MovieChat Forums > Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (2006) Discussion > Anyone Else Disappointed With The Movie?

Anyone Else Disappointed With The Movie?

posted 17 years ago by CathyE
32 replies | jump to latest

I love the show, but I have to say, I didn't think it translated very well to the big screen. The show always has me in stiches, but with the movie - I chuckled. Twice.

I don't know what it was exactly. Not the lack of plot I don't think, because the show certainly is never plot heavy. I think it was the abundance of mini plots. They had so many little story lines going on, that they couldn't develop any of them fully. I don't know. It's like they took a few ideas they had for half hour episodes, and tried to stretch them into a movie. I was left wondering why they did a movie at all.

It probably doesn't help that I saw it in a theatre with three other people in it.

I thought the Christmas special they did a few years back was 100 times better than this.

Anyone else?

“I always tell the truth…even when I lie” - Scarface

[–] homer1969 17 years ago

I was very disappointed with the movie as well. As an avid viewer I found that the timeline/plot/story was out of line with the tv show and that distracted me big time.

The biggest problem with the movie is that any of the real funny jokes/situations/lines were already done on the show 3 or 4 years ago. Any real fan has probably watched them 20 times already.

They had to resort to shots of "cute kitties" in an attempt to rescue this train wreck.

All in all a poor effort by Clattenberg and crew, this could have been so much better.

The soundtrack was superb though. I've never heard a Platinum Blonde song in a movie before.

[–] CathyE 17 years ago

I think I figured out what the main problem was - Ivan Reitman.

Check out this article in Maclean's:

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/films/article.jsp?content=20061009_134070_134070

It seems Wells and Clattenburg had an idea for a script where the boys are trying to smuggle dope across the boarder. I can see alot of potential in that.

But Reitman insisted on a wedding. He insisted on nudity (that silly shot of Lucy's boobs). He insisted that it be geared towards a first time audience. He wanted the romantic comedy angle.

In short, he should have just let the boys do what they do best, instead of sticking his nose in. As far as reaching the elusive American market? To quote the article:

"And when U.S. distributors were shown the movie at a private screening during the recent Toronto film festival, there wasn't exactly a feeding frenzy. "Nobody's arguing that it isn't funny," says Reitman. "They just have to be convinced there's a profit to be made. We're negotiating with three distributors to find the one that's most optimistic."

I guess none of them were, because it has yet to be shown outside of Canada.

“I always tell the truth…even when I lie” - Scarface

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] vincent-27 17 years ago

It is the death knell of any canadian project that tries to appeal to the American market. Guess what, we're not as a good at it as they are, and for $5 million what did they expect? This movie had what I called the "Bob and Doug syndrome". Remember SCTV's Bob and Doug Mackenzie? It was a 2 minute little spot of improvised comedy (which was hit and miss at best) and they tried to make a movie out of it. The movie bombed.

With or without Reitman, the problem with making a movie out of TPB is that the show's charm is that it is low budget, documentary style hand held DV cameras with boom mics falling into shot all the time. That's what makes it great, you can't really translate that to the big screen, and even if they kept the rough style, they already did that in the "pilot" short movie they made before the series.

But I don't blame them for trying, it was obvious that the show running out of steam anyway. It would have been nice to see that money go into some crazy ass show finale though.

--
"Surrender Dorothy!"

[–] CathyE 17 years ago

Actually, Strange Brew did pretty well. :)

But I agree with most of what you're saying. I don't think the show is running out of steam - it still makes me laugh my a$$ off. I think gearing the movie towards a new audience was a big mistake, as was largely abandoning the low budget style.

There wasn't enough time to develop the characters in the movie for a first time audience. Maybe if they had centered the story solely on Ricky/Julian/Bubbles - but we already delved into the basis of their friendship in the Christmas special.

I believe in the article I posted the link to earlier, it says Reitman didn't want any confessionals to the camera, but they got some in anyway. That's the whole show! That he's being followed by camera men. I can't believe they tried to leave that out.

“I always tell the truth…even when I lie” - Scarface

[–] model101 17 years ago

I disagree with this thread.

I though the movie was easily better than Seasons 4-6. Seasons 4-6 to me were weak (and Yes I have been watching Trailer Park Boys since the beginning, and Yes I do live in Canada)

Also, who said Strange Brew sucked, that movie was awesome. I want it on DVD, but I don't think it was ever released on DVD. I got it off Movie Central comercial free, so I will make my own DVD of Strange Brew when I get my TV tuner card for my PC.

[–] vincent-27 17 years ago

Season 4 was weak? Hardly, i think it was their peak. The last 2 double header episodes were brilliant. Rita Macneil picking weed? Come on.

Watch Strange Brew again, I recently rented it for an Irish friend of mine and it doesn't hold up. The first 20 minutes is pretty good but it quickly runs out of gas.

--
"Surrender Dorothy!"

[–] rogerbrent 17 years ago

Nah, season 4 was the low point.

Conky, Green Bastard, the mountain lion?! Seems like they ran out of story ideas and had to come up with some wacky gimmicks for cheap laughs.

[–] elsachmo 17 years ago

I think season 6 was amazing. Season 5 was a little weak. We all knew that the movie would probably try to cater to people new to the show, so you would have a lot of recycled jokes that were probably funnier the first time around. Same thing that happened with the Strangers With Candy movie. Still a good movie though. Better than the original movie and the Christmas special, IMO.

[–] cyclonic111 17 years ago

"Conky, Green Bastard, the mountain lion?! Seems like they ran out of story ideas and had to come up with some wacky gimmicks for cheap laughs."

