Freddy Got Fingered (2001) review

Although he may not know it, Tom Green's "directorial debut" has a lot in common with Harmony Korine's Gummo. Both are about twisted youth, mental illness, emotional breakdowns and make extensive use of dead animals and raw meat products as objects to disgust the audience with (Green wears a "cheese helmet" and, later, a buck's corpse like a coat, Korine's kids kill cats and tape bacon to bathroom walls). Gummo was recently honored by some elite film committees as a good example of the postmodern avant-garde, and perhaps the murmurings of a few dissenting critics - who tolerate Freddy Got Fingered for what it "is" - suggest that it, too, will one day be rewarded for its "so-out-there-it's-unfathomable" approach (neo-expressionism?). Freddy, like Gummo, is not a comedy - it intentionally steps beyond the line of humor to present itself as a moving freak show, designed to repulse rather than amuse - and both are jokes at the viewer's expense.