Movie 43

Who blackmailed stars like Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Richard Gere, Hugh Jackman, Greg Kinnear, Dennis Quaid, Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet, among many others, into appearing in this contemptible, disgusting travesty? The ostensible narrative framework revolves around a wannabe filmmaker (Quaid) pitching ideas to a baffled Hollywood studio executive (Kinnear) who is eventually forced at gunpoint to continue listening to them. Presented as an anthology of raunchy skits, Movie 43 is atrocious—unless you've always wanted to see Jackman with huge testicles hanging from his chin, much to the horror of his blind date, played by Winslet. Berry, toting huge prosthetic breasts, does a first-date Truth-or-Dare game with British comedian Stephen Merchant. Watts and Liev Schreiber are determined to replicate the social torments of high-school for their home-schooled teenage son, while Anna Faris begs Chris Pratt (the pair are married in real-life) to defecate on her. Gerard Butler becomes a leprechaun, cursing at being captured and tortured by Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott, while Jason Sudeikis and Justin Long are a dysfunctional Batman and Robin team. Dozens of writers and directors—although chiefly Peter Farrelly—are credited with this horrific hodgepodge of a movie, which is profanely punctuated by menstrual blood and fecal waste. Dismal and witless, this is the worst film to come down the pike in many, many years. Not recommended. [Note: Blu-ray extras include an alternate cut of the film, a deleted short (5 min.), trailers, and bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a so-so extras package for one of the century's worst films to date.] (S. Granger)