The Ridiculous 6 (2015)
Then a donkey literally took a crap on the entire movie, and I knew it was only going to get worse.
It's become common knowledge to those who know me that there are two immense passions in film for me: my love for the Star Wars saga and my extreme dislike of Adam Sandler. The former reached its highest point last Thursday with the release of The Force Awakens, my current favorite film of the entire year.
The latter, meanwhile, is further cemented with The Ridiculous 6.
I didn't rule out this film, though. I gave it an honest chance, mostly because it was a Netflix original. I thought that this might be a turning point in the recent downward trend that Adam Sandler has been on over the past few years, with the only film I've liked with him being Men, Women and Children (which is not an Adam Sandler film at all in the sense that I use the phrase).
And, to be fair, The Ridiculous 6 actually has a plot, unlike some of his other recent films (anybody else remember Jack & Jill or Grown Ups?). It involves Tommy Whiteknife, an orphaned white boy raised by Apache Indians, finally meeting his real father only to see him kidnapped by a gang who had a debt to settle. The setup of the story is decently done and actually made me want to watch the rest of the film.
Then, Adam Sandler just had to revert to his old ways. At the 25-minute mark, The Ridiculous 6's plot took a backseat to Sandler's brand of comedy, which has become less and less intelligent over time. This time around, he uses a donkey's projectile pooping as his biggest gag. Admittedly, there are some slight laughs throughout the film, but on the whole the movie just gets way too ridiculous for its own good.
The best part of The Ridiculous 6 is not even done well. I felt like at times the film's tone shifted to more of a satire of Westerns. If only it would have stayed there. There's a lot of potentially offensive material that I would not be mentioning to you if The Ridiculous 6 was obviously a satire. Unfortunately, it never seems to cross over the line and prefers to remain very ambiguous over whether or not it is supposed to make light of racial stereotypes or perpetuate them. If you can take all of these racial jokes in a completely non-serious light, it helps; however, the film doesn't outright encourage that.
I'd love to tell you that The Ridiculous 6's acting was anything worth seeing, but it really isn't. Sandler phones it in big time, but he at least seems to care about parts of Whiteknife's character. The other members of the titular group don't really impress, with Terry Crews being the least offensive. Nick Nolte, Harvey Keitel, and the other notable actors just look bad in this film. I'm not sure why they agreed to be in it, as they really don't need the work at all.
Overall, I think The Ridiculous 6 is definitely an easier movie to dislike than most of Sandler's recent fare, but it's not nearly as horrendous. This isn't a complete piece of worthless garbage that should never have been made; it's just a bad movie. I'm still regretting the fact that I spent my time watching The Ridiculous 6, but I don't feel as ashamed of it as I do of some of Sandler's other recent films.
My recommendation: Skip it.
Grade: 25
Then, Adam Sandler just had to revert to his old ways. At the 25-minute mark, The Ridiculous 6's plot took a backseat to Sandler's brand of comedy, which has become less and less intelligent over time. This time around, he uses a donkey's projectile pooping as his biggest gag. Admittedly, there are some slight laughs throughout the film, but on the whole the movie just gets way too ridiculous for its own good.
The best part of The Ridiculous 6 is not even done well. I felt like at times the film's tone shifted to more of a satire of Westerns. If only it would have stayed there. There's a lot of potentially offensive material that I would not be mentioning to you if The Ridiculous 6 was obviously a satire. Unfortunately, it never seems to cross over the line and prefers to remain very ambiguous over whether or not it is supposed to make light of racial stereotypes or perpetuate them. If you can take all of these racial jokes in a completely non-serious light, it helps; however, the film doesn't outright encourage that.
I'd love to tell you that The Ridiculous 6's acting was anything worth seeing, but it really isn't. Sandler phones it in big time, but he at least seems to care about parts of Whiteknife's character. The other members of the titular group don't really impress, with Terry Crews being the least offensive. Nick Nolte, Harvey Keitel, and the other notable actors just look bad in this film. I'm not sure why they agreed to be in it, as they really don't need the work at all.
Overall, I think The Ridiculous 6 is definitely an easier movie to dislike than most of Sandler's recent fare, but it's not nearly as horrendous. This isn't a complete piece of worthless garbage that should never have been made; it's just a bad movie. I'm still regretting the fact that I spent my time watching The Ridiculous 6, but I don't feel as ashamed of it as I do of some of Sandler's other recent films.
My recommendation: Skip it.
Grade: 25
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