A Futile and Stupid Gesture

This one was on the "back burner" for me for a great deal of time, mostly because of the fact that I didn't know who Douglas Kenney was. We have all heard of Animal House and Caddyshack and Douglas was the driving force behind both of them as well as many other projects.

But all that aside, the script, wit, and actors chosen for this film are absolutely perfect and this comedy is just brilliant.

[source](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/02/25/magazine/25mag-sentences1/25mag-sentences1-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)

While many people out there may not be familiar with the person who the film is mainly about, you almost certainly are familiar with the brand name National Lampoon, Saturday Night Live, or many of the pioneers in comedy that are portrayed in the film. One could probably make the argument that without Douglas Kenney, the comedic makeup of the 70s and 80's might have been very different. For starters, although Kenney did NOT actually establish Saturday Night Live, he did assemble most of the people who ended up being involved with the show it its early years.

This happened in an early radio show that showcased the abilities of a group of people that would later on all become star members of Saturday Night Live's freshman year. I don't know if you've heard, but Saturday Night Live has been a relative success as a show for over 40 years.

For the younger audience out there, I would imagine that the names of the comedians will likely have a lessor impact on them then it did me. I was a child of the 80's and can vividly remember most of these folks and how almost all of them were household names. Without Kenney, it is conceivable that some of them might have still made it into the public eye, but certainly not all of them.

The decision to frequently break the 4th wall throughout the film gives it a documentary feel and for me anyway, that is a good thing (thanks to @bozz for helping me to know that terminology.) I learned a lot about some of my favorite comedians from the 80's and also about the tremendous struggle that Douglas Kenney went through to get almost anyone to listen to his ideas that, as the film states, "changed comedy forever."

Some professional critics stated that there was too much material crammed into one movie and if you ever read my reviews you already know that nothing pisses me off more than when a film doesn't have enough material. Therefore, for me anyway, having too much is just the right amount.

This is an extremely well-done comedy that I almost didn't watch and honestly, at least for the last couple of months, is one of the best I have seen.