Starring:
Samuel L. Jackson as Narrator (voice)
Lewis Black as Jimmy (voice)
Mo’Nique as Vicky (voice)
Tracy Morgan as Marcus (voice)
Bob Saget as Carl (voice)
Jason Alexander as Penguin on Belly (voice)
Christina Applegate as Melissa (voice)
James Belushi as Penguin (voice)
Jason Biggs as Insecure Penguin (voice)
Dane Cook as Online Penguin (voice)
Dave Coulier as There’s no snow Penguin (voice)
Cliff Dorfman as Angry Penguin (voice)
Adam Duritz as Sensitive Guy Penguin (voice)
Vanessa Lee Evigan as Hilton Penguin (voice)
Harvey Fierstein as Sheila (voice)
Whoopi Goldberg as Helen (voice)
Gilbert Gottfried as Freezing Nuts Penguin (voice)
Alyson Hannigan as Hottie Penguin (voice)
Jim Hazelton as No Personality Penguin (voice)
Jonathan Katz as Steve The Owl (voice)
Jamie Kennedy as Jamie (voice)
Brie Larson as I need a Z-pack Penguin (voice)
Jon Lovitz as My eyes are up here Penguin (voice)
Norm MacDonald as Join Twosomes Penguin (voice)
Carlos Mencia as Juan Sanchez (voice)
David Michie as Sly Penguin (voice)
Nick Simunek as Daddy likes that Penguin (voice)
John Stamos as What’s global warming Penguin (voice)
Rob Weiss as Pissed Penguin (voice)
Special Features:
Commentary by director Bob Saget
Bonus footage with commentary
“To the Earth’s ‘Ice-Hole’ and Back: A Director’s Journey” featurette
Behind-the-scenes montage
Censