A year later, Tom Green was in Stealing Harvard, right? When Roger Ebert reviewed Stealing Harvard he something like "as harsh as I was about Freddy Got Fingered, a year later I still remember it and I still will a year from now." He said this basically to say SH was a shit film you'll forget 10min after you leave the theater... BUT... Ebert def understood what FGF was and his written review said something like FGF could some day be a celebrated piece of neo-surrealism but that won't happen as long as people laugh at the SPOKEN jokes without realizing that FGF was Tom Green literally SHITTING on the industry that didn't understand him with plans to exploit him. I tend to think 50% of FGF's "genius" was Tom Green's joke on the industry but the other 50% was applied after the fact from people outside of it. **Genius being used VERY loosely here lol**
He stated on the Joe Rogan podcast that they gave him about 20 million Canadian to go make a movie. He stated he wanted to make the most outrageously stupid film conceivable and it's now a classic. Legend.
@@ARedMotorcycle Firefighters are still dying from 9/11-related diseases. A lot of us in New York are still very conscious of it, you insensitive ass. I'm not one of those PC types with a stick up his ass about jokes. I think you should be able to joke about 9/11, and everything else. But don't you tell me that it's "just 20 years ago" when there's still real tragedy and pain.
What's funny is Ebert eventually developed a begrudging respect for the movie: "But the thing is, I remember "Freddy Got Fingered" more than a year later. I refer to it sometimes. It is a milestone. And for all its sins, it was at least an ambitious movie, a go-for-broke attempt to accomplish something. It failed, but it has not left me convinced that Tom Green doesn't have good work in him. Anyone with his nerve and total lack of taste is sooner or later going to make a movie worth seeing."
@david gallagher Well, Birth of a Nation practically invented film grammar as we know it today, so regardless of its content it remains a very important film.
My ex-wife and I watched Freddy Got Fingered on DVD. After it was over, we just stared for a moment, and then she turned to me and said, "Well, I'll give it this. I was never bored." I think that sums it up.
3:07 - "Even in a stupid comedy, there has to be set-ups before the punchline" Anthony Michael Hall's character says almost that exact thing in the movie. "What you need is elevation, something has to actually happen that's funny". God, I laugh my ass off every time I watch it.
@seanlaffey3633 Yeah, but just pointing out the flaws in your movie doesn't excuse the flaws. I've warmed to this movie considerably in my old age BTW.
Agreed. Not everything has to be heady and cerebral or uber-dramatic to be good. Some things can just be dadaist and fun. Freddy is one of those things. A classic. It's not just dick jokes and toilet humor, contrary to what the critics would want you to believe. Beats the hell out of the other toilet humor stuff.
Love how Ebert comes SO CLOSE to getting it with the the Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler references, but misses the fact that the movie is ALSO mocking those guys by stretching their formulaic manchild/grossout comedy to its logical extreme.
Tom Green has already admitted this on the commentary track on the DVD. The New York times mentioned this in they're review too. That DVD is old as dirt and predates Mike's claims. I have no clue why mike and jay didnt juat tell people to listen to the commentary. Tom green literally calls out the critics for also not giving him credit on not using potty humor. He also says that the fact he was satarizing adam sandler movies and shit like dude heres my car, few over they're heads .
I remember thinking as a small child "This is just Pet Detective but worse I don't wanna watch this" but now I think that's the funniest comparison for 7 year old me to make.
It’s legitimately funny the way he says it. It’s exactly the way everyone felt about Tom Green. The only laughs I got from this movie came from rip torn beating him up for acting R word lol
What's hilarious is how self aware the film is...like at the end at the airport a sign says "is this fucking movie over yet?" Tom green 100% made this to waste the money of the studio and see how far he could take everything...like during the moving the house to Pakistan"here's my last $700,000, easy come easy go" lol
Roger Ebert admitted later that the movie was still on his mind. I wonder if the self-aware aspects are what he was reflecting on when he brought it up again.
Never got Tom Green.... Just seemed like a class clown asshole who connived his way into a flash in the pan career. I guess it is funny how he swindled a studio into wasting money on this tripe.
'Strange Wilderness' pushes the envelope in that aspect as well. I remember after it ended thinking to myself "I haven't watched anything that obscurely hilarious since FGF"
Perfect take on the absurdity of Hollywood culture and the movie-making process. This movie is even better in light of the current re-re-re-re-make phase that Hollywood is in.
Yeah. The main reason I see people are offended by this movie, is bc they genuinely like dumb romantic comedies that this movie is making fun of. Of course this movie is funny. It represents the teenager in all of us, who thinks about not taking life/society seriously.
