Farce Of The Penguins Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
What Happens In Antarctica... Stays in Antarctica
A mockumentary that illuminates penguin survival and mating rituals, as well as one bird's search for love while on a 70-mile trek with his hedonistic buddies.
| Samuel L. Jackson | Narrator |
| Jason Alexander | Penguin on Belly |
| James Belushi | They're all bitches Penguin |
| Jason Biggs | Insecure Penguin |
| Lewis Black | Jimmy |
| Mario Cantone | Sidney |
| Dane Cook | Online Penguin |
| Dave Coulier | There's no snow Penguin |
| Norm Crosby | Carl's Grandfather |
| Cliff Dorfman | Angry Penguin |
| Adam Duritz | Sensitive Guy Penguin |
| Harvey Fierstein | Sheila |
| Gilbert Gottfried | Freezing Nuts Penguin |
| Jim Hazelton | No Personality Penguin |
| Jonathan Katz | Steve The Owl |
| Bob Saget |
4.00 out of 10 (986 votes)
Visitor Reviews
An Essential... For All the Wrong Reasons.
posted on 13 Jul 2009This may be perhaps the greatest example of "All-Star Cast, Poor Movie". Because the whole movie is voice-over, it's a pleasant surprise to have another character walk onto screen, say a line of obscene dialog, and then you exclaim, "Oh my God, that's _________!". The real core of this movie's demise I feel was that there was too little to work with, and that flaw had been realized. You can tell for the most part it wasn't at all rushed, and most of it was seemingly carefully plotted out... but there just isn't enough you can do with only so much footage of penguins walking around.Alas, most of the comedy is in Bob Saget's typical stand-up humor, and the voice-overs were very properly cast. In some places, the humor dried up, and you would feel as though the movie was trailing on. However, when a new voice or new action that the penguins did came on screen, it was a pleasant laugh.All in all I could say you could skip this movie entirely, but I'm going to have to say you should see it, anyways. It's a mark of progress to show how far Mr. Saget has come, and how willing he is to go out on such a limb. Sure the movie overall is a failure, but it should certainly be seen as a concept that could spark a series of newfound home video comedy.
not for all tastes(lots of very vulgar language)
posted on 19 Jun 2009i didn't like this movie at all.i think it's supposed to be a parody of March of the Penguins.but for me,it just wasn't funny.plus,i felt the humour consisted of mostly vulgar,crude language.there's a lot of the F-bomb(among other words) dropped here.this definitely isn't for kids.but i also just found it boring.i actually couldn't watch it all,because i found it too slow.as for the crude language,that doesn't always bother me,but i just found it gratuitous and too frequent.i don't think you always need to have swears to make things funny.it's not for every taste,that's for sure.if you don't mind a lot of very crude language,you might want to check this one out.for me,Farce of the Penguins is a 1/10
come on now
posted on 26 May 2009It's funny in a certain special way & if U indulge then U'll giggle all the way thru. Lotsa good 1~liners. Some interesting perspectives on how life today REALLY affects the nature surrounding us(??). I think it'd have been utterly hilarious sitting in on the writing sessions & applaud those brave enough to say YES I DO & participate in the production of this gigglefest. Now they say I have 2 fill 10 lines so I'm gonna use 'em well.... I do not know if I was a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or if I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. (Chaung Tzu) So there ya go. Ten lines 4 sure. Don't hate the haters, just don't pass 2 'em.
Could have been excellent
posted on 24 May 2009There were times we had some good laughs, but this really didn't need to be a film. The penguin footage had so little to do with what the comics were saying most of the time that it just got stupid after a while. It would have been just as good as an audio CD, maybe better.If the comics had really LOOKED at the footage as they riffed, and if the editing were a little more creative, Farce of the Penguins would have been great. As it is, the comic timing of the voices got thrown off by what the penguins were doing, and vice versa.The only reason I'm getting this for my video rental shop is that I think the advertising will make customers ask for it.
Delivers
posted on 12 May 2009If you're watching this movie without high expectations, or if you've ever seen Bob Saget's stand-up, you'll enjoy this movie.Samuel L. Jackson sets the tone right away, as well as the credits. After the first five minutes of this movie, you should expect about the same for the rest.Although this movie wasn't green-lit for theatres, it suffered from the same mentality of Idiocracy -- a movie for adults that would not have had a large audience. How does the public see Bob Saget these days? He was quiet for some years after Full House, where he played the "aw shucks" father, and being the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, but then there were rumours of his stand-up being raunchy. That's what drew me to see one of his shows, and it won me over. He was probably funnier because he wasn't what I expected -- but like other comics he was just on par.That's what you could say about the movie. It was funnier than you expected, but if you match it up with other movies of it's like, it may not match up.But if anything, it is MUCH funnier than most other "farce" movies.Which may not be saying much.
