The Onion Movie (2008)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Not much should be said or time spent on reviewing such a thing. The Onion News is a thing online, and they made a film about it. The plot is basically that 'Norm' plays the traditional old school news broadcaster and is unhappy what his network is turning into, and then there's this whole development at the end and stuff, but none of that is actually important. What's actually significant, if at all ! - is the silly, even stupid but funny humor on display. They'll make fun of all sorts of clichés from today's world, from your Britney Spears type pop singer to those cheesy kungfu films, to ads or news stories, society... it's all there as you'd imagine it, and it's fun. For a first viewing at least, it makes for an unpredictable, dynamic and diverse experience in random and completely unadulterated humor. You should find at least some of it funny, if not, as most people I'd imagine, all of it fairly entertaining. I wouldn't call it 'bad' by any stretch, but it's no comedy gold either. Humor is one of these very subjective things: give it a try, watch the first few sketches.

Satire has a hard time in Hollywood these, well, decades really. I was shocked to realize that this gem was produced way back in 2003 (at the height of the terrorism hysteria) ... and weren't released until five years later, and that only via home entertainment. Many recognizable faces (some already then, some later coming into TV prominence) have bit parts in this biting satire over everything stupid in contemporary America and everywhere else. It sounds like a perfect formula. And for once, it actually is. It is a breath of fresh air in a sea of really lousy "comedies", 'Scary Movie 27' and the lot.Imagine that scene, some producers sit in their office and say, "This Onion stuff is really funny, let's ask them if they'd be interested in making a feature movie from it." The movie gets made, comes back: "That's so (...) funny." "Yeah ... We can't put it out." "Yeah, let's not put it out." "It's just too frickin' funny, ain't it?" "Yeah, it'll give us loads of problems to put that out."Americans seriously need to get a sense of humour. (...) you and good night. (Actual line from the film.)Oh, and God bless Seth McFarlane for picking up that thread. Americans sorely need it.

Calling THE ONION MOVIE a "movie" would be like calling JACKASS THE MOVIE a "movie". They are skits that should be seen on television programs, not relegated to such terms as sustainable films or "movies".The only upside The Onion Movie can claim is that it does come closer to having one storyline that is movie-ish. That storyline is played by Len Cariou (FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS) who portrays a fictional newscaster named Norm Archer. He doles out the fake news with deadpan expression while battling his networks overzealous campaign at advertising for one of its heavy hitter investors.The skit jokes take up most of this "movie's" thankfully short 80 minute run time. Cock Puncher Steven Seagal lends his Kung Fu talents to show off his latest upcoming, over-the-top, action flick, a film with broad-based appeal if you're in to crushing low-blows. Other not-so-funny moments are given over to a group of neighbors who invite a young woman over to play a game called Murder but change it up to a game called Rape (not funny at all). The shorter skits get the funnier laughs, though. The infamous "neck belts" put out by car manufacturers that cause explosive decapitation is pretty darned hilarious, as is the overtly sexy songs of a Brittany Spears-like singer who claims complete innocence regarding her rump pumping actions.Finally, the film ends on a pretty funny high-note for me. I'm not a cat person but I know people who are, so when I saw the final skit that "didn't make the cut for the movie", I nearly laughed myself silly. Rolling the cats in bread crumbs then plopping them in a pot of boiling oil was simply awesome.But the film, as a whole, has a lot of problems. Trying to interweave Norm Archer's newscasts with that of the skits really made the entire production feel off-balance. Which could be why this "movie" never made it to the silver screen and sat on a shelf for nearly 4 years before being released straight to DVD.

Hmmmm... About as funny as getting getting your balls cut off.Crass - Check. Unoriginal - Check. Racist - Check. Waste of time - Check.This movie missed the boat by about 20 years; definitely circa late 80's 'comedy' - and I use this word in the broadest sense of the definition...I think if you smoked about 1lb of grass, severed your brain stem and had a lobotomy you may just manage to laugh... Once. Come to think of it, the people who voted this movie's score so high were definitely suffering from the above mental afflictions.How this got over 1 in IMDb defies logic...Is there anyway to get a reclaim the memory and time I lost watching this abortion of a movie?