‘Movie 43’ stars everyone, directed by everyone, looks awesome

Comedy usually works better in short bursts (brevity, soul of wit, etc.), and it’s incredibly hard to maintain the funny over the course of a standard, 90-minute plus, single-narrative movie format. Which raises the question, why do we keep trying to make it fit? The Kentucky Fried Movie-style Movie 43, produced by Peter Farrelly, takes the opposite approach, weaving a pastiche of comedy vignettes starring a broad ensemble of famous actors swearing liberally and playing against type, directed by a whole flock (murder? herd?) of directors, including:

Peter Farrelly, Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, Steve Carr, Rusty Cundieff, James Duffy, Griffin Dunne, Patrik Forsberg, James Gunn, Bob Odenkirk and Brett Ratner.

Oh right, I’m supposed to believe “Rusty Cundieff” is a real person? Is that Chad Farthouse’s handyman? Harry Beefcurtain’s publicist? Anyway, check out the red-band trailer below if you want to hear Angela Lansbury repeatedly use the N-word.

(brief nudity at the 1:09 – 1:11 mark)

Okay, I lied about Angela Lansbury being in it, but not about how much she loves the N-word. Movie stars:

Kate Winslet, Elizabeth Banks, Emma Stone, Justin Long, Seann William Scott, Jason Sudeikis, Anna Ferris, Kieran Culkin, Halle Berry, Kate Bosworth, Gerard Butler, Josh Duhamel, Chris Pratt, Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Kristen Bell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Chloe Moretz, Leslie Bibb, Patrick Warburton, Tony Shalhoub, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi, Bobby Cannavale, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts and Uma Thurman.

I like the idea, and I’d like to see more of these. Also, have you noticed that every time there’s a movie with an ensemble of directors, Brett Ratner is one of them? He’s like the directing equivalent of a B-girl in porn, where she’s not cute enough to work a one-on-one scene, but gets called in any time there’s a threesome or a gangbang. Who wants to bet Ratner directed the part with the hacky leprechaun?

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