Seldom hilarity amidst the ridiculously cheap affair
posted on 30 Apr 2009This extremely minimal production yarn might be an embarrassing excuse for a mockumentery, but is not the completely useless piece of celluloid trash that some are making it out to be. Keeping in the stoner-addled tradition of things in fact, one may even squeeze off a few scatological belly laughs in the otherwise depressingly low-brow, low budget affair. Apparently it boils down to this: Writer/Director Bob Saget has a lot of friends in Hollywood. They may not all be on top of their game, many even out of the limelight for some time, but a common friend indeed they have with their oft-ridiculed, former television dork dad.What Saget gets to exploit out of this is a plethora of B-listers, which makes for an impressive cast on paper….but do not be fooled. On top of the disengaging sound quality which reeks of home studio, almost all of the frequent one line cameos done by celebrities are so apathetically subdued that one cannot help but think most of these people are phoning in a favor to an old Hollywood friend, with absolutely no intention on getting any attention in this project; who can blame them? Even at 80 minutes, relying on a low grade stash of penguin stock footage in order to manipulate a crude plot into this joke must have sounded drastically unappealing to most participants.Thankfully a few of Saget's crew actually rise to the occasion, that is to say that they do not let their hubris get in the way of embracing the full-on stupidity of the project. It is in those low-fi moments of tasteless class that a few voice actors and the rancid production actually get to shine in it's context. Samuel L. Jackson, as the narrator was an excellent choice, although even his central dialog feels like his head is somewhere else (to the scripts credit, they actually throw in a joke to echo this sentiment). The only other voice actors that make an earnest contribution to this goof are Lewis Black (who thankfully had a large role) and Tracey Morgan, making all other voice actors seem completely indifferent. For the few genuinely hilarious moments that reached further then this trite March of the Penguins farce, I am unexpectedly happy for, but for a majority of screen time, viewers need either be indulging their chemical dependencies, or mocking aloud with friends in order to receive anything special out of this shell of a movie.
Has a couple of moments, but not enough of them
posted on 28 Apr 2009The mockumentary "Farce of the Penguins" is obviously an attempt to cash in on the success of "March of the Penguins" while at the same time making fun of it. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, it is about two penguins, Carl (Bob Sagat), who is suffering from an identity crisis and heartbroken from past romantic failures, and his buddy Jimmy (Lewis Black), who only wants to eat and get laid, and their 70-mile travel to the penguin mating grounds in order to get some love.Basically, the filmmakers take some stock footage of some penguins and try and make and tie it together with a very basic plot that you'd find in a teen romantic film. It didn't inspire much interest for me. Throughout the process, numerous scatological humor is thrown in. The problem is, the film isn't very funny. I found most of the humor stupid, in which only teenagers (a market this film doesn't cater to)would find funny. Plus, I think Bob Sagat and Lewis Black take their roles too seriously. They compromise some humor in an effort to tell a story, which will be hard to do when you are trying to do so with only stock footage. They were making an 80-minute film (short by today's standards) a chore to get through, which was sad. It probably would've been much more entertaining had they played their roles loosely.However, I'd be lying if I said there weren't some good moments in the film. Samuel L. Jackson was quite entertaining, but sadly underutilized. I also found Tracy Morgan's role to be fun as well. Plus, at times I found the humor to be entertaining when the editing made it feel like their conversations were getting awkward.However, these few moments of humor have made a bad film into a below-average film. It is barely worth a rent. The most entertaining thing that came out of this picture is the fake interview Bob Sagat did for the special features section, which is 10 times funnier and about 1/5 the length of the film. Quite telling. 4 out of 10.
I have to agree...
posted on 26 Apr 2009I never saw March of the Penguins, but it had to be better than this dreadful use of tape/disc. Bob Saget should have stayed with Full House. Not only was this movie a waste of time, but it was one that I would not even consider letting my children watch (once in a while my husband and I will "screen" a movie and decide whether or not to let the kids watch it)- not only because of the language, but because of the stupidity. In my opinion, this movie was not released in the theaters for a reason...the same reason it should not have been released on video. It makes me wonder what the directors/producers were thinking while making some of these movies- would they rent/buy it if they didn't already know the storyline? I will not be recommending this to anyone looking for a movie- even if it's one to put them to sleep.
