Ultra-Weird R-Rated Comedy Divides Audiences And Critics
In today’s age of TikTok brain-rot and fast-paced short-form content, wacky, off-the-wall comedy is all the rage. Acts such as Eric Andre and Tim Robinson have made massive waves across pop culture for their unhinged comedy performances, which many see as a spiritual successor to comedian and filmmaker Tom Green. Though today’s kids are massive fans of Tom Green’s comedic disciples, many of them may not be aware of his ultra-weird magnum opus, 2001’s Freddy Got Fingered.
Tom Green, Leading Man
For those who have never seen Freddy Got Fingered before, the film is currently streaming for free on Pluto TV. The bizarre comedy was written and directed by Tom Green, who also stars in the comedy, following the success of his popular television series The Tom Green Show. Freddy Got Fingered‘s cast is rounded out with performances from Rip Torn, Marisa Coughlan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Harland Williams, and even Drew Barrymore.
Arrested Development
The narrative of Freddy Got Fingered centers on an aspiring cartoonist named Gord, who spends most of his time lazing around at home and mooching off of his aging parents. After he perpetually fails to find gainful employment to kick-start his life, Gord’s father comes down on him hard, berating him for his failure to straighten up and get his own place to live. In a furious rage, Gord responds to his father’s rude, albeit true, assessment by publicly accusing him of assaulting his little brother, Freddy.
Goes To Extreme Lengths For A Laugh
This horrific lie kickstarts a chain of events that turns Gord’s father into a social pariah and sees Freddy, a young adult man, carted off to a home for sexually abused children. Needless to say, the false claims of assault and ensuing backlash are played for laughs, in a manner that would certainly be shunned by modern audiences. Much to the surprise of nobody, audiences in 2001 weren’t fond of Freddy Got Fingered either, and the film flopped horrendously upon release.
Part Of The Criterion Collection
Many critics have since referred to Freddy Got Fingered as one of the worst movies of all time, resulting in a positively terrible 11 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. While audiences far and wide hated the comedy upon release, the film has retroactively been hailed as something of a cult classic, elevating the general audience score up to a middling 56 percent. The movie has even secured a position amongst the highly coveted Criterion Collection, exemplifying just how much the general consensus of Freddy Got Fingered has risen in the past two decades.
Streaming For Free
REVIEW SCORE
Personally, I think the movie has some really funny moments but it doesn’t really function as a cohesive narrative. If Tom Green blew up today, he would likely have channeled his ideas behind Freddy Got Fingered into a short-form sketch, which would have distilled the brilliant ideas into something truly hilarious and trimmed the fat from the 87-minute-long film. If you’re interested in catching Freddy Got Fingered today, be sure to stream the cult classic on Pluto TV for free.
