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Movie 43 (2013)

Number Rolled: 14

Movie Name/Year: Movie 43 (2013)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 94 minutes

Rating: R

Affiliated Companies: Relativity Media, Virgin Produced, GreeneStreet Films, Wessler Entertainment, Witness Protection Films

Executive Producer: Ron Burkle, Jason Felts, Brian Kornreich, Tucker Tooley, Tim Williams, Jason Beckman, Jason Colodne

Director: Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, Steve Carr, Rusty Cundieff, James Duffy, Griffin Dunne, Peter Farrelly, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham, James Gunn, Brett Ratner, Jonathan van Tulleken, Bob Odenkirk

Writer: Rocky Russo, Jeremy Sosenko, Ricky Blitt, Bill O’ Malley, Will Graham, Jack Kukoda, Matt Portenoy, Claes Kjellstrom, Jonas Wittenmark, Tobias Carlson, Will Carlough, Jonathan van Tulleken, Elizabeth Shapiro, Patrik Forsberg, Olle Sarri, Jacob Fleisher, Greg Pritikin, James Gunn, Bob Odenkirk, Steve Baker

Actors: Dennis Quaid, Greg Kinnear, Common, Will Sasso, Seth MacFarlane, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Rocky Russo, Jeremy Allen White, Leiv Schreiber, Naomi Watts, Anna Faris, Chris Pratt, Kieran Culkin, Emma Stone, Richard Gere, Kate Bosworth, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi, Justin Long, Jason Sudeikis, Uma Thurman, Bobby Cannavale, Kristen Bell, John Hodgman, Leslie Bibb, Will Carlough, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Patrick Warburton, Jimmy Bennett, Matt Walsh, Gerard Butler, Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville, Halle Berry, Stephen Merchant, Snooki, Terrence Howard, Aaron Jennings, Elizabeth Banks, Josh Duhamel

Movie 43 was a compilation of comedy shorts all tied together by a simple framing device.

I’ve only reviewed two other anthologies on this blog that I can remember. One was The ABC’s of Death which was perfectly horrible and made me want to rinse my brain with bleach. The other was New York, I Love You which was incredible, the next day I sat my best friend down and forced him to watch it.

Since my feelings on the two anthologies were opposite to the extreme, you can see that the method of storytelling is not something I take into consideration with these movies. It’s all about content.

Unfortunately, Movie 43 was closer to The ABC’s of Death than New York, I Love You. It wasn’t as bad, but it definitely felt like a chore to sit through it at times.

Like the former, there were a couple of shorts that went over well with me. It got a slightly higher score because the shorts that did work well had me rolling and nearly falling off the couch. The rest of it was terrible.

Just… terrible.

There were a lot of amazing actors involved in this work that are going to have it listed in their Filmographies for the rest of their career. It makes me feel legitimately bad for them.

Apparently, the framing device used for the film in the US version wasn’t the one they were originally going to go with. In the UK, it’s retained the initial device, which sounds a lot better than the one they went with for the US. Instead of making it a movie pitch, the shorts were supposed to be videos found by kids hunting for a specific movie.

To be honest, I feel like the other framing device might have elevated the movie for me a little. It still wouldn’t have gotten the highest score, but hating the movie-pitch idea they went with certainly didn’t help.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 4%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 24%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 2.7/5

Trust-the-Dice Score – 2/5

P.S. There are some basic outtakes during the first part of the credits. Those are followed by one last segment before the rest of the credits roll.

Movie Trailer: