Movie review: 'Postal' delivers funny madness

Postal: Comedy. Starring Zack Ward, Dave Foley, J.K. Simmons and Verne Troyer. Directed by Uwe Boll. (R. 116 minutes. At the Roxie Film Center in San Francisco.)

It's no exaggeration to say that Uwe Boll is the most openly despised filmmaker of his generation. Another director may have put together a string of movies hated as much by the media as "BloodRayne," "Alone in the Dark" and "House of the Dead." But no one else would even think to set up a boxing match so he could pound on five of his critics as revenge.

Boll's films have been so despised that the idea of reviewing them has become all but moot. A new Boll film becomes less of a piece of art to be judged subjectively than a foregone conclusion - a cinematic pinata to test a writer's ability to write a snarky rant warning moviegoers against seeing whatever new atrocity the director has managed to get released in theaters.

So what to do with "Postal," which is not only less than horrible, but actually occasionally enjoyable? The much-delayed low-budget movie may be completely beyond the bounds of mainstream taste, but it's also funny, and criticizes our government's hypocrisy and political correctness in a way that's refreshingly pointed. If this movie had been made by an unknown young director, a lot of critics would still be panning the movie for its inconsistencies - but many others would be praising his courage.

"Postal," like most of Boll's recent films, is a video game remade into a motion picture. Except this game was pretty bad to begin with, so it doesn't matter as much when Boll takes his usual liberties with the source material - even casting himself as a Nazi theme park owner. Several other parts of "Postal" seem scripted (also by Boll) specifically to shock mainstream movie audiences and goad the media into doing the marketing for him. Mission accomplished: As early as April 2007, newspapers and bloggers were demonizing Boll for the movie's opening scene, which builds humor around the terrorists who executed the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks.

After that's over, "Postal" focuses on the Postal Dude (Zack Ward), basically a good guy whose morbidly obese wife cheats on him and who can't even last five minute in an unemployment office without getting thrown out. After accidentally killing a pushy vagrant, he ends up on the commune of his sleazy cult leader uncle (Dave Foley). Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush both figure into the plot, which also hinges on Mini-Me actor Verne Troyer playing himself as a kidnap victim, and a hot new toy that's shaped like a pair of testicles.

It's an unfocused movie, with much lower production values than more generously budgeted Boll productions such as "BloodRayne." (For years, Boll movies had been augmented by healthy tax breaks provided by the German government, which no longer offers the perks.) Much of the humor is cliched, and Boll's seething anger at his real-life tormenters often gives his script a bitterness that is more awkward than funny.

But there's still a catharsis that comes from watching the madness unfold onscreen, making the film a potential future double-bill partner with "Team America World Police." Boll's greatest asset is the underrated Ward, a longtime character actor who is best known for playing the red-haired bully Scut Farkus in "A Christmas Story," and tends to show up these days in small roles in big projects - including "The Transformers" and "Lost." Clearly grateful to be the leading man (and apparently unfazed by the more unsavory parts of the script), he throws himself into the role. Ward is likable and wry, but still looks right as an action hero when it comes time to start blowing stuff up.

And blow stuff up he does, but this time the low-budget look that Boll embraces seems to be on purpose.

-- Advisory: This film contains crude humor, sex scenes, graphic violence, drug use, profanity and something called a Krotchy Doll, which is even more disturbing than it sounds.