molossia to Kickassia. Baugh uses this position to his advantage, sowing the seeds of discord in an attempt to turn the TGWTG crew against their insanely egotistical leader.
Kickassia isn't for general audiences. I say that because you won't completely understand it unless you're a regular visitor of the site. The movie is full of callbacks and running jokes that only the most absolutely devoted fans of the various TGWTG.com personalities will get. And really, I think the cast and crew would probably be the first ones to come out and say that it's only for their fans. But as a fan, I thought it was quite entertaining. It's not a perfect movie, nor was it meant to be. But it's a fun exercise in silliness from a bunch of amateur actors who wanted to entertain their followers.
Walker not only stars in Kickassia, but is its writer and director as well. As a director, Walker's work isn't bad at all. It's obvious he was working with a minuscule budget (I'd be surprised if more than a thousand bucks went into production) and that the movie was shot on a top-of-the-line camcorder. But Walker finds a way to make it work. I mean, when you consider the micro-budget productions that comprise most (if not all) of the videos on TGWTG.com, Kickassia could be called some pretty top-shelf stuff in comparison. I'm actually a little impressed that Walker and his merry band of nerds actually got this thing made. There are a few instances of some really good cinematography (courtesy of Walker's brother Rob), and the movie's episodic nature allows Walker a way to hid any sort of pacing issues that might have arisen if it had not been there.
His script, on the other hand, is hit or miss. While Walker's script contains a ton of jokes that are solely for the fans (mainly callbacks to running gags or things in past reviews the site's contributors have done), it still has more than enough bits to make it worthwhile. The whole thing is silliness of the most amusing variety, even though it has its share of lulls. Not everything works, but then I doubt everything can. A pudgy guy running around dressed as Gerard Butler's character from 300, with muscles drawn on his chest with a Sharpie isn't really that funny. More than a couple of scenes wear out their welcome yet keep dragging on. There are so many characters and so little character development that it's hard to actually give a crap about most of the people in the movie. And those callbacks are abundant to the point that they feel like they're completely dominating the movie. If I wanted that kind of stuff, I'd go watch Family Guy instead.
The one thing about the script that I disliked the most, though, is how the Nostalgia Chick becomes a parody of Sarah Palin after being installed as Kickassia's vice president. This is just my own personal sense of humor talking, but I've never found Sarah Palin jokes funny. They weren't funny in 2008, they weren't funny when Kickassia was released, and they still aren't funny now. And she's too easy a target to boot. Palin has practically been a walking, talking joke since she first came to fame, and I don't think there's any real humor to be found in Kickassia's parody of her.
But let's move along to the cast, most of whom I liked a lot. I can't say I'm familiar with everyone in the movie, since I only follow a handful of the website's personalities. And I can't say everyone is worth talking about, since some of them have roles so minor that they're practically glorified extras. But what I can say is that pretty much everybody in front of the camera is over the top. They probably could have changed the title to Hammy Acting: The Movie and nothing would have been different.
But let's try breaking this down to Kickassia's major players, starting with the star of the show, Walker himself. The megalomaniacal glee he puts into the Nostalgia Critic is really funny, making him one of the most entertaining parts of the movie. The same can be said for Noah Antwiler, who appears in a dual role as his Spoony persona and his mad scientist character, Doctor Insano. Antwiler plays the Spoony parts with a heaping helping of cheesy melodrama, while as Insano, he practically goes beyond chewing the scenery to outright eating it. Antwiler is a hell of a lot of fun here, no doubt about it.
I also got a kick out of Lewis Lovhaug and Joe Vargas, and there are some funny moments from Phelan Porteous ("Phelous") and Kaylyn Dicksion ("MarzGurl"). But I thought the best acting came from Brad Jones as his "Cinema Snob" character. Jones actually has some legitimate talent, no joke. His dry wit is something different in a movie built on a foundation of madcap insanity, and I can't praise him enough.
There are a few less-than-stellar performances, though. Matthew Buck ("Film Brain") came off as annoying, and Lindsay Ellis is wasted doing that crappy Palin parody. And Kevin Baugh isn't that great, but it's forgivable since he isn't an actor or performer. At least he tries, and he does provide a few quite humorous moments, so that's something.
As for Kickassia as a whole, it should please the diehard fans. But as its own beast separated from its ties to TGWTG.com, it's mediocre at best. There are plenty of worthwhile moments, but the movie isn't a lot. Perhaps the site's third anniversary celebration will prove better when it's actually posted on TGWTG.com, but the second anniversary celebration is just okay. Thus, I'm giving Kickassia two and a half stars on the scale. And for saying's sake, yes, I would still totally move to Kickassia if it were a real country.
Final Rating: **½
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