Farce of the Penguins (2007)

In 2005, the documentary March of the Penguins made a sensation among audiences, and even garnered an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Naturally, the notion of seeing penguins was a craze for a while. And then, Bob Saget (Full House) ruined it by getting a bunch of comedians, and dubbing their voices over stock footage of penguins to "try" and create a funny scenario. That being the 2007 direct-to-video film Farce of the Penguins. The end result just may be one of the most unfunny films in recent years. The story is sophomoric, moronic, and totally absurd, and most of the humor goes nowhere, the film is just a quick cash grab on a popular trend. There is really nothing to say about this film other than it is bad. Farce of the Penguins is a really terrible concept and a really poor execution of a popular film that's so much better in many ways.

The "story" involves two penguins: Carl (Saget) and Jimmy (Lewis Black), who are on a trek across Antarctica in order to mate, and along the way, they contemplate life, and the existence of being a penguin. But mostly talking about sex.

See the problem? Farce of the Penguins is just one long extended skit from a comedy TV show, and making viewers suffer.

The comedy in this movie is ridiculous, with only a few chuckles thrown here and there. And the joke of dubbing over stock footage of subarctic wildlife gets pretty old, pretty quick. Not once, did I laugh out loud, and only rarely did the movie put a smile on my face.

The characters are boring and nonexistent, and they do not offer a lot of personality to them. It just feels like director Bob Saget got a bunch of comedians, and have them just record their voices for this dumb little project. And speaking of the cast, most of them are not clearly giving their all, and just sound like they have come into the recording booth just to get their paycheck.

Even Samuel L. Jackson who provides the narration for the film, does not sound that interested in what he is doing.

Even though the movie is roughly 80 minutes in length, the pacing is slow, uneven, and there are multiple shots of the same image throughout the run time. It feels like I'm watching an Ed Wood production.

The music is not there, and when it does, the orchestration doesn't fit well with what the movie is trying to convey. The usage of popular songs doesn't help either; it's not funny, it's purpose isn't served, and makes you wonder: what's the point?

The stock footage looks nice. That's pretty much the only good thing I can give this movie credit for. The choice of footage that they got to make this terrible production isn't too bad.

Farce of the Penguins is a an overused joke that goes on way too long. It feels like someone (Saget) said to themselves, "Hey! Let's poke fun at this documentary penguin movie, and everyone will laugh!"

Just stick to March of the Penguins; it's much better than this block of ice that's melting your sanity.

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