A Sentimental Lampoon

Chevy Chase. John Belushi. Harold Ramis. Michael O’Donoghue. Bill Murray. Gilda Radner. All of them appear as characters in A Futile and Stupid Gesture, a recent movie on Netflix directed by David Wain. But the movie’s not about them, it’s centred on someone far less well-known but very influential: Doug Kenney, the co-founder of National Lampoon, and a person with a very interesting story and career that the people making this film were very impassioned to tell.

After making his name as the President of the Harvard Lampoon and co-writing a spoof novel called Bored of the Rings, Doug Kenney (Will Forte) aspires to create an alternative comedy magazine. With his partner Henry Beard (Domhnall Gleeson), he creates the National Lampoon which steadily gains a following for its surreal humour and politically incorrect subject matter. But as the magazine flourishes, Kenney looks for other mediums of comedy to conquer while battling depression and severe cocaine addiction.

This film has a similar tone to I, Tonya in its framing device, where transitions and exposition are provided by a narrator played by the great Martin Mull, under the pretence of being an older Kenney had he not died young. This is admittedly an awkward framing device -something called out in the film itself which includes plenty of fourth wall breaks- but it’s not too distracting. In fact the films’ looseness in this presentation actually quite adequately matches the sensibility of National Lampoon itself. And Kenney’s story as well as the story of the creation of this magazine are very interesting. He was someone with a strong personality, and an unbridled enthusiasm to push the envelope as far as he could get away with. I do wish that we got to know him a little more, apart from one childhood flashback and a couple awkward scenes with his conservative parents. Also there comes a point where National Lampoon stops featuring in Kenney’s story once he begins his movie career. It makes sense given he’s the focus, and it is admittedly fun seeing this filmmakers’ interpretation of the makings of Animal House and Caddyshack, but I would have liked to have seen a little more of National Lampoon in the late 70’s, especially since that’s around the time John Hughes got involved with the magazine.

The cast is mostly solid, even if half of them are doing impressions -though in fairness, they’re good impressions. The best is probably Thomas Lennon as O’Donoghue, nailing down the writers’ fierceness and dark humour, but Rick Glassman as Ramis and Jon Daly as Murray are pretty exceptional. The only one not attempting an impression is Joel McHale as Chevy Chase (a casting decision possibly just made for the Community in-joke) who has a bigger role than any of the other famous comedians. But while not quite believable as Chase specifically, he is believable as one of Kenney’s closest friends, which is more important. The rest of the ensemble at the Lampoon are good, with Matt Lucas as Tony Hendra, Natasha Lyonne as Anne Beatts, Neil Casey as Brian McConnachie, Nelson Franklin as P.J. O’Rourke, and Matt Walsh as publisher Matty Simmons. In among all these comedians playing comedians, Domhnall Gleeson stands out and is great as Kenney’s more subdued though no less funny partner. You can feel his simultaneous care for and frustration with his Harvard buddy. But the movie revolves around Kenney himself, and Will Forte isn’t the perfect actor for the role. Forte is over a decade older than Kenney was when he died but he’s playing the part clearly because he’s passionate about it. He puts more effort (and much more dramatic weight) into this performance than perhaps anything else I’ve seen him in since Nebraska, but it can’t always overpower the obvious age gap between him and the other characters, most notably Gleeson’s Beard, and his love interest Kathryn Walker, played by a terrific Emmy Rossum.

I’d say a notable problem with this movie is its pacing. The progression of Kenney and Beard’s success is fine, but once it gets to Kenney’s downward spiral and his drug problem specifically, it doesn’t come naturally. It feels like there’s a scene or two missing regarding this development. Perhaps that has to do with the comedic tone which always supersedes the serious issues of Kenney’s life. But if the film (and the book it’s based on by Josh Karp) is to be believed, that’s what Kenney would have wanted. He had a dark sense of humour, and even when he died tragically, those closest to him (and National Lampoon itself fittingly) made jokes about it. This movie showcases that with a really terrific ending scene.

A Futile and Stupid Gesture is a must-see for comedy fans and those who never realized the imprint Doug Kenney left on American humour. Yeah it misses the mark in some of its focus, delights maybe a bit much in having comedians cameo as comedy greats, and has a noticeably forty-something actor playing a character in his twenties, but it’s still a compelling and enlightening story of a fascinating man, the empire he built, and the impact he left behind.