A cheap piece of work that gets by more on the absurdity of the plot than any real laughs
posted on 31 Mar 2009STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning A made for video spoof of March of the Penguins, with Samuel L Jackson taking over narrating duties with a much sharper tone, a much sassier attitude and a much fouler mouth!Some recent spoofs that have hit the cinemas, including Epic Movie and Date Movie, have been rather below par, so I thought there might be some hope with this video spoof of 2005's renowned documentary March of the Penguins. It looked inspired enough, right down to Jackson doing the voice-over, his harsh, commanding voice in contrast to Morgan Freeman's soft, gentle delivery in the proper film. But, really, that's all that is funny, the concept of the film. Or rather, how ridiculous the idea of talking penguins is. Not just talking penguins, farting penguins, penguins that get into arguments with the narrator, penguins that swear and talk like they're from Da Getto, and penguins that, well, make idiots of themselves. The material is sadly just not funny enough to rise it above the absurdity of the story, but there are, to be fair, worser spoofs out there at the moment and considering how cheaply it's all been put together (one penguin even jokes about hating appearing in this "stock footage filled piece of crap!") that's actually quite an achievement. **
a Good Parody
posted on 29 Mar 2009I thought this was pretty well done considering there was no filming done, they used all stock footage. Those comments that criticize the quality of the humor have no idea how difficult it is to write an original screen play around existing footage shot at different times and from various film makers. Bob Saget did a very good job of lampooning those "warm and fuzzy" nature films. Don't be put off when you see Bob Saget is the Writer/Director. Bobs' Comedy is far different and very mature compared with his roles on "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "Full House". If you're some bleeding heart liberal tree hugger or just a wimp this movie will be far too offensive for you. Otherwise, watch and enjoy.
OK sendup of MARCH
posted on 25 Mar 2009FARCE is a foulmouthed spoof of MARCH, and follows the same plot line. In fact, the footage looks uncannily like MARCH, although it apparently was culled from various stock sources. Bob "Full House" Saget wrote and directed this very adult comedy, and plays the hero with Lewis Black as his clumsy sidekick. Some of it is funny, a lot of it is not, and it goes on way too long. Saget employs about 30 celebrity voices, some for just one line, and many worked with him on THE ARISTOCRATS. The humor is straight from the toilet. Rest assured FARCE will never see the light of day on regular TV. They'd have to bleep every other word. I must say I am tickled to think some parents may inadvertently bring this home for the kiddies to watch, despite the R rating. The absolute lewdness that makes up 99 percent of FARCE actually begins before the opening of the movie! Among the special features, Saget does an absolutely insane 10-minute riff on the making of the film. He is truly demented, a "blue" Woody Allen much as he was in THE ARISTOCRATS. This is the guy who hosted 10 years of AFHV and for nearly as many years starred on the squeaky clean FULL HOUSE. Who knew?
Contains a relative amount of laughs, but the novelty wears off after a while
posted on 23 Mar 2009Bob Saget is a talented comedian, without a doubt. Anyone who only knows him from "Full House" and "America's Funniest Home Videos" is missing out on a lot. He is by no means a wholesome, family-oriented comedian that most people expect. His brand of comedy is uniquely edgy, and the fact that these dirty things are coming out of Danny Tanner's mouth makes him even funnier. Like with one of his previous directorial efforts "Dirty Work," "Farce of the Penguins" has several moments where you're laughing at the film more than with it. Unfortunately, this film has way too moments where it breaks the fourth wall, with moments like two French penguins (supposedly from the hit "March of the Penguins") watching the film and snobbishly criticizing it for being too crude. I can't deny that I was laughing throughout at least 70 percent of the film. It's certainly not a bad idea for a film: Making a parody of "MOTP" by using found footage and providing funny voice-overs. But like I said, the novelty wears off after a while. What is the novelty? The penguins are supposedly talking to each other...yet their mouths don't move. OK, I know you're supposed to suspend disbelief when watching movies, but this is a little too much disbelief to suspend. Even if this were an animated flick, the penguins mouths would be moving, helping the audience suspend disbelief. The voices are provided by tons of talented comedians, including (one of my favorites) Lewis Black, Whoopi Goldberg, Mo'Nique, Carlos Mencia, and Mario Cantone. Luckily, the way overrated Dane Cook only has a small cameo. The main voices are provided by Saget and Black, who both deliver plenty of laughs. OK, I'm not going to totally bash the film's visuals. There are moments where the stock footage is used wisely. Saget had a lot of experience providing voice-overs to found footage when he hosted "America's Funniest Home Videos." I'm sure that helped him conjure up the idea for this film. But film is, after all, a visual medium. So watching the same boring shots of penguins waddling across the ice or simply standing around gets tiresome after a while. I appreciate Saget's effort, but the idea could've been executed more effectively. Look out for Gilbert Gottfried's cameo. It's probably the funniest moment in the film.
