Another Friedberg and Seltzer Spoof: Amusing Characters, Lackluster Humor
A tired parody from the usual suspects, featuring some cleverly conceived characters but ultimately delivering flat and uninspired humor.
Undercover cop Lucas White (Alex Ashbaugh) infiltrates Vin Serento’s (Dale Pavinski) gang, suspected by his superiors of running illegal operations out of their garage. The guys quickly bond over their shared love for fast cars, but Vin is indeed planning a heist against ruthless mob boss Juan Carlos de Padlo (Omar Chaparro), making a showdown with the law inevitable.
Any review of a new creation by the comedic duo Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg must begin with the question: “How? Again?” Yes, you read that right. These two, who have been systematically tarnishing the reputation of the parody genre for a decade, have released another film, and yes, a miracle has not occurred this time either. Unless you consider it a miracle that in “Superfast!” the filmmakers managed to almost completely avoid nauseating toilet humor (if you don’t count the brief scene with sweat collection as a DNA sample).
As the title suggests and the plot description makes clear, this time Friedberg and Seltzer have set their sights on the “Fast & Furious” franchise – a series that is not slowing down but only accelerating with each film. The word “parody” is deliberately placed in quotation marks because, unlike the classics of the genre, which accurately pointed out the blunders and absurdities in the films they parodied, Friedberg and Seltzer primarily engage in “buffoonery” – taking a familiar scene and pushing it to the point of absurdity.
To be fair, there are some amusing moments in the film, but they are all tied to the basic characteristics of the characters. For example, the Michelle Rodriguez prototype in “Superfast!” is a closeted lesbian who struggles to hide her true interests from Vin, the enormous Detective Daune Johnson constantly slathers his impressive muscles with baby oil, and the bearded character played by Daniel Booko, modeled after Matt Schulze from the first “Fast & Furious” film, constantly acts tough and childishly sulks when Vin “hangs out” with Lucas instead of him. On a conceptual level, this is quite witty, but, as is typical with Friedberg and Seltzer, they fail to develop it into a full-fledged barrage of jokes and gags.
The Verdict
As mentioned above, “Superfast!” is almost entirely devoid of any “nauseating” elements, which is a big plus compared to many other films by the duo. However, this is little consolation when you realize that, overall, Friedberg and Seltzer’s sense of humor simply refuses to evolve. Yes, of course, humor is subjective, and what one person may find completely unfunny, another will find hilarious (after all, someone is buying movie tickets to see these “comedians,” besides the unfortunate critics who have long been denied press screenings?), but it’s hard not to notice the blatantly drawn-out jokes (the characters shoot at each other from a distance of two meters, missing for several minutes – thank you, we got the joke in a second), the self-repetition, and (of course!) gags from other, more successful parodies. Yes, the film is not as aggressively irritating as some of Friedberg and Seltzer’s past works, but because of all the above, it has another, no less sad, flaw – it is simply boring. And a parody can be anything but boring.