The Ridiculous 6

I've never been a huge fan of Adam Sandler. I like some of his movies like Happy Gilmore and Click. I even enjoy him a little bit more when he does dramatic work. I actually thought Funny People was a pretty decent movie. But Adam Sandler continues to make movies that not only don't look good, they also just aren't films I have any interest in seeing. Even when I saw the trailer for Ridiculous 6, I knew from the get go that this movie was going to suck. But I wanted to go in with an open mind and try and enjoy it. I had heard some people liked it... Couldn't be all bad. Could it?

The Ridiculous 6 is an absurdist comedy about a white man named Tommy (played by Adam Sandler) growing up with Native Americans. He meets his father (played by Nick Nolte) who left him when he was young, and he figures out that his father is dying and he hid a treasure somewhere safe. Soon after this meeting, his father is kidnapped by Danny Trejo and taken away. Tommy makes it his goal to save his father by robbing the rich and evil. Along the way he runs into 5 men who he soon figures out are the bastard children of his very same father. These men include Rob Schnedier pretending to be Mexican, Taylor Lautner pretending to be mentally challenged, Jorge Garcia playing a man who can't speak, Luke Wilson being Luke Wilson, and Terry Crews playing Terry Crews. The brothers band together to create a gang that are soon known as The Ridiculous 6 and their one goal is steal from those who don't deserve their money, and save their father.

I'm going to say right off the bat, this movie is incredibly racist. And you might so, but Connor, its a movie set in the old west, people were racist back then. And yeah that is true but that doesn't excuse the fact that Rob Schneider is playing a Mexican, even though he is very clearly white. You might say, but Connor, its satirical, its not supposed to be taken seriously. And to that I say, there is a certain level of satire that is funny, and a certain level that is unexcusable, once again... Rob Schneider as a Mexican. And you might say, but Connor, Blazing Saddles said the N word and that's a dark satire. And to that I say, HOW DARE YOU COMPARE THIS TO BLAZING SADDLES!!!

Now a part of me wants to believe that this movie was just Adam Sandler getting a much of his buddies together and doing a cowboy movie. Chances are a lot of the jokes seemed funny at the time and even if I didn't get them, I can still give them credit for just doing something for fun.

But at some point, someone had to have said, Guys! Maybe we're taking these jokes too far? Maybe we shouldn't portray Native Americans in the most stereotypical way we possibly could, so much that the majority of Native American advisors and experts left the shooting of the movie because the Apache tribe was being portrayed in such a horrible way? Maybe we're not the best people to make light of the horrible way people who weren't white were treated back in the Old West? Maybe we shouldn't have Rob Schneider be a Mexican!

And it kind of worries me that Netflix defended this movie. They tried to play it off like it was a satire and it was making fun of the stereotypes they popularized. To that I say, look to Blazing Saddles.

Blazing Saddles was a movie just ahead of its time because it was a movie that boldly took on stereotypes and made light of them. Something Netflix is claiming that The Ridiculous 6 does as "everyone is in on the joke". But what Blazing Saddles also did was to point out the fallacies in those stereotypes and definitely point out the people who were bad and using those stereotypes for harmful purposes and praising those who didn't. Gene Wilder's character in that film is the good guy because while he probably has the prejudices that everyone else had, he's still not exploiting them or discounting Cleavon Little's character because he's black.

Its been a while since I've seen Blazing Saddles, but what I do remember is that while the movie used the N-Word, while they refer to native americans in a horrible way, while the movie has the stereotypes of the time, it still demonized those stereotypes, as they should, while making fun of the audience for having those same stereotypes and making light of it all.

And on top of it, the writers of Blazing Saddles were people like Mel Brooks and Richard Prior. To pretty well established comedians who had were not only great at satire, but would bring great movies and comedy in the future. The Ridiculous 6 was written and produced by Adam Sandler... who's last good film was in 2009 with Funny People... and that wasn't even a satire.

