Release Date: October 24, 2017 (VOD and Blu-ray)
Director: Peter Vack
MPAA Rating: NR
Runtime: 74 Minutes
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s some point in Peter Vack’s gross-out comedy Assholes where I realized this film completely lost me. Maybe it was when the protagonists turned from metaphorical to actual assholes during their popper-fuelled mayhem, or maybe it was when they randomly conjured a demon and shit it out for some reason.
Either way, what starts out as a comedic love story about two wayward addicts devolves into a nonsensical, unfunny, (literal) shit show of a film.
Vack, who’s no stranger to the structure of the micro-budget indie comedy, having worked as an actor in the scene for years, begins Assholes with a mumblecore-esque first act involving Adah and Aaron (Betsey Brown and Jack Dunphy), two friends attempting to live in sobriety and seeing the same psychoanalyst. After hooking up, the two decide to try out poppers, and so begins their downward spiral into depraved sex and madness.
Vack himself plays Adah’s brother, and from the brightly lit closeups of his horrifying mouth herpes, the stage is set early on that this will be an unpleasant experience for all those stupid enough to seek out a movie called Assholes (present company included).
Indeed the film does go to some stomach-churning places, and I would highly suggest avoiding this one if you can’t handle viewing STD-riddled genitals, but it still manages to be only the second grossest film released this year, with Kuso still holding the title.
Possibly the weirdest element of the film, maybe aside from the giant assholes, is the fact that director Vack and Betsey Brown are siblings in real life, and their real-life parents played themselves in the film as well.
I remember finding it a bit disturbing when Dario Argento filmed his daughter in the shower, but this takes it to a whole other level. It’s cool to have such an understanding and supportive family, but, man, that shoot must have been awkward.
Assholes isn’t all bad; in fact, I was slightly enjoying myself until right around when the guerilla-style rampage through Times Square occurred. This sequence proves to be entirely too long and quickly wears out its welcome. This is also the point at which the plot, or lack thereof, begins to fall apart.
Rather than being a twisted, yet slightly sweet, look at love and the perils of addiction, Assholes itself becomes an asshole and instead cynically parodies a reality show without really addressing the dire realities of how addiction affects individuals and those around them.
This takes place right before one of the most ridiculous endings I’ve seen in a movie this year, an asinine conclusion that will assuredly be the last straw for those that have had the fortitude to stay with it for the previous 70 or so minutes.
There are some nice, creative flourishes in Assholes to be sure, and Peter Vack has a promising career behind the camera; but the over-the-top, seemingly pointless gross-out moments, and that rough third act make this a turd you definitely don’t want to step in.
