Klown

Seen for the first time in November 2012.

The humor in "Klown" is not so much witty, or well-timed, but cruel and mercilessly appalling. The male leads are, bluntly put, shitheads. They are ridiculous jackasses. They are two unredeemable cretins, who's lack of virtue, judgement and sense of responsibility is surpassed only by their complete idiocy, cast in a tale with a redemption arc.

On the one hand, we have the naive cretin, who's girlfriend is pregnant, but is considering an abortion because she doesn't believe he's capable of being a father. This guy is a like a Kafkaesque George Costanza, but somehow also a boring and timid bureaucrat. He, among other things, gives his mother-in-law a pearl necklace while she sleeps, flees his house during a burglary but leaves a sleeping child behind, and drags that same child along for a very adult canoe trip nicknamed the "tour de pussy."

On the other hand, we have the asshole cretin who presumes a couple of bottles of wine will allow him to have sex with high school girls, coins the term "tour de pussy" for this ridiculous canoe trip, and photographs that sleeping child's penis so that he'll "have something on him," in case the child talks about any of the shit that happens on this "tour de pussy" with his wife. Also he gets ass-fucked, possibly non-consensually.

Some of this works. Some of this doesn't. Clearly the movie is trying to one up itself in terms of playing shocking material for laughs. But its underwritten and more disquieting than funny. It's as if this movie was made by some psychologically troubled teen boys. There is no adult sensibility here. Grade B-.