‘Dicks: The Musical’ is Stupendously Silly Musical Shitposting

As a part of our protection of the forty eighth annual Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant, Meg Shields opinions the crass, campy, and categorically cocky ‘Dicks: The Musical.’ Observe together with extra protection in our Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant archives.

Earlier than we whip our pants off and get to enterprise, a disclaimer: for those who can, go into Dicks: The Musical as blind as doable. No small feat with a publicity-minded studio like A24, I do know. However for those who can arrive on the movie realizing subsequent to nothing, there are titillating twists and absurdist wrinkles that may go away you laughing and clapping like a contented child. So, if at this level you might be unspoiled, shut your eyes, scroll to the underside of this evaluation to trick the algorithm into pondering you learn the article, and keep ignorant. For the remainder of you, persist. My pants are off.

Dicks: The Musical is a profoundly foolish, silly, and ridiculous movie that’s simply one of many comedic highlights of the yr. Our heroes are the cocky and “confidently heterosexual” Craig and Trevor, portrayed respectively by Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, reprising their roles from their two-man stage present, F***ing Similar Twins. When the 2 swinging dicks study that they’re an identical twins separated at start, the pricks determine to reunite their dad and mom the one approach they understand how: by tricking them into falling in love once more, Mother or father Lure-style, so they could be a actual household.

Sadly for the twins (and luckily for us), their mother and pop are completely bananas. Their mother, Evelyn (Megan Mullally) is a batty, bric-a-brac-loving shut-in whose vagina actually fell off. And for his half, Harris (Nathan Lane) is a just lately out queer man who has pushed everybody in his life away with the “Sewer Boys,” two Ghoulie-looking lads who love kicklines and being fed chilly cuts baby-bird-style.

Dicks: The Musical is directed by Larry Charles, who even at his most absurd has tended in the direction of placing whacky personalities in aggressively mundane conditions. And contemplating Charles’ evident expertise for letting humorous folks do their factor and be humorous (e.g. Borat, Curb Your Enthusiasm, New Lady), he’s an ideal match for the wild, moist, wacky world of Dicks.

This seems like such a low bar, however it’s genuinely pleasant to observe a film musical the place everybody can truly sing. Lane and Mullally are absolute ringers who make goofy energy ballads look simple. For his or her half, Jackson and Sharp are clearly execs who’ve turned that unmistakable theater child stank right into a grin-inducing musk. Good job, boys.

If we’re being sincere, the forged’s weak hyperlink is its one “skilled” singer: Megan Thee Stallion, who performs the twins’ boss at an off-brand Roomba gross sales heart. Her quantity — wherein she espouses how nice it’s to be a woman boss who “out-alpha’s the alpha” —is each boring and tonally misplaced. The vitality drop is punctuated with a “properly, again to the true story!” lampshade that cements the track’s redundancy. SNL’s Bowen Yang can be slightly underwhelming, which is a little bit of an issue contemplating that he’s taking part in God (our story’s narrator) as a catty homosexual man.

Transferring again to the nice surprises, certainly one of Dicks‘ different boons is its self-contained method to comedy. Winking postmodernism and toothless popular culture references are a virus infecting a lot of contemporary filmmaking, however Dicks fortunately exists throughout the confines of its personal established silliness. It’s far more difficult to construct a self-sustaining comedic ecosystem than it’s to coast on the goodwill of current cultural touchstones. Dicks deserves an enormous quantity of credit score for being its personal, bizarre little factor; which is, sadly, turning into increasingly more of a rarity.

And whereas we’re embodying Grandpa Simpson’s old-man-yells-at-cloud, deliver again the tip credit blooper reel! The gags and goofs montage on the finish of this presents a small glimpse into what was clearly a ridiculously enjoyable shoot. Lane’s chuckle can energy automobile batteries, I swear to Yang.

All instructed: Dicks: The Musical is a uncommon, R-rated musical comedy that’s as silly and stupendous as its title suggests. It’s not going to be for everybody, clearly. But when you end up within the small, sticky circle that’s the target market, it’s 86 minutes of c*cks, c*nts, and c*ld c*ts. What extra can wicked showtune lovers ask for?

Dicks the Musical is at present scheduled for an October 6, 2023 launch date. Watch the movie’s trailer right here:

Associated Subjects: A24, Comedy, Dicks: The Musical, Musicals, Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant (TIFF)

Meg has been writing professionally about all issues film-related since 2016. She is a Senior Contributor at Movie Faculty Rejects in addition to a Curator for One Good Shot. She has attended worldwide movie festivals resembling TIFF, Scorching Docs, and the Nitrate Image Present as a member of the press. In her day job as an archivist and information supervisor, she commonly works with bodily media and is dedicated to making sure ongoing bodily media accessibility within the digital age. Yow will discover extra of Meg’s work at Cinema Scope, Useless Central, and Nonfics. She has additionally appeared on a lot of film-related podcasts, together with All of the President’s Minutes, Zodiac: Chronicle, Cannes I Kick It?, and Junk Filter. Her work has been shared on NPR’s Pop Tradition Completely happy Hour, Enterprise Insider, and CherryPicks. Meg has a B.A. from the College of King’s School and a Grasp of Info diploma from the College of Toronto.

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