Not all creative people have problems, but it seems that they all get caught up at some time or another, with problems due to too much time and money. An interesting story in the life of one of the founders of National Lampoon Magazine.

Exceeding expectations, this film is not only funny but ultimately endearing.

Huge surprise for me. Wasn't on my radar, but I love Will Forte and this was a hilarious take on the history of a beloved comedy institution.

You know, there's a thing that people often associate with geniuses, whether they be literary, musical or comedy geniuses, that they're tortured souls that flame out way before their time. You don't necessarily even have to die for this to be the case, but people more often than not remember those who passed away at the peak of their creative (or commercial) success. People like Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Ernest Hemingway immediately come to mind. Though, admittedly, the latter was in his early 60s when he committed suicide. All the others died at the age of 27, which sparked a conspiracy theory (because of course it did) concerning as to why these important figures in music died at the same age. This movie focuses on what some would call a comedy genius, as far as writing was concerned, in Doug Kenney. I don't even know why anyone would deny Doug Kenney's genius in helping shape comedy not just in the 70s and 80s, but even to this day his influence is still being felt to this day, almost four decades after Kenney's death. National Lampoon's creation and its output, from stage shows, to albums, to radio shows and (of course) the magazine definitely helped kick-start Saturday Night Live, who took many of Lampoon's sketch performers and writers as members of its cast and writing crew. SNL is still in the air as we speak. SNL succeeded because it had the right cast with the right humor at the right time and that can't be attributed to National Lampoon, but they definitely showcased a spotlight on a different style of humor that would be popularized in the coming decades. You could make the argument that people like Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and those types of guys are what National Lampoon would look like in the modern era. And, I'm fairly certain that the Seth Rogens of the world and such idolize the Lampoon style of comedy. So, again, the influence that brand has had on comedy continues to be felt to this day and, honestly, will continue to be felt for years to come, even if the majority of casual movie audiences might not even realize it. Having said that, naturally, Doug Kenney co-created the magazine with Henry Beard and, even then, they weren't the only contributors to the magazine and every other outlet they may have had. But, obviously, Doug and Henry were the co-captains of this pirate ship, so to speak. The first half or so of the film deals with Doug and Henry's struggles to get the magazine up and running and how, at first, they struggle to break even on the magazine. Naturally, of course, the magazine starts picking up steam and you get to see the rewards of that success. But, of course, this is really where the downfall for Doug starts. After stretching himself creatively thin over various different outlets (radio, live performances, albums, the magazine itself), Doug is completely burnt out and he just walks out on his partner and fellow writers. This is only 40 minutes into the film, mind you, so you're curious how they're gonna follow all of this up. He left Henry, alone, to carry the load of making sure the magazine went out on time, making sure to manage all the egos with all the writers, the lack of any upward mobility in terms of economic stability (since, at this point, Matty still hasn't bought them out). He basically ditches Henry to go on a six-month sabbatical to clear his mind and, maybe, come back to the Lampoon with renewed vigor and passion. Once he returns, he forces Matty to buy them out, finally giving Doug and Henry the money they deserved for making the Lampoon into a behemoth, but eventually Henry quits, feeling unhappy at everything that has transpired. After Doug comes back, he struggles to maintain relevant. This doesn't last long, and fast forwarding a bit, he ends up pitching Animal House to Universal, who, begrudgingly, agreed to finance the movie. Animal House, at the time, became the most successful comedy of all time. Doug did this on his first try. And I feel that this is where the beginning of the end comes for Doug. Doug always tries to play everything off as a joke, he's always looking to drop in an one-liner. This is as a result of his own insecurities as a result of his relationship with his dad (whose oldest son, the golden boy, died and ever since then, nothing Doug has done could make him proud, no matter how successful he is). As cliche as this might sound, but Doug is a victim of his own success. He was never satisfied with his success. Never, he was always looking forward and trying to find ways to top himself. Again, his insecurities are on full-display here. There's one scene later in the flick, where Doug and his girlfriend went to see Airplane! and when he leaves the theater, realizing that the movie he saw was a classic, he pities himself, feeling that it's over for him. Because, apparently, there can't be room for more than one successful comedy movie at one time. Everything is there to destroy his career. In a lot of ways, this story really is a sad one, because, again, Doug was never able to come to terms with his own level of success. Nothing ever satisfied him. The fact that his magazine was influential in getting SNL on the air wasn't relevant to him, what mattered to him was that, he felt, that SNL was stealing his writers and his comics. Because of these insecurities, Doug turned to alcohol. And this is where the movie gets a little predictable in its portrayal of how drugs destroyed a promising career and forced a talented comedic writer on a downward spiral that, ultimately, he would never recover from. I'm obviously glossing over a lot of the film in this review, but I'm going over, what I feel, are the most important bits. The movie, very cleverly, uses an older version of Kenney to tell his story and there's plenty of times when they break the fourth wall with Martin Mull (the older Kenney) interjecting himself in scenes that play out in the 70s or 80s. It's not obnoxious and, honestly, fits within the comedic style the movie chooses to employ. The movie is exceptionally well-cast. Will Forte does a great job as Kenney and he makes him an insufferably empathetic character. Because he does things that, really, make him look like an asshole, but you still root for him to find his way back to sobriety again. Of course, if you know how the real story played out then you know that's not gonna be the case, but you're still invested in him. But it sucks that Kenney wasn't secure enough in his own talents to realize how he helped changed the landscape of American comedy forever. Like I mentioned, Forte does a great job as Doug, but the supporting cast is very strong. It's cool seeing all these comedy legends (Belushi, Murray, Radner, Ramis and Chase) all grow together as performers under the same 'system', as it were and seeing where they would go post-National Lampoon. As far as the movie is concerned, I definitely enjoyed it. It was just a entertaining to see how this 'empire' came together. There's the obvious biographical cliches and those do hold the movie back. I'd still say this was an enjoyable movie with an influential, but tragic, lead character. I'd recommend it if you even remotely care about the history of comedy in the U.S. I'm sure the book this is based on and the Lampoon documentary give better insight into their history, but this is a good complement to that. Definitely an entertaining, if unessential, watch.