This movie flies over a lot of people's heads. Tom literally tried to make the worst movie ever created and also did it to mock other films. I think it is great. I laughed at more scenes in this movie than I have at most comedies.
oh shut up with your excuses. He tried to make a movie and it was funny but a bomb. Dont try to go back and cover for him now with your little excuses. " oh he literally tried to make the worst film" blah blah blah. Youre not ironic at all, lacky.
yea evident by the time the end of the movie comes and they're coming off the airplane and people have signs that say "welcome home" and stuff and there's one sign that says "when's this fucking movie going to end?". At least it's self aware.
No it wouldn’t. There’s this misconception in this comments section that “Freddy got Fingered” isn’t an obviously bad movie no matter what angle one takes.
Starting at 0:49, you could see the displeasure on Roeper’s face as he was introducing himself and setting up the description of the movie’s plot. You _knew_ he was eager to rip it to shreds lol.
"We will always have Paris," and "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn," and "The Force be with you," are the most unforgettable movies lines in history. Now we add a fourth, "Get out of that toilet!" to movie history.
3:04 Hit the nail right on the head. Tom Green didn't want to make a movie, execs pushed him into it. So he made sure no one in hollywood would ever ask him to do one again.
The movie was an instant classic and up there with the greatest of all time on release,for those of us that "got it" it's took over 20 years but it's finally starting to get it's well deserved recognition
3:30 The best part of this review is that he’s talking about the funniest scene in the whole movie. The joke isn’t on the woman, it’s at the situation. You’re supposed to feel sad and sick in the lead-up to it. Every bit of you is supposed to say “No, Gorb, get the hell away from that woman, you monster!” Then he delivers the baby, and it doesn’t cry. You’re supposed to think it’s dead, and you’re supposed to think, “oh no, the movie went there. They actually went that low.” Then it gets absolutely insane. Gorb bites the umbilical cord with his bear teeth, swings it around by the umbilical cord like a rag doll, and it’s the most batshit thing you’ve ever witnessed, with the women in the opposite beds chanting and playing the tambourines as the room gets increasingly splattered with blood. The mother is screaming in pure terror as Tom Green is repeating a chant in a childlike voice of “I can wake it up! I can wake it up!” It’s so horrific, yet so absurd that you can’t help but laugh. It tickles the fear and comedy sides of your brain at the same time, and it’s so masterfully crafted. The cherry on top? The baby starts crying, it’s actually alive, and totally fine, and INSTANTLY, it’s this wholesome scene, the music is INSTANTLY sentimental, and he just hands the baby over and the mother is okay with it, smiling, and it’s the “beautiful” moment with the music and the smiles, and everyone ignoring the horrific absurdity that just occurred, blood on the walls and everything. It’s a brilliant scene in a movie that is meant to hold a mirror to Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey’s worst roles. That is the whole point. The nonsensical gross-out horse scene that was not set up to at all near the beginning and the fact that there’s an Easter egg where an extra can be seen flipping off the camera should have tipped Ebert off to what this movie is.
I got a free VHS copy of this movie back when I was in high school working for The Orlando Sentinel as a "trend spotter" and as a music correspondent, meaning I wrote CD reviews, and I have loved it ever since
@@vrfvfdcdvgtre2369 You have a point. Fast food is grueling, tiring and soul crushing work. Definitely a more honest profession than watching movies for a living and then talking about them like these two.
I would've loved to hear what Gene would've thought of Freddy Got Fingered. He'd probably say it was the first movie since Black Sheep he walked out on.
That was a time,where a film like that could exist,now it's over,don't even think about laughing about stuff like that,and just for that the film has merit,now you can't even say "retarded" on TV,this film was bizarrely ahead of it's time.
“The most critically reviled movie in the history of cinema - But you cheer...you cheer when I say “daddy would you like some sausage”...that makes a lot of sense, right?” ~Tom Green
@@samuelalexander1014That makes the ending slightly worse, takes the punch out of the ending in my opinion. I mean I guess it’s absurd in a way that he is alive, like the baby in the umbilical cord scene, but that ending still smelled of studio interference when I watched it for the first time.
And yet it became a cult classic after going to DVD 😂 just watched it again after about 12 years, it is definitely over the top and gross but hilarious at the same time. I love this movie
It's kind of hilarious that these reviewers (even today) view these movies based on what is traditionally...I wouldn't say good? I'd probably say...interesting. It is bad, and intentionally bad at that, but it's definitely not horrible. If there is one thing that you can say coming out of the movie is that it is definitely memorable. The original cut of the film had more of a indie-film vibe to it, with its own original score and a way more fleshed out narrative.
@@Nathan-gd7xq On the other hand, he seems to live comfortably enough. He said in a 2019 interview, "I have an audience that loves the movie. And I’m still doing what I love."
From Ebert's written review of Freddy got Fingered "The day may come when "Freddy Got Fingered" is seen as a milestone of neo-surrealism. The day may never come when it is seen as funny."
