Land of the Lost: How To Make A Bad Comedy

I know that I doubted myself when I picked this up from my local library so I figured I should address any concerns you might have about me viewing this movie. First: did I buy this movie without buying it? Of course not. I intentionally made sure I wouldn't pay to see it which is why I mentioned picking it up at the library. The reviews were terrible and I had no personal interest in the film from the get go. Second: even if you didn't pay for it why would you decide to watch this? Two reasons I figured I could diagnose this movie's problems and suggest some solutions and you can't truly love a good comedy without seeing a bad one. Also it's not fully fair to judge a movie you've never seen with a few notable exceptions.

Instead of giving you the plot which you probably figured out from the first preview I'm simply going to note each of the movie's problems and how they could have fixed them.

Diagnosis 1: Cast Too Small.
Aside from a couple of bits at the beginning and the end the cast is basically three humans and the winner of the missing link look alike contest. So that leaves us with Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel (an actress I have seen in nothing else). Now if you're fans of the first two guys this could sound like a great thing. I am a fan of both of these guys but any delivery or character gets boring by itself after sixty minutes not to mention ninety. I know a lot of people feel that a lot of actors just play the same character over and over again and this movie really gives you that feeling. The reason Ferrell's other movies work even though the characters are similar is because of the other funny people around him. In Anchorman he had Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, Vince Vaughn and cavalcade of cameos. Here it's just Will all the time.

Prescription: I don't know if they were aiming to be true to the series but if Ferrell and friends had run into another group of people who happened to be in a similar predicament it would've been fantastic. In an ideal world I think it should include Tom Hanks as a leader, James Franco reprising his role as Saul from Pineapple Express , and Christina Applegate as the resident female. Sounds a lot more interesting doesn't it?

Diagnosis 2: Identity Crisis
This is a movie that clearly doesn't know which audience it is appealing to. A lot of the humor is so childish that it feels like they're aiming for a family movie feel and hell it probably wouldn't been a good family movie with a bunch of dinosaurs and a PG rating. But Ferrell and company seemed to find an obligation their established audience and decide to make it Will's song and dance and include obligatory sex, drug, and gay jokes thus earning the film with a PG-13 rating. Then comes probably the worst decision which was to ramp up the budget and spend the money to make the movie an "adventure movie". This might sound strange but I would be curious to see Will Ferrell as an everyman action hero. It would be something new for him but sadly here it's just same old Will Ferrell mugging for jokes as he runs for his life.

Prescription: I honestly think they could make three movies out of this. They just need to choose one. Go for immature family comedy with dinos for the PG rating. If you're going to make it PG-13 make it zany and clever enough to deliver a lot of laughs and don't try to make it a CGI fest and focus on a good script instead. Or if you decide on an adventure film do it like Will Ferrell is Harrison Ford or something. Or and here's a thought considering the tv series original audience is older now just ramp up the absurdity add in some real cursing and obligatory nudity and you'll have an R-rated comedy. Just pick something instead of the mash up job.

Final Diagnosis: Misuse of Budget
Now this film didn't make a significant amount of money at the box office and probably won't be a huge hit on DVD either. In total the movie made about sixty million total at the box office. Now if this movie had been made for thirty million rather than a hundred this wouldn't be a bad thing. It's also very clear that most of the budget went to special effects. Once again a bad idea. Half the time people see some movies is because of who is in them. So spend that money on someone who is almost guaranteed some box office notice like Will Smith. Come to think of it how awesome would it be to have him in a movie like this?

Prescription: Get Will Smith in a movie with Will Ferrell. My mind is now just racing with the idea at this point. Well it would have to be an action comedy there's no way around that. I'm thinking Hancock 2 if that does get made we should go in a ridiculous direction where Will Ferrell is either the main villain or a wanna be sidekick that somehow finds a way to get Hancock to keep him around. Kind of a what if Syndrome from the Incredibles hadn't been spurned by Mr. Incredible.

Now with my final diagnosis and professional opinions given I will say that those of you who like stupid movies will enjoy this as well as the chemically altered. For those who all old enough to imbibe legally I won't say that you should do this before you watch this movie, let alone watch this movie period but if you decide to go against your better judgment you at least have a way to make the experience a little more tolerable. Those underage will just have to stay up for a number of nights packing like I did........and then find yourself giggling at something you know to be unfunny.