Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: Trailer Park Boys: The Movie is stupid. Undeniably so - one of the stupidest movies you'll ever see. It suffers from haphazard, mockumentary-style filmmaking (as per the hit Canadian TV show from which it was adapted), poor storytelling (and, let's face it, a poor story to tell) and above all, a cast of petty criminals and druggies who are often too bizarre to be taken seriously. It's not quite the level of artistry you'd expect from a high-schooler, but it's not too far off, either.
But with that stupidity, series creator/director Mike Clattenberg may just be onto something. The movie may have all of these negative qualities going for it, but it also has a true positive in its originality. You don't get that seeing the same old Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly shtick rehashed for the umpteenth time. Indeed, there's a certain quirkiness to these Trailer Park Boys, one of whom lives out of his car and another in a garden shed. And it strikes you in such a way that, by the end of the movie, you kind of start to like them.
That would appear to be the case, anyway. The TV program recently wrapped up the seventh season of adventures for Ricky (Robb Wells), Julian (John Paul Tremblay) and Bubbles (Mike Smith, doing his best impersonation of the legendary "Milton," from Office Space). Their "universe" - a Nova Scotia trailer park called Sunnyvale - is an odd one, but its inhabitants and the situations they find themselves in truly make one appreciate what we have in the real world. Which, for a movie of this sort, is certainly an achievement.
Early on in the film, Ricky and Julian are sent to prison for 18 months for robbing a gas station. Once they're released, though, they find some major changes underway in Sunnyvale. Ricky returns home to find the stability of his family life falling apart. His girlfriend, Lucy, has taken up stripping at a local gentleman's club, and may or may not have become a lesbian, and their cigarette-smoking daughter (all of about 9 years old, mind) has started stealing barbecue grills and selling them at flea markets. I could go on, but why ruin all the surprises?
Their time in prison has left the boys with a newfound desire for pulling off "The Big Dirty," a dimwitted new scheme that involves stealing large amounts of change. If there's any shock to the revelation that this plan trumps all their earlier crimes, it will be nullified once you meet their crew - including a pair of inept stoners who ride around on a snowmobile and Ricky's father, who pretends to be handicapped so as to claim disability checks from the government.
Throughout their quest, a multitude of things go wrong. And as each new bump in the road is reached, it's a testament to the stupidity of the movie that everything ultimately gets resolved. Sometimes, it's almost an insult to our collective intelligence as an audience the way they try and pass things off. A courtroom sequence that will decide the boys' fates sees their charges dropped almost at the snap of a finger for reasons that should, effectively, have prevented the case from even going to trial.
But at the same time, the boys set their stupidity in such a context so as to make it kind of enjoyable. Their brand of humor is not easily identified, initially. In fact, most of the time, it requires a good minute or two of thought to decipher. But that extra thought process reveals a new brand of hilarity, making the laughs deeper and more rewarding. I'd hesitate to encourage you to check it out, but if you go in expecting, you might just leave with a smile on your face.
1.5 stars out of 4
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