I don’t know exactly where this movie lost me, I think for the most part it was because it was just so impractical and extremely predictable.

I really like Ed Helms and have enjoyed Amanda Seyfried since this movie where she played a psycho named Chloe.

So the story is that Eddie (Ed Helms) plays the role of a somewhat socially awkward guy who makes a living by being a fake audience member for infomercials. He acts surprised, he sometimes asks questions that he has been told to ask, and of course he applauds or “claps” and this, combined with the famous infomercial from the 80's, is where the movie got its name.

He also has a bit of a relationship with a girl, Judy, who works at a gas station and she, as it turns out, is even more quirky than he is. She is shy and would generally prefer to not be around people so here job where she works in the register box at a gasoline station is a good mix for her.

Anyway, Eddie ends up becoming somewhat of a celebrity when a late night TV show coincidentally does an expose on infomercials and identifies him as “The Clapper” because he is spotted by the show’s producers for being the same guy in multiple shows but wearing varying degrees of disguise.

He doesn’t want the attention and it starts to negatively influence his life. I suppose that the lesson is meant to be that fame has a dark side as well because even though he was poor, he was reasonably happy with his work (which he can no longer get because he has been called out at “The Clapper.” Also, fans of him have started stalking Judy and because of her shyness she shuts out Eddie and everyone else after she loses her job because of paparazzi camping the location.

The story has a predictable storyline, and it isn’t really even that funny so much as it is a "get on with it already" type experience. Therefore, I can’t really rate it very high and agree with the mainstream critics when i join them in panning this pretty terrible movie.

3.5 / 10