"LET'S GO TO PRISON" (2006) (Dax Shepard, Will Arnett) (R)
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QUICK TAKE:
Comedy: A three-time felon tries to get revenge on the judge who previously sentenced him by sending the man's adult son to prison and then joining him there.
PLOT:
John Lyshitski (DAX SHEPARD) is a life-long felon who now has it out for the judge who previously sentenced him three times to prison. The only problem is that the judge is now dead, meaning John must focus his negative energies on the judge's adult son, Nelson Biederman IV (WILL ARNETT). He's the chairman of the board for his late father's foundation and his arrogance and meanness proves he's ripe for the picking.
After John empties Nelson's asthma inhaler, the latter has an attack, and while racing to get a replacement inhaler, is mistaken as a drugged out robber. He's arrested and then sentenced to three to five years in the Rossmore State Penitentiary when his lawyer, Duane Hinkley (BOB ODENKIRK), doesn't provide him with any sort of good legal defense.
Despite having achieved success, John still doesn't feel vindicated, so he purposefully sells some pot to undercover cops and then joins Nelson in the prison run by the Warden (DYLAN BAKER) and his top guard, Shanahan (DAVID KOECHNER). By means of a bribe, he becomes Nelson's cellmate, and poses as his friend, but hopes to make his life a miserable experience.
Of course, there are others present wanting to do the same on their own, such as white supremacist Lynard (MICHAEL SHANNON) who isn't pleased when Nelson fingers him as having started a cafeteria fight. Then there's the large and soulful Barry (CHI McBRIDE) who decides he wants the much smaller Nelson as his prison lover. With John gleeful about how things are playing out, little does he anticipate how fate will throw a wrench into his plan and newfound happiness.
OUR TAKE: 0 out of 10
Most movies about prison life are dramas, and that's because most such subject matter isn't that funny. The same can be said about this film that offers plenty of the usual fodder (shower scenes with worries about anal rape, white supremacists, solitary confinement, the clever escape and so on), but neither the cast nor crew manages to do anything creative, imaginative or, worse yet, funny with any of it.
While barely over 80 minutes long including credits (where yet another unfunny scene plays under the passing names), the film -- which is not a spoof per se, but is, surprisingly, loosely based on a real self-help novel about prison life -- feels more like multiple life sentences with no chance of parole. Avoid it all costs.
Universal Pictures wisely didn't screen this film in advance for critics, and so if we have any brain cells left after being pummeled by the inanity of it all, more of this part of the review may be on its way.
Reviewed November 17, 2006 / Posted November 17, 2006
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