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| The Ridiculous Six...out of Ten (probably more like a four, actually) |
Directed by: Frank Coraci
Produce by: Allen Covert, Adam Sandler
Written by: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler
Budget: $60,000,000
Starring: Adam Sandler, Will Forte, Taylor Lautner, Steve Buscemi, Danny Trejo, Terry Crews, Luke Wilson, Nick Nolte, Rob Schneider, Harvey Keitel, Jorge Garcia
In October 2014, Netflix signed a deal with Adam Sandler to produce four movies for the man. This is the first.
In the wild west, White Knife (Sandler) is a legendary white man living with a tribe of indians. When his father appears and is abducted by a violent gang of outlaws, White Knife learns he has five half-brothers and must gather them to get their father back.
During production the film caught some attention due to a number of native extras walking off the shoot due to the portrayals of the Apaches. The official number varies, but most on-set sources say it was around a dozen or so. Make of that what you will, but considering there are Apache characters with names like Never Wears Bra, Smoking Fox, and Beaver Breath, I wouldn't be surprised if that was damage control.
Yeah, before I even get into the rest of the movie, let me say that this one plays up the racism of the west to a ridiculous degree, which would be fine if it was handled like actual satire. I'm hesitant to call this satire, though, because it seems that the script itself is the thing making these names up, not the characters.
Anyway.
The Good
As a western, "Ridiculous Six" hits a number of tropes pretty solidly. The landscapes are, of course, beautiful, the gunplay isn't bad, and the costumes and props don't look cheap, which can be a problem with Sandler movies.
To piggyback off of the above, as a recent Adam Sandler movie it looks good. Some of his...films...have been really cheap, with bad sets and bad costumes. This looks like it had some actual value put into its production and direction. Certain action sequences are pretty good, including Sandler cutting a bullet in half and Luke Wilson handling his whiskey.
This movie has an inexplicably top-notch cast who, for the most part, turn in fine performances. Harvey Keitel is back to playing underground scum, Jorge Garcia does fine as a mumbling mountain-man. Taylor Lautner plays a dimwit, and looks like he's having a blast. Terry Crews does fine, but he's playing western-Terry Crews, so that's not unexpected. What surprised me most was Nick Nolte's understandable English and good performance as the dad of the Six.
There are several...I guess I would call them guest-stars who show up throughout and play pretty minor characters, some of whom I got a real kick out of. The portrayal of Mark Twain in particular was so unexpected I couldn't help but laugh.
Some scenes are laugh-worthy. I won't spoil them because they're really the only thing worth seeing in the movie.
The Bad
Adam Sandler is Adam Sandler, and with that comes the standard problems. Sandler's acting itself is so bland, without any real attempt at emotional delivery for anything outside his Eastwood impression. Rob Schneider obviously only has the job because he's living in Sandler's garage, but he seems to really try and channel his 50 First Dates performance.
As mentioned above, the movie has some really caricaturish portrayals of native americans, particularly the Apache people. Just from watching the movie you can probably guess there wasn't a cultural adviser (or adviser of any sort) on the set. Supposedly Sandler addressed the controversy on the set, but said that it wasn't the proper battlefield for the fight. Whether it was or not, the jokes could have at least been less lazy.
Really, aside from the decidedly not-Sandler scenes the rest of the movie falls somewhere on the spectrum between the usual Sandler fare and poor Sandler fare. Ha ha, the burro has diarrhea! Look at this goofy physical comedy! Didn't understand a joke? We'll keep it going for too long (though not as long as McFarland does in some of his stuff). The movie features Sandler playing someone who has to reconnect with his father and fiance at the same time, and ends with a wedding.
The Rest
I think I pretty much covered most of it. This movie is fairly light on the content outside the goofs and gunfights. Dialogue, when there is any, tends to be expository or useless. It's got the usual Sandler lite-heartwarming ending.
Should You Watch it?
I can definitely see people enjoying this, but I wouldn't really recommend it unless you're a die-hard Adam Sandler fan. If you're a western fan and want something recent, go watch Bone Tomahawk, True Grit, or pretty much any other one to get your fix. It's worth rewatching the others rather than spend two hours on this.
Just avoid A Million Ways to Die in the West, because that one's just as bad, if not worse.
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