Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

2024: Post #67
Watched April 16th
On the Criterion Channel IMDB
Directed by: Tom Green
Written by: Tom Green, Derek Harvie
TSPDT: 12,740

87 minutes. I’ll get it out of the way early, I can’t help but like this stupid movie.

I know it’s a meme, but I don’t really care about that too much. If you are able to see past Tom Green being loud and obnoxious it’s actually a sweet comedy and holds a very unique place in movie history. In addition to all the zany shit that happens on screen, it is very much a time capsule of late 90s skate punk humor as well. I remember when this came out, remember quoting it, and remember somehow feeling like Tom Green would have easily been a friend.

There are a ton of jokes that don’t age well. Most of it probably. There are jokes about child abuse, sexual assault, a series of running jokes about disabilities, it’s rife with the type of content that would not be in a film today. And that’s not cool, but at this point it’s impossible for me to separate this out in my head and say that I’m offended. The spirit of the movie is so surreal, in my mind it is simply not judged on the same scale as other comedies.

There’s a push to have this redefined as a surrealist piece, or a work of avant-garde filmmaking. I know that sounds absurd, but I do think the movie works best through that lens. It’s not a studio comedy, it’s a satire of romcoms. But that’s not all it is. It’s a satire of coming-of-age films, raunchy comedies, and it’s also just completely Tom Green. He was pranking alongside the best of the 90s skater comedians. A spiritual cousin to Jackass but somehow much more puerile.

I won’t defend the movie for those who hate it, I get it. It’s an obnoxious film. But, it’s a movie tied to a particular time of my life and I’ll always have a soft spot for this particular brand of crazy.