K-SCORE: 87
Director: Jake Szymanski
Writer: Murray Miller
Starring: Andy Samberg, Kit Harrington, Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Serena Williams, June Squibb, David Copperfield, Chris Evert, John McEnroe
The Andy Samberg mockumentary that preceded Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, 7 Days in Hell, is even better for the simple reason that it’s premise, it’s principle subject matter, is even more preposterous. Periodically I’ll watch a movie where I think to myself: this film doesn’t exist in all the other versions of the multiverse. This is the product of a mind addled from childlike zaniness and PCP. A first round Wimbledon tennis match that lasts a full week between a British imbecile and an American prick. It’s, well, it’s actually pretty stupid. The queen of England calls a guy “fuck nuts” in this movie. There’s a threesome on the court. Cocaine is sniffed out of a racket handle.
Yet! This movie reaches a new level of greatness in the volleying point in the middle that goes for something like 50 hits and ends with both players empty-handed, collapsed in a heap next to the net. The desperation of that single moment perfectly encapsulates what the whole film tries to do.