Let's Go to Prison
Throughout his life, career criminal John Lyshitski (Dax Shepard) has been in and out of prison ever since he was 8-years old and tried to carjack the Publisher's Clearing House van. Each time he's gotten in trouble with the law, it's been Judge Biederman (David Darlow) who has sentenced him. Out on the streets once again, John has a plan for revenge by destroying the Judge's life, only to discover that Biederman has passed away. However, a second chance presents itself when Biderman's stuck up son, Nelson Biederman, IV (Will Arnett) is arrested and sentenced to prison after a misunderstanding at a convenience store where Nelson is mistaken for a felon. Hearing this, John gets himself arrested for a drug charge, and goes out of his way to get himself sentenced to the same prison that Nelson is being sent to, and insists on being the disgraced Biederman's cell mate. Under the guise of being Nelson's friend and showing him the ropes of prison life, John plans to get revenge on the Judge by destroying his son's life. Unforeseen circumstances arise when Nelson begins to become accepted by the inmates, and may even get paroled. John will have to pull out all the stops if he wants his revenge scheme to pull through.
In his opening narration monologue, John informs us that if he had a nickel for each time he's been sent to prison, he'd have fifteen cents. I've got him beat. If I had a nickel for each minute this movie wastes during its 85 minute running time, I'd have $42.50. Let's Go to Prison is a series of cliched prison gags that have been told too many times, and often much better. Topics such as inmate-on-inmate "relationships", terrible prison food, and abusive Wardens and prison guards are touched upon. Unfortunately, that's as far as the screenplay decides to go. It touches upon these subjects, but can't think of a thing to do with them. There is a continuing subplot concerning Nelson and his evolving relationship with a velvet-voiced inmate named Barry (Chi McBride), who enjoys making wine in his prison toilet and giving Eskimo Kisses to guys that he likes. This relationship seems to play a big role in the story, especially later on, but absolutely nothing is done with it. We simply get a couple shots of Barry seducing Nelson, or washing Nelson's hair in the shower, and then it cuts to the next scene. A better screenplay could have thought of many more humorous ways to express their relationship, but this movie doesn't have time even for a proper pay off. Another good example is a short scene when Nelson is sent down to solitary confinement and begins to lose his mind. He begins to hallucinate, and once again, the movie completely misses a golden opportunity by having nothing funny actually happen. It simply shows multiple versions of him standing in different corners of the room, or getting a three second visit from a guy dressed in a dog costume, showing that he's supposed to be slipping into insanity. The fact that Nelson is going insane itself is not funny, the humor is supposed to come from an absurd look at that insanity. The film can find none, and so the joke falls flat on its face.
Let's Go to Prison seems at times to want to be a vicious parody of the justice system, and at others to be a raunchy and rude adult comedy. It fails on both accounts. The parody aspects are far too tame and don't go far enough, such as an early scene that pokes fun at the people who usually get Jury Duty. The raunchy comedy aspects are far too repetitive, often hitting the same notes over and over. The comedy is depressingly dreary in just about every aspect, and despite that it's obviously trying, it can't muster more than a slight smile from its audience. Maybe if lead actor Dax Shepard didn't constantly look like he wished he was somewhere else, his jokes would come off better. Not that I don't understand where he's coming from, mind you. With back-to-back stinkers like Employee of the Month and now this, I'd be wanting to be somewhere else too. Either that, or looking up a new Agent. As Nelson, Will Arnett at least looks like he's trying. He's got a certain kind of smarmy smugness that makes him easy to detest. Unfortunately, that aspect of his performance backfires when we're supposed to like him. In fact, the movie seems confused as to whether we're supposed to be siding with John or Nelson. The far too pat and neat ending doesn't help matters either. The film's entire cast is so thinly drawn out that they barely have time to give us any sort of characterization. They're simply prison cliches at the mercy of a screenplay that comes across sometimes as unfinished, and at others as a first draft that somehow accidentally wound up in front of the cameras. There is no source of life or energy to be found here. Even a cast sing-a-long that is played during the film's end credits can't muster forth any fun, and seems more like something that should have been left on the cutting room floor.
Much like Date Movie or Material Girls, Let's Go to Prison makes me wonder if just about any comedy script can be purchased by a major studio. These days, a comedy doesn't even need jokes. They just need the right people backing it, and people who are good enough to somehow con usually talented actors into appearing in it. Amateurish in just about every possible way, the film has the look and feel of a straight to DVD project that somehow wound up on the big screen. At least we can take comfort in knowing that its stay in theaters will most likely be mercifully brief. All I know is by the time the movie was over, spending one night in an actual jail cell sounded more appealing than the idea of having to sit through this film again.
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