Neat little biopic on National Lampoon.

Very fun, light, well made biography. Smashing and rebuilong the forth wall only to smash it again and so on. Very amusing and self aware, suiting the subject of the plot. Worth watching.

Movie was done very well. Cast worked together.

Interesantísimo biopic ficcionado que gira alrededor de Doug Kenney y su trabajo como creador de la famosa revista National Lampoon. No solo es divertida y utiliza muchos interesantes trucos de edición y exposición, sino que además usa una serie de recursos narrativos muy interesantes y nada típicos en este tipo de historias, que hacen que el visionado sea aun más impactante (especialmente sino estas familiarizado del todo con la figura de Kenney). Y lo mejor de todo es que tiene mucho sentido su uso, pues parece casi un chiste del propio Kenney. El trabajo de Will Forte es muy bueno, aunque sus compañeros de reparto no estan lejos. Y no sé porque pero Joel McHale como Chevy Chase no me ha molestado tanto como podría (aunque muy posiblmente sí que ha molestado a Chase...XD)Sin duda uno de los mejores biopics que he visto nunca.

Uma comédia que todos deviam vez, de fútil só o nome.

Sometimes this type of gesture is called for. So you may not know who Doug Kenney (Will Forte) is, but you are more than likely familiar with his work. Specifically, he is the brain behind National Lampoon, which made Animal House, Caddyshack and a number of other movies and magazines. This is the story of how this odd duck goofball ended up creating an empire. Now by this point you know me: it is not hard to convince me to watch a film. This is another one of those little movies that just popped up on Netflix one day without warning, and I heard a positive thing or two, so I figured why not. For being such a small indie movie with not much money behind it, I think it succeeds more often than not, which is what I usually look for in my Netflix movies. Now this is from director David Wain, which makes sense because of all the ties between Wet Hot American Summer and Netflix. It is very much his sense of humor from start to finish, as it is offbeat and never afraid to take the situation to the next level of awkward. There are plenty of moments where Doug can ruin a relationship in the span of a conversation, and it's not like he needed any outside help in doing so. I really like Will Forte in this. While I may not care for every single project he stars in, I've never denied his talent, and I do want to see him lead a successful career with quality films. He also has a band of highly skilled character actors backing him up, some in almost cameo roles. There's Domhnall Gleeson, Joe Lo Truglio, Joel McHale, Matt Walsh, Thomas Lennon and more. I don't know if you followed the production of the television show Community or not, but Joel McHale plays Chevy Chase in this. That show was a giant vehicle for McHale, and Chase single-handedly made it overly difficult to produce, so if this isn't poetic justice, I don't know what is. I liked this more than I didn't, and it walks that delicate tightrope of being laugh out loud funny and making you care about the people involved in this self-destructive story. Doug Kenney is portrayed as having a rather difficult personality, and he would be hard to be around all the time, so it makes sense that most of his personal relationships fail. I'm not just talking about romantic relationships, either, I'm talking about relationships with his friends as well. The quick moving one-liners keep you engaged until you sympathize, and then the story carries it the rest of the way. It's 100 minutes and readily available on Netflix, you should check this out when you have a minute.

Forte is a very funny actor and I'm happy to see he is branching away from all the slapstick comedies he started with. Teaming up with David wain, who is also filmmaking away from the usual comedy he creates, it's interesting to see filmmakers evolve from the normal genre. The film is interesting but never goes to the depth it should, you tend to leave with the empty feeling of not receiving a real bio experience. The actors and people in this film is amazing but they never dig that deep or provide a lot of backstory, the film needed to be another 40 minutes longer. I enjoyed the film but didn't love the film, I liked the style of the film with the lampooning style but it lacked a lot depth to really set itself apart. fun but sadly forgetful. 20-03-2018.

Probably funnier than National Lampoon magazine and Animal House itself! Great watch comedy lovers and fanatics and writers and artists and people and humans and dogs... and Gods!!

3.5 out of 5 starsA comedic biopic that's a touch manic in its approach.  It has a super cast, attention grabbing overall look and feel, and easy enough to follow narrative.  Knowing nothing about Douglas Kenney, I am left at the mercy of the Director (David Wain) who stylistically makes it difficult to figure out what is truthful as opposed to satirical.  The ending is abrupt and unexpected, but I didn't hate it.

A Futile and Stupid Gesture depicts the life story of Doug Kenney and the creation of "National Lampoon". Doug Kenney revolutionized comedy and will have an ever lasting impression on it and this movie provides the viewer with a front row seat into his twisted, comedic mind. The evolution of National Lampoon is an intriguing journey to be apart of as it grows from a simple comic book magazine to producing historic comedy movies. Will forte does a fantastic job as Doug Kenney while Martin Mull narrates throughout the movie as "Modern Doug". This movie is great for anyone looking to laugh out loud and also learn about how some of the most classic comedies came to fruition.

Funny yet sad, unrefined yet erudite. Any true fan of modern comedy and its strange history will enjoy this film.