Product Description: This just in...The Onion invades DVD! Based on the wildly popular newspaper hailed by The New Yorker as the funniest publication in the United States The Onion Movie brings you uncensored uninhibited UNRATED news and views from around the world. In a stunning development when Onion News anchorman Norm Archer (Len Cariou) is asked to compromise his journalistic integrity to please a new corporate sponsor he doesn t just get mad he gets...angry. Taking aim at pop stars prisoners peace talks and of course high-testosterone action films The Onion Movie delivers hard-hitting headlines and side-splitting laughs!System Requirements:Running Time: 80 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/PARODY & SPOOF Rating: NR UPC: 024543518945 Manufacturer No: 2251894
I cannot say enough bad things about this movie This movie was apparently shot in 2003 and then shelved after poor test-screenings. This was a good decision. The sketches are poorly written. The acting is tolerable at best. The film as a whole is comedically tone-deaf to a degree seldom reached by even the worst articles from the print edition. Not even fans of the Onion should watch this movie; to the contrary, if you're used to the usually high quality of the articles and internet videos then you will find "The Onion Movie" to be one of the most painful viewing experiences of your entire life.
Firstly, the movie doesn't seem to know what it is. It begins in the form of an evening news broadcast, but soon evolves into a series of unrelated sketches. The two formats transition between one another laboriously and pointlessly. Every joke falls flat. Every punchline is either entirely without comedic merit or so poorly delivered that it falls painfully and awkwardly flat.
The Onion works best when it parodies the news media. If they had gone all in with the news-broadcast-parody theme, they could have had something. But as the anchor rattles off headlines in rapidfire succession, frequently interrupted by tangential segments featuring Steven Seagal, any potentially funny similarities to television news disappear.
Avoid this film at all costs. I did not laugh once.
SoSo I got a few laughs from this movie, but even after paying 8 bucks for it used, I should have just saved for something else.
There Are Better Onions After occasionally reading an Onion newspaper, I had some idea what I was getting into here. However, I felt that much of the film didn't live up to the cutting-edge satire of the newspaper. The movie consists of a series of comedy sketches bound together by the Onion's lack of reverence for anything and a tepid plot line.
Some of the segments were very funny. I thought Sarah McElligott was quite vibrant as Melissa Cherry, a Britney Spears clone. The skit about the "reformed" bank robber was great. Steven Seagal's martial arts spoof had its moments. But many of the routines fell flat, and some were so tasteless that they were actually...tasteless.
The core of the Onion--take no prisoners, nothing is sacred--was there. But as the layers were peeled off, a lot didn't smell like an Onion.
A Face for Radio and a Voice for Newspaper Week after week after week, the writers at the Onion are able to unleash voluminous quantities of sharp political satire and biting social commentary in their online and print newspaper. But somehow the same crew needed five years to get a loosely-strung collection of MadTV-style sketches to the big (make that small) screen. This movie actually has a bit of useful plot, as veteran news anchor Norm Archer (Len Cariou) tries to stand up to corporate tie-ins during his newscasts, forced on him by young integrity-deficient hucksters in the home office.
The state of the news business in the real world, exemplified by Norm's lonely struggle here, is a ripe source of social and political commentary, and it's already been done in major movie productions like "The Insider." Here, this little plotline does get some room to roam, though most of the movie is built on short sketch segments starring little-known actors (except Steven Seagal and Michael Bolton playing themselves and badly in need of real gigs). The sketches are mostly based on Onion headlines mentioned by Norm during his newscasts, and most are straight from old editions of the online newspaper.
Reviewers seem to be arguing about the merits of the humor found in this film's comedy sketches, with disagreement over whether the incisive political satire blends well with the concurrent lowest-common-denominator perversity and cheesy pop culture references. Well that's the Onion for you, and the arguments over smarts vs. smut sure won't be resolved here. So the way to judge this film is on whether Norm's plotline and the various sketches are FUNNY. Some are hilarious but some just aren't. Some drive tired gags into the ground and a few are in really poor taste even for the Onion (e.g. the Alzheimer's march). We all know the Onion is hysterical for the thinking satire fan, so does the movie match up to the newspaper? Partially. But even some faithful Onion fans won't find this film to be worth the wait or the money. [~doomsdayer520~]
Rent first This movie has some funny parts but it is completely not worth buying. i would suggest to anyone to rent it or borrow it but dont waste your money buying it. I know my family watched it and laughed but it hasnt been seen again. Its a movie that doesnt hold your attention through the entire film but most parts are funny.
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