The Underrated: Freddy Got Fingered

"Argh! My characters are lame, my characters are lame! I'm a loser! I WISH I WAS DEAD!!!" - Gordon "Gord" Brody

For those who have actually seen the film, and are about to turn away from this article in disgust, allow me to plead my case. I watched the Tom Green written, produced, directed, and starred movie Freddy Got Fingered a long time ago and then rewatched it a year or so back. I liked it both times. I then came to realize that I was in the minority having liked it. I wouldn't even say I "liked" it now as I have a fresher opinion on it. Putting a thinking man's analytical sights on this movie, I've come up with a bit of a reasonable argument for why, like it or hate it, this film is not necessarily terrible and why it is, indeed, underrated.

A brief synopsis: The film stars Tom Green as Gordy, a slacker in his mid-to-late thirties who cycles back in forth to pursuing his dream of being a cartoon show artist and part time cheese sandwich factory worker to returning home in failure to his disappointed parents. It already sounds a little absurd and a little dramatic, but Gordy embraces every failure, every misstep as if it were a new opportunity to change the world in some ridiculous way that is even worse than his bigger "goals." This leads him on a very strange and deranged journey to find himself and make peace with his father, played by a very eccentric and angry Rip Torn. I won't lie there are some very stupid, mind boggling, disgusting, twisted, and just absolutely horrifying things that go on in this movie. Things that, if viewed back to back, would make you wonder why the movie isn't rated far lower than it already is. But again, there is my case.

First I will quote Roger Ebert in his damnening review of the film: "The day may come when Freddy Got Fingered is seen as a milestone for neo-surrealism. The day may never come when it is seen as funny." I can agree as much as I can disagree. The film is no doubt surreal in its own way. But I am one who always says that certain things can be seen as funny if the audience can accept the context in which it is trying to be funny. That being said, Freddy Got Fingered is in the retarded complex. Please, don't take offense to my usage of the word "retard," if you've seen the film you'll know I'm not wrong.

I do in fact label this movie as retarded. Despite what we may think, there are very few things we can label films these days. We mostly constrict labels to old genres. In that sense, I don't necessarily see Freddy Got Fingered as a comedy. I honestly think it can be seen as a horror movie as much as a comedy. I will describe a few "jokes" in the movie: the movie opens with Gordy laying on a bed narrating some actually well done drawings, losing focus and giggling at his own story in dopey glee; in the wake of his failures he pretends to be a scuba diver looking for teasure in his shower, or constructing a device that allows him to play piano (badly) while dangling stringed up sausages in front of his mouth to eat with not hands; he accidentally kills, purposefully mutilates, and wears a moose in order to "get inside his characters"; a go-lucky kid is horrifically injured throughout the film; Gordy at one point delivers a baby, swings it around a room by its umbilical cord, then chews the cord off; near the end of the film he somehow jerks off an elephant to a grotesque effect. People laugh at this, I laughed at this. We aren't laughing because it is funny, we are laughing because it is absurd, or laughable; we can't take it seriously. And because we cannot take it seriously, we can laugh; we accept the film's twisted sense of humour, or sense of story.

I justify the "retarded" label because the things Green's character does and the situations he gets in are absolutely ludicrous, stupid, and even disturbing. But to see it is to be overcome with an urge to laugh because it is ludicrous, because it is stupid. The disturbing part is just the bad after-taste. Even the title doesn't make sense; the "Freddy got fingered" plot point is pretty miniscule in comparison to the other things that happen in the movie. From one point of view, yes, Freddy Got Fingered is a bad film. I watch and I know it is a bad film. But why then should it be a hated film? There are plenty of bad movies that are absolutely beloved by some people. This movie is like the Eraserhead of the Y Generation; it is absurd, but creative in its absurdity. Creativity is beginning to be a hard thing to come by in Hollywood. I would much rather watch Freddy Got Fingered for sheer amazement and shock/entertainment value then Vampires Suck, a movie that you can tell from promotional material is going to be horrendous and not even entertaining (save for the people and fandom it is mocking, ironically). When it comes down to it, would you rather watch a bland bad movie or an out of this world bad movie?

Now, a hater would immediately jump to conclude that I must be some kind of cult fan of the movie or something. Not at all. Just because I saw the movie, realized what it was, ran with it, and enjoyed it doesn't mean I rank it with comedy classics like Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, and The Jerk. I just saw it differently then other people. So I don't think I quite like it just for how retarded it is, but the ambition behind its retarded outcome. Freddy Got Fingered is underrated in relation to the aspects I have detailed above. Do I recommend it, that depends on what you thought of this article.

This has been the longest Underrated article thus far from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.