Awfully Good Movies: Movie 43

In this episode of Awfully Good, we revisit Movie 43, one of the worst comedies ever made.

February 16th 2023, 11:09am

Last Updated on February 23, 2023

DIRECTORS: Peter Farrelly, James Gunn, Elizabeth Banks, among many others

CAST: Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone, Halle Berry, among many (unfortunate) others

Ten years ago, Hollywood subjected audiences to one of its foulest experiments in cinema, and Awfully Good Movies is revisiting the crappy comedy compilation known simply as Movie 43!

Before Peter Farrelly proved himself outside of the gross-out comedy genre with Green Book, he and longtime Farrelly Brothers producer Charles B. Wessler took four years and $6 million to make what they thought would be the modern day equivalent to John Landis’ Kentucky Fried Movie. But instead, the 13 shorts that Farrelly directed alongside some notable comedy directors and starred some of Hollywood’s biggest stars were brutally torn apart by critics as a parade of rejected Funny or Die shorts that had no business opening in theaters nationwide.

Whether it’s Hugh Jackman swinging his neck testicles on a date with Kate Winslet, Richard Gere inventing an iPod in the shape of a naked woman, or Johnny Knoxville capturing a leprechaun with the head of Gerard Butler, none of Movie 43’s supposedly outrageous skits will have you laughing, nor will they make much sense. But if anyone wanted to see what it’d look like if Jason Sudeikis and Justin Long played a speed-dating Batman and Robin, Movie 43 does offer that much at least.

And speaking of DC Comics, a pre-Guardians James Gunn is here to provide a short about a gay cartoon cat pissing on Elizabeth Banks that most assuredly did not help him land his new chairman job. Other than that, Movie 43 is a leaning tower of cringe comedy that does no favors for any of its celebrities’ careers, whether you watch it in 2013 or 2023. I’m not saying this movie was as bad for movie theaters as corona was, but I’m not not saying it.