Tour de Pharmacy (2017)

It's a totally absurd and low-brow film poking fun at the tour de France. If you're a fan of subtlety or only enjoy sophisticated humour, don't bother. I personally thought it was a riot. It looked like the actors were having a blast and all the cameos of sports stars not taking themselves too seriously were brilliant. At only 40 minutes or so in length, the joke didn't wear too thin and I was giggling all the way through.

Lance Armstrong talking about doping in professional cycling is arguably the best thing about Tour de Pharmacy. But that's about the only thing that fires the mountain in this 40-minute parody on the subject that is occasionally funny and frequently unremarkable. Poking fun at the sport that has failed to keep its stance forever comes easy for the makers because of its outlandish requirements and rules, troubled history, and the pomp and fare that it once used to be celebrated with. A multitude of issues like gender bias, racism, and bureaucracy are also sampled in Jake Szymanski's further making it a perfect example of how not to make a mockumentary in 2017. If stuffing everything into one was my idea of a film, I'd read my Twitter thread. I'm not sure if the shortness of the parody affected the actors' delivery, but it all felt like just an expansion of the trailer. Tour de Pharmacy could have been the creme de la creme of parody films because it explores a subject that can be parodied the hell out of. The makers however forgot to inject amphetamines in the script, so it comes last in the race. TN.

As a MAMIL I really wanted to like this short film and thought it would be funny and a good irreverent look at cycling and the challenges the sport has faced with doping over the years. What it is is a pretty poor joke of a film with a frankly absurd script, pointless nudity (seemingly for the sake of it), and a story line that just belies belief. The subject matter and parody could have been done in a much more sophisticated and witty way rather than this frankly slapstick, low brow and pointless excuse for a joke. Really disappointed.

The humor is juvenile and crass, just how I like it. If you've seen "7 days in hell" you know what to expect from this. Lots of good cameos here. Nathan Fielder was a pleasant surprise. If for some reason you haven't seen "Nathan for you" check it out, it's a brilliant show. I nearly died when he lifted that guy over his head.