Conky was an awesome episode! Ricky getting high on glue and seeing purple squirrels, peeing on Julian, shooting up Sam's vet clinic and pouring dog pee all over Randy and Lahey. Plus not to mention Bubbles getting controlled by a "dummy" . It was reminiscent of the old B&W movie when Conky referred to Ricky as "Raveen" and Julian as "Patrick Swayze". It's a classic!

My favourite part of The Green Bastard was Ricky trashing those cars with the front-end loader. That was a riot! Oh and peeing on the guy's windshield, that was funny too. I'm not a big fan of wrestling so I could have done without that part though.

[–] tripolarproduce 17 years ago

"Sssssstooopid!"

conky was awesome.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] phil-dawg 17 years ago

make that another that was disappointed with the movie.

even though it was supposed to be unconnected with the tv show, i felt like some of the jokes in the movie kind of built off character traits from the tv show...which is silly if you're going to make a stand-alone movie.

what makes it all that much worse is THE SOUNDTRACK! it doesn't even have the two cool 80's tunes from the strip club: Platinum Blonde - 'it doesn't really matter' & Rough Trade - 'all touch' ....it's a lame soundtrack with a bunch of filler soundbites from the movie. and it's impossible to find these songs anywhere (for free that is)

Is it just me or did the j-roc song 'trailer park life' sound a lot worse than when it was in the tv show?

[–] stoned_soldier 15 years ago

Man, the Conky episode is the bomb I don't know what's wrong with you, you've been stealing too much gas or something.

[–] LanFisher 17 years ago

Yep, I think it was a big mistake to get Ivan Reitman involved. He used to be Canadian, but now he's very much integrated into Hollywood psyche, and I think there were some attempts to Americanize certain aspects of the movie, and that didn't mix well with a Canadian movie.

The wedding scene was very anti-climactic, and having something a bit more frenzied would have made the movie better. And in the end, Reitman's touches didn't sell the movie outside of Canada. If anything, it compromised the integrity of the movie.

I think Clatt should do a special "director's cut," and even re-film some scenes if necessary. Unheard of? Sure. But who says you can't? If it makes a better movie in the end, then so be it.

[–] caguitar2001 17 years ago

5 minutes into the movie i knew Reitman had Clattenburg by the balls. The rehash of all the jokes brought forth Reitman's evil plans for profits. The entire "beat" of the movie goes against everything Clattenburg has been saying for years. But can you blame Clattenburg? what's he gonna say. I bet he was super pissed through the whole production. oh well. at least they have money for more shows now.

[–] Wood-20 17 years ago

This is one reason I tend to enjoy TV over movies in a lot of ways. The TPB TV show has had 6 years to develop into a great show, which had depth and allowed the characters to develop and change, while this movie version is more like the "bad adaptation from the book" kind of thing. I prefer the TV show.

[–] flavor3 17 years ago

my girlfriend and i enjoyed it.
we are big fans of the show
and noticed things that were already done yes..
but im sure they had to make it that way for people who havnt seen the show.
it is what it is..
blaze some joints and have a good time!!
dont pick the movie apart like a lil whiner,or you'll only ruin it for yourself and others.

[–] drawah64 17 years ago

You make some very good points. The lack of continuity with the show, and the recycling of many gags, were two of my problems with it. We'd already seen everything before on the show.

That, and I found the storyline very underwhelming. I mean, come on, the show had Freedom 35, the hash driveway, and then in the movie, they just rob a movie theater?!
Very disappointing.

And the fact that Trinity was different was a big negative too.

The mini-chase scene around the park was pretty funny, but as a climax it wasn't too great.

[–] solidrave 17 years ago

My main problem with the movie was the Lucy and Ricky story. I've had enough of that damn plot line. And as the Above poster said, the "Big Dirty" was very underwhellming.

[–] Mark-Grayson 17 years ago

I was surprised how much I liked it considering people were saying it wasn't as good as the series. I regret not seeing it on the big screen. It made me fall in love with the series again and reminded me why I liked it in the first place.

[–] phil-dawg 17 years ago

are you sure were watching 'Trailer Park Boys' before you saw the movie...and not Yes, Dear or some other tripe?

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[–] marchug 17 years ago

i, too, was disappointed. i understand that it was a movie set in a different tpb universe, but i felt like it just wasn't really funny. i only laughed 2 times and both of those times were at things from the series.

i loved the trailer for the movie when they were auditioning people to play their parts (and decide that they were going to have to play themselves). i laughed way more at that. i feel like they could have had the same movie and incorporated that story (auditions / playing themselves) into it and made a film that would make sense to newcomers and old fans alike.

[–] lotr2004rotk 17 years ago

*beep* I laugh non stop while watching this flick. when ppl say it's not as good as the series, I say "yeah, before season4..." but seasons past 4 haven't been that great and the movie is way better that past seasons.

[–] DrChrisCooper 17 years ago

This is onr the funniest movies

How can we expect anyone to listen if we are using the same old voice? We need a new noise.

[–] BobCH88 17 years ago

It's nowhere as funny as the show in my opinion.
As I watched the movie, I thought "Would I think this is funny if I had never seen the show?"
Not really.
I tried to like the movie. I wanted to forgive them for coming up short-the big dirty just doesnt do it for me.
Like some other people said before, I only laughed twice, maybe three times.
WTF was up with making Lucy flash her tits? I don't even think it was her, which makes it extra pointless.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] MetalgearSldSnk 13 years ago

I hated that movie. Everything about it felt too artifical. I sometimes forget that the tv shows aren't real especially when the cameramen get *beep* with. Because of its rating, I thought the movie was really going to enhanced the whole series, and not be a stand alone movie. The makers really *beep* up.