Fred: The Movie – DVD Review

The Film:

We all had that friend that would insist to you to watch a clip on Youtube and you do, but with a reaction of “why am I watching this?” Without warning, anything can be a huge hit on Youtube, the online channel that is supposedly putting fear into network TV, but seriously has anyone ever admitted to themselves that while there’s that one really great funny video, there’s also like a hundred lame, unfunny, or borderline click-able wastes of time, because there is. A ton of them.

Lucas Cruikshank is one such Youtube star. He created a character named Fred Figglehorn and with little short videos, has crafted an online sensation (550 million views) that nobody under 7 knows how the heck that happened. Imagine if Urkel was white and possibly a lovechild of Pee-Wee Herman. That’s Fred. Granted, am I the audience of this thing called Fred: The Movie? No, but that doesn’t stop my opinion and let me forewarn you: if you have kids and reasonably good hearing, avoid.

The film follows Fred as he pretends Judy is his girlfriend. She has moved and Fred has to seek her. That’s it. With a scene of pure shrieking and this Lucas kid can shriek, we, meaning anyone over the age of 7, is perplexed to what we are watching. Not even Family Guy writer David A. Goodman can save this thing from being an endurance test. There’s no jokes, as Fred is talking to us breaking the fourth wall, but why? At the end of the film, Fred looks at us and comments on the YouTube fad (after a video of him puking hit the ‘net): “Why do people even watch other people on YouTube? It’s weird! It’s creepy!” Was that a moment of self-analysis? Either way, I wasn’t duped. Possibly the worse thing is that Lucas Cruikshank is from my great state of Nebraska, and while I’m trying to end stereotypes and stigmas the country has on my state, he ruins it all with one shriek.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Lionsgate Films release a decent SD release. The video is good, with a nice level color and detail. The audio is fine too at DD 5.1.

LGF also gives fans a slew of extras. From Webcam to Leading Man explores Cruikshank rise to “fame”; Fred’s First Film is your typical EPK making-of; Audio Commentary with the director Clay Weiner, the writer Goodman, and star Cruikshank chat about the film, the jokes, the making, but it’s light and fluffy.

One of his YouTube shorts made it here as did an all-new video, with plenty of Trailers.

The Film: Rating:

The DVD: Rating: