The Gutter, 2024.
Directed by Isaiah Lester and Yassir Lester.
Starring Shameik Moore, Susan Sarandon, D’Arcy Carden, Jackée Harry, Tony Baker, Paul Scheer, Kim Fields, Jay Ellis, Adam Brody, and Paul Reiser.
SYNOPSIS:
Walt lands work at bowling alley AlleyCatz. He’s pressured to embrace his bowling talent, which sparks backlash from detractors seeking to undermine his sudden pro success.
It’s difficult to know where to begin with The Gutter. From the opening moments you’re side-swiped by the tone of the film, which comes flying out of the gates with one-liners of varying degrees of success, hitting you in the funny bone as much as the furrowed brow. Your initial response is; it’s not going to be like this the entire way through, is it? Is it?
The answer is yes, dialled way up to eleven. This is going to be a scattershot comedy that veers from hilarious, to perplexing, via odd and unfunny, and if you don’t get with that tone, then this will end up being gutter-ball after gutter-ball for the unsuspecting viewer who is going in expecting the 10-pin bowling version of Happy Gilmore.
Shameik Moore (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) is one of life’s losers. The opening montage rattles through various indiscretions that involve him taking his shirt off and subsequently getting fired from his job. When he does find someone willing to give him a chance, it’s at a run down bowling joint called AlleyCatz, where the interview ends with him being told “I like you. You’re stupid”. And he is. But he’s also good at bowling, and so he teams up with D’Arcy Carden’s ex-pro in order to cash giant cheques to save their ailing place-of-work.
Ultimately, what you think of The Gutter will depend on whether you feel the same way in thinking, “I like you. You’re stupid”, because this is so loose, free-form, and knowingly doesn’t give a shit, that if you are willing to succumb to the indulgent silliness of it all, then you might have some fun. Think an SNL sketch stretched to 90mins with characters that have only just been introduced to you.
There are lines that’ll make you giggle, such as “I want to wrestle with that kid from Dune; Tiffany Chalamet”, but for every one of them they’ll be two or three similar moments of off-the-cuff insanity that land with a thud. You needn’t worry too much though, because if you’re getting tired of the jokes, there are also a multitude of visual gags thrown at the screen to dilute the dialogue.
That it works at all is largely down to the cast. Moore throws himself into the role with an infectious, enthusiastic gusto, signalling that there’s much more to him than just his terrific performances as Miles Morales. His one-two double-act with The Good Place MVP Carden is the stuff of kids messing around in the classroom. Those who just don’t know when to shut up. Yes, they can become tiresome, but they occasionally make you laugh.
The comedy sports movie can play out in a number of ways. The Gutter has a Talladega Nights, abstract, free-wheeling feel to it, but without the discipline of the Will Ferrell comedy-classic. It’s bawdy, bonkers, and perhaps best summed up by Paul Reiser’s Bowling Lives Matter presenter, who states “It’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen”.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★
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