Right picture wrong channel
posted on 21 Mar 2009I found it very much like turning the television volume down and the radio up. To start off with I really did think I had left another program on. I also found that some times you find it hard to tell which character is which. I think it would of been funny for a 5min you tube movie.It has some big names in which is nice and it is fun to work out who is who. It would of been good if it was child safe but they swear through out and the humour would be over (if not below) their level. There has been a lot of penguin movies out there and it seems this is just trying to jump on the bang waggon. Worth a look but don't rush to see it.
Hilarious
posted on 08 Jan 2009I give this movie a 1 out of 10.However, it was probably the funniest movie I have seen this year, besides jackass number 2. The reason it is so funny, is also the reason it gets a 1 out of 10. It has no plot, but uses stock footage of live penguins with celebrity voice overs...and of course bob saget.Sam jackson fighting with the voices has its moments, but gets old at points, but anything with sam jackson in it must have its due credit, because afterall it is sam jackson.Lewis Blakc makes an appearance, as well as gilbert godfrey, and his penguin walks around talking about how he is freezing a lot, and his penguin is just as annoying as him.Go see this movie. It's funny, but don't take it too seriously, hve fun with it.
Funny but too long by an hour send up of March of the Penguins. Its blue language is definitely not for the kids
posted on 29 Dec 2008Bob Saget makes a foul mouthed send up of the March of the Penguins. Having enlisted dozens of actors and comedians to provide voices, Saget has cobbled together a spoof of the award winning documentary March of the Penguins. Its penguins going on about sex and food and relationship and sex and bodily functions and sex with the bluest of blue language (so keep the kiddies away).How is it? More often than not this is very funny. The comedians provide lots of laughs in what are mostly asides to the man story of penguins going off to mate. Many of the jokes are the sort of one liners that can be used in other circumstances and there's a good chance that the film will end up being endlessly quoted.The trouble comes when the movie doesn't end after twenty minutes. Lets face it, as funny as the movie is, after twenty minutes you're ready to turn it off and go on to something else. Don't get me wrong the one liners continue to be funny all the way through but with out any real "plot" other than the mating cycle of the penguins the film becomes just a series of unconnected jokes, which is fun for a while but ultimately just becomes boring. I'm not sure I'd watch it a second time.Worth a rental with friends, but not worth buying.
Painfully unfunny.
posted on 13 Nov 2008I always knew Bob Saget was destined to make a god-awful parody movie, ever since his early days on Full House. And I knew it would turn out like it did. This was a terrible, extremely unfunny film that seemed to put in stupid sex jokes just to make it adult. It's about a lonely penguin Carl (voiced by Saget) who is horny, and on his way to the penguin mating grounds with his buddy penguin Jimmy (voiced by Black). My first thought when watching this is how did they get such known celebrities to become involved in this. Samuel L. Jackson narrates the thing, and really just wastes time. The main supporting roles are played by Christina Applegate, M'Onique, Whoopie Goldberg and Tracey Morgan. And there are dozens of cameo voices including most of the cast of Full House. Even with a talented cast it just seems really unneeded. The movie only had about 30 minutes of plot, and it was stretched paper thin. Just to add time, they'd add random cussing penguins (or even a random panda bear voiced by Harvey Fierstein) talking to the narrator for several minutes. Several stupid subplots came in, including Carlos Mencia playing a penguin trying to get to the top of a mountain. And to top off all of this awfulness, it also looks horrid. It's all done on archive footage of penguins that no one can tell apart. I hated this idiotic "parody" movie, and I hope Bob Saget lays low for the next 40 years.My rating: BOMB/****. 71 mins. R for sexual humor and language
Unwatchable
posted on 20 Sep 2008Too bad they don't have a "no star" vote. This movie is that bad. I watched "March of the Penguins" on video with a group of friends, and the ad lib comments made by our group were funnier than any of those made in this "Farce" version.Not only is this film not funny, it is not even interesting. The clips they use are a mishmash of penguins from various parts of the world - few of which match the dialog that accompanies them. The dialog is lame, and not funny in the least.I cannot give a review the entire movie, as I had to leave the room 30 minutes in. (And only made it the first half hour to be kind to our host that night). When I returned near the end, I learned that it became even more mind-numbingly boring through the endless repetition of both images and bad jokes.