I hope I have made the point very, very clear, that you shouldn't be watching this movie on the sole fact that it is incredibly offensive to pretty much anyone and everyone. Even if you're not offended by this, don't be a dick, don't support this kind of movie.

But since we live in a world where Donald Trump is still getting an overwhelming amount of support to be President and the argument that this movie is incredibly offensive won't be enough for some viewers, let me delve into the other reasons this movie does not work.

The first reason is this: This movie is not funny... whatsoever.

Like I said, I tried to go into this movie with an open mind. Very rarely, even if I don't like a comedy will I sit through a comedy and not laugh once. I've heard the phrase before, even a man in jail has to smile sometime. Even if I think a comedy is horrible, I'm probably gonna get a few chuckles here and there. That wasn't the case with The Ridiculous 6. There was one time that I actually laughed. One time. The only reason that happened was because the result of the joke was not what I expected it to be. It was a shock laugh. That was the only time the movie made me laugh and the only time the movie made me smile.

Now maybe I'm just a joyless loser who doesn't find the beauty in a good poop joke, but the truth is, the timing is just off. The casting is off. The jokes just don't land the way I think they really wanted it to.

When it comes to casting, everyone just looks bored and out of place.

I mean for a movie that stars Adam Sandler, he just looks sad and pissed off the entire time.

And this just emphasizes where Adam Sandler's career has gone off to. Happy Gilmore is an example of a really good Adam Sandler movie. A movie I still have a lot of fun watching. He didn't look bored, he looked like was just having fun.

And I don't know if this was a passion project, or just Adam Sandler getting all this buddies together to film a stupid movie, but that's all this is... a stupid movie.

And speaking of all his friends, I mean ALL of his friends.

I am actually really surprised for how shitty of a movie this one was how many cameos they were able to get. Harvey Keitel (who was probably the best part of the movie) was in this. Danny Trejo, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Jon Lovetiz, Blake Shelton for pete's sake!

I just figured out the best way to describe this movie.

Think of the show, Drunk History on Comedy Central. Imagine them writing the script for this movie while they were drunk and feeling a little bit racist while writing it. And then instead of having the actors mouth it and put in the drunk dialogue later, they said, "No, Act that!"

That is the best explanation of what The Ridiculous 6 looks and feels like.

And then there's this...

What is this? Did Lautner pull the short straw or something?

Now I guess I should give Taylor Lautner some credit. He does not have a career. He did Twilight and nobody hired him. Nobody wants to hire the beefcake who can't act for shit. So I have to give him credit, it feels like this is an attempt to revitalize his career while he tries to get his acting chops up to snuff.

But to that I say, why the hell would you choose to put your confidence in revitalizing your career behind a man who's comedic career is not only dead but has been in the grave for years now in Sandler?

The one other movie I can compare this movie to is A Million Ways to Die in the West.

Now if you read this blog, you'll know that I am of the unpopular opinion that I actually enjoyed A Million Ways to Die in the West. I liked Seth MacFarlene trying to make fun of the old west and I think he did a pretty good job at pointing out the issues with the world that we often glorify.

However, A Million Ways to Die in the West is not a perfect movie. A lot of people are not a fan of it. However, if you had to choose between A Million Ways to Die in the West or The Ridiculous 6, I can say that 9 people out of 10 would choose A Million Ways to Die in the West.

While a lot of the jokes don't land as well as MacFarlene made jokes land in movies like Ted, at least I was laughing my ass off in A Million Ways to Die in the West. At least MacFarlene grasps a basic sense of humor in this movie.

Sandler does not one bit. And while you might not like A Million Ways to Die in the West because you're not a fan of MacFarlene's humor, I think even some of the dumbest Adam Sandler fans can agree that The Ridiculous 6 was just down right bad.

I'm going to stop now because I feel like I'm repeating myself. But have you seen The Ridiculous 6? What did you think of it? Please if someone can explain how this movie is any good at all, comment or reach out to me on Twitter because I want to know! Comment and Discuss below. You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me requests for future movies I should review. If you follow me on Twitter you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Here's a video of when Adam Sandler used to be funny. Enjoy!