Film Reviews

Klown: Raunchy Dude Comedy at O Cinema August 31-September 2

Raunchy dude comedy is hardly the sole province of American cinema, as Klown all-too-dispiritingly reconfirms. Based on his popular Danish TV series, director Mikkel Nørgaard's film is a road-trip comedy of a familiar male-centric sort in which the canoeing expedition of buffoonish Frank (Frank Hvam) and horndog Casper (Casper Christensen) -– dubbed "the Tour de Pussy" by the latter -– is complicated by Frank's decision to bring along his 13-year-old nephew Bo (Marcuz Jess Petersen) in order to prove his father-potential to pregnant girlfriend Mia (Mia Lyhne). The ensuing mayhem's gender dynamics are rote, with women as grating commitment harpies or whores, and men as deviant scumbags or naive goofs. Following its chosen genre's bylaws, virtually every humorous set piece involves male genitalia, be it a running thread about Bo's tiny weenie or ladies' man Casper's covert fondness for the same sex. Too bad such phallus fixations fail to erupt with enough scandalous absurdity to compensate for the bland rapport of the protagonists. Child rape, exotic brothels, awkward threesomes, armed robbery, and other wannabe outrages all factor into the story. Given its vulgar bro-ness, it's no surprise that The Hangover's Todd Phillips will oversee the inevitable American remake.

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Nick Schager is a regular film contributor at Voice Media Group. VMG publications include Denver Westword, Miami New Times, Phoenix New Times, Dallas Observer, Houston Press and New Times Broward-Palm Beach.

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