Interesting idea for a parody, too bad it had to be so unfunny and dull
posted on 05 Aug 2008In 2005, "March of the Penguins", the award-winning documentary about the treacherous lives of emperor penguins in Antarctica, was released, and that was the year I saw it. It was definitely eye-opening for me, since I had no clue how rough those penguins had it! Since then, for quite some time, I've been aware of the title, "Farce of the Penguins", but didn't see it for a while. This is a direct-to-DVD send-up of the 2005 documentary, with real stock footage of penguins and sometimes other wildlife, put together to make a story, with dialogue added. This could have turned out to be a really good film if it was actually funny, which it unfortunately isn't.Down in Antarctica, the male penguins are on their long journey to the breeding grounds, where the females are waiting for them. Two of these male penguins are Carl and Jimmy, best friends who talk a lot about relationships (including past ones), and other things, on their way to their destination. Meanwhile, as the females wait, there's also a lot of talk about sexual relationships back at the breeding grounds, especially between Melissa and Vicki. Carl and Melissa are both longing for a lover, and have yet to meet each other. Eventually, after the males finally make it to their destination and meet the females, Carl and Melissa soon fall in love. However, Carl and Jimmy's friendship gets awkward after Jimmy accidentally has sex with Melissa one night in the dark while she is asleep and he feels something soft! Basically, "Farce of the Penguins" has the same problem as many other modern comedies. Two words that can be used to describe the humour in this spoof are crude and juvenile. Some of these comedies can be described as crude, juvenile, and FUNNY, while some can only be described as crude and juvenile. Sadly, this is one of the latter. The film is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, and during the opening narration, he says some very unfunny, juvenile things about growing your pubic hairs if you want to come to Antarctica. There are definitely a lot of sex jokes in the film, which includes clips of various animals having sex put in for laughs, and these sex jokes don't tend to be funny. Another thing, you guessed it, there are some fart jokes, which are also lame. It seems the juvenile gags were just thrown in, and could have been a lot funnier if it actually took some comedic talent to come up with them. Not only is the humour severely lacking, the plot is also dull, it never improves along the way.This is definitely NOT the worst spoof movie I've ever seen. The worst spoof movie I've ever seen is definitely "Epic Movie", made by the infamous Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. I haven't seen any of Friedberg and Seltzer's other recent films, but they could easily be just as bad, so I'm not going to bother watching any of them, and if they were the ones who made "Farce of the Penguins", I'm sure it would have been worse (perhaps MUCH worse) than it turned out to be with Bob Saget as the writer and director. However, this spoof of the 2005 hit documentary on the lives of emperor penguins in their frigid habitat is still pretty lame, and it's probably a good thing it wasn't played in theatres, since that probably would have given it more undeserved attention. As a direct-to-DVD release, it seems to have been widely ignored, which is actually not a bad thing.
OK, what the heck?
posted on 22 Jul 20083/10 overall quality, with a 2/10 watchability factor I like a mindless comedy as much as the next guy. Heck, I have my own list of my favorite BAD movies that are funny. But this...is just...pathetic, like all Bob Saget's comedic attempts. And it's not the fault of the co-stars, they try their best, but not even the brilliant Lewis Black could pull this lousy script out of the gutter! It's about as funny as reading the phone book out loud. Not to mention WAY too many gratuitous uses of the "f" word...most of which didn't make any f'n sense (hehehe) Sorry...had to do that.In conclusion, my advice is go ahead and watch it for yourself, you MIGHT like it, but only if you like Saget's comedy style, which is about 5-10% of the population roughly.I can't speak for everyone, but if I might skirt a copyright violation: This movie gets two thumbs up....so I could gouge out my eyes and ears! ;)
Soundtrack Question
posted on 30 Aug 2009this movie is too funny...where can i find a list of the soundtrack tho cuz i want that song that Carl and Melissa sing b4 they meet...they one "I'll already know" or whatever..there are also a few other songs i would like to find from this movie...on another note i highly recommend this movie for one good laugh although i do not recommend it for children as the adult language and content could be a bit offensive. I was also wondering if anyone else thought that the narrator was more sounding like Morgan Freeman then Samuel L Jackson. Just another thought i had. I rate this movie ten out of ten for severe comic relief. A much better movie then its spoof