YNOT at the Movies

The boutique studio and distributor A24 has built a reputation for producing and releasing award-winning art house favorites by telling mesmerizing and original stories. When the phrase "the first musical from A24" appears in an A24 movie poster, you know you will be watching something different. That first musical is the director Larry Charles's raunchy, shocking, campy, and disgustingly funny comedy "Dicks: The Musical" (USA 2023 | 86 min.). Even though he didn't go as far as his previous movie "Borat", he did go for broke to make you laugh in this musical. This movie is based on a 30-minute basement comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater called "Fucking Identical Twins," that was written and performed by this film's writers and lead actors Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp. This over the top comedy could be an instant classic that reminds you of those queer classics by John Waters.

The plot is far-fetched and absurd, inspired by "The Parent Trap" (1998), in which two identical twins try to get their divorced parents back together after they meet each other for the first time. Even if you won't believe a single moment of the plot in this movie, you probably cannot care less about it. The shocking moments will distract you from even trying to connect the dots in the storyline.

Narrated by God (Bowen Yang), who is in a gay night clubbing outfit, we are introduced to two heterosexual top salesmen in a company selling vacuum cleaning parts, Craig (Josh Sharp) and Trevor (Aaron Jackson). Although living in the same building like college kids, they have never known each other before. Once they meet, they realize that they are twins despite their resemblance probably stops at they are both white. They are separated at birth and raised by each of their divorced parents, Harris (Nathan Lane) and Evelyn (Megan Mullally). The twins decide to visit the respective parent they didn't grow up with to learn more about them.

It turns out their parents are even more eccentric than the twins. Speaking with a funny voice, Evelyn has a huge collection of interesting objects at home and something sensational in her purse. Harris raises two "Sewer Boys" in a cage which he found in a sewer system years ago, and he loudly proclaims that he is gay. The twins want to try to get Evelyn and Harris back together so they can all live as a happy family that they never had. Good luck with that and the farce is going beyond your wildest imagination.

Similar to "Borat," the director never shies away from making shocking comedies and he is not afraid of offending anyone, despite the fact that he is not as outrageous in this movie as in "Borat." It will be certain that this film will make some people cringe in their seats at moments like when the sing-alone musical number titled "God Is a Faggot" is playing on the screen. Your reaction to the film will depend on where you draw the line for your tolerance of comedy. As if you are attending a comedy show, you probably won't remember any of its jokes when you walk out of this movie, even though you might have laughed out loud.

The look of the film is more like an SNL sketch on TV than a motion picture. It feels more so with the presence of a flamboyant God in the body of an SNL cast member Bowen Yang, in addition to an amazing appearance of a musical guest Megan Thee Stallion.

On top of all the physical comedies, there are plenty of subtle humor scattered around on the movie set. For example, in one scene's background, a movie theater is showing a movie called "Everyone, Everywhere Cums at Once," a nod to A24's release "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (2022). A musical number sung in an underground sewer pathway remarkably resembles a scene from the musical "Les Misérables." This is a perfect movie for a naughty night.

"Dicks: The Musical" opens in the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday, October 6, 2023.