Tusk (2014)

I've seen a ton of movies that have drawn their inspiration from novels, TV shows, comic books, video games, and even old toy lines. But for the first time, I've stumbled across a movie that came about thanks to a conversation two people had on a podcast. Specifically, it comes from episode #259 of SModcast, the podcast Kevin Smith co-hosts with longtime friend Scott Mosier. In that episode, Smith and Mosier craft a wild story around a hoax advertisement on the British website Gumtree, eventually turning their story into a pitch for a movie. I couldn't tell if their pitch was serious, but here we are, just over a year after SModcast #259 was posted online, and the release of the movie Tusk is upon us. I wasn't for sure if it was even a real movie until I sat down to actually watch a midnight screening the other night. And I'll say now what I told my friends when I stepped out into the parking lot after the movie ended: it is legitimately one of the strangest flicks I've seen theatrically.

Meet Wallace Bryton (Justin Long), who, along with best friend Teddy (Haley Joel Osment), hosts a podcast called The Not-See Party. When they're not making fun of viral videos and the minutia of pop culture, the primary focus of the show sees Wallace travel across the globe, collecting crazy, off-the-wall stories before returning home to share these stories with Teddy. (The podcast's groan-worthy title comes from the fact that, as he stays home while Wallace travels, Teddy did not see anything Wallace tells him about.) And despite the utter silliness of the whole endeavor, The Not-See Party is a widely popular show, allowing Walter and Teddy to live comfortably off their ad revenue and merchandise sales. But the success is also going to Walter's head, much to the chagrin of his doting girlfriend Ally (Génesis Rodriguez).

As the movie begins, Wallace has lined up a trip to the suburbs of Winnipeg to interview "The Kill Bill Kid," the star of a viral video who accidentally chopped off one of his legs while goofing around with a samurai sword. But when he arrives at the kid's house, Wallace is dismayed to learn that the boy killed himself a few days earlier rather than deal with the embarrassment the video's popularity brought him.

Frustrated with the fact that he will seemingly return to America empty-handed, Wallace stumbles into a local bar and notices an odd handbill posted on a bulletin board advertising free room and board in exchange for listening to an old sailor's stories of life on the high seas. Wallace is intrigued and excited, as this could make perfect material for the show. He travels to a remote part of Manitoba, to the isolated mansion of disabled raconteur Howard Howe (Michael Parks).

Howard wows him with wild, almost unbelievable tales of high adventure, including one in which he had a run-in with Ernest Hemmingway while storming the beaches of Normandy. His most compelling story, however, is of the time he was shipwrecked and lost at sea. Near death, he was rescued and befriended by a walrus he named "Mr. Tusk." In the many decades since he last saw Mr. Tusk, Howard has endlessly longed to be reunited with his beloved companion. And reunited he hopes he will soon be, as he drugs Wallace and begins surgically altering him into as close an approximation of a walrus as he can get.

After seeing and being less that thoroughly impressed by Red State, I was initially hesitant to give Smith's second attempt at a horror movie a chance. But the concept sounded silly and the commercials looked ridiculous, something that spoke to the fan of goofy B-movies in me, so I figured what the hell, I'll check it out anyway. And while Tusk is a flawed, imperfect movie, the sheer lunacy of the movie was enough to win me over. It feels like a Troma movie with a bigger budget and less sex and gore, the kind of movie one would have seen on a video store shelf in 1989 next to worn-out VHS copies of The Toxic Avenger Part II and Night of the Creeps. And even if the movie's not as great as I'd have hoped it would have been, Tusk is still a fun time if you're in the right mood for it.

While Tusk represents some of Smith's most unique work as both a writer and as a director, the biggest problem with the movie is that Smith has a hard time blending the horrific aspects of the story with the comedy. Some movies can effectively combine scares and humor, but it is a delicate balance and not every movie succeeds at it. Tusk has a hard way to go about it because both elements work individually, but Smith doesn't really make them work together seamlessly. The mood whiplash really makes it hard for Tusk to find and sustain any real groove. I will say, though, that Smith does get a few bits and pieces right, like creating a really creepy villain and an intriguing story that shows some real promise. But the uneven shifts in tone don't really help to make Tusk anything more than a curiosity on Smith's résumé.

To his credit, though, Smith succeeds in drawing some fantastic performances out of his cast. Génesis Rodriguez is sweet and charming, while Haley Joel Osment doesn't have much to do but is still likable nonetheless. The uncredited Johnny Depp also very nearly steals the show, however, in his role as a very eccentric private detective from Quebec who assists Ally and Teddy's search for Wallace. Depp plays the character like something Eugene Levy would have done on SCTV. Depp is funny, but it's almost too much, almost too goofy for the movie. It makes it hard to take him seriously. I almost think that it could have worked out better if Depp had played the character like Robert Shaw's Quint from Jaws, or even how Donald Pleasence approached his Dr. Loomis role from Halloween. Instead, we get a funny performance from Depp, but one that nearly derails the whole movie.

But at the end of the day, Tusk belongs to Justin Long and Michael Parks. Long's character is a tremendous douchebag, a condescending prick who's let whatever miniscule fame he's gotten from his podcast go straight to his head. You just want to leap into the movie and slap the taste out of his mouth. But Long plays him in such a way that it makes him enjoyable, and when things really start going to Hell, sympathetic as well. One might want to see him get brought down a peg or two, but not at this extreme. Long makes Wallace both irritating and oddly likable at the same time, and it works.

And much like his role as the cult leader in Red State, Parks is the best villain Smith could have asked for. He never goes over-the-top with his mad scientist schtick like Dieter Lazer in The Human Centipede, instead giving his character a cool edge. His portrayal of Howard Howe is one of a man who has long since parted ways with his sanity, and enjoys the horrible indignities he forces his victim to endure, but does so in a way that gives off a vibe like Howard believes Wallace is doing him a great favor. It's creepy and off-putting, and Parks is wholly fascinating to watch.

I've read another review online that called Tusk a bizarre amalgam of The Human Centipede and Misery. I actually kind of agree with that analogy because it isn't really too far off from the truth. The only drawback is that Kevin Smith hasn't quite gotten the hang of the whole horror thing yet. He's too much of a natural comedian. Don't get me wrong, Tusk is vastly superior to Red State, so Smith is definitely improving. But it's like I said before, Tusk is just too damn goofy to take seriously. Smith has said he plans on making this the first chapter in an informal, loosely-connected trilogy similar to his "View Askewniverse," following it with Yoga Hosers (an action-adventure movie) and Moose Jaws ("Jaws with a moose," says Smith) so I'm curious to see where Smith goes from here. And as for Tusk, I did like it, but it's simply "okay" at best. After his last few movies, I'm really starting to miss Jay and Silent Bob.

Final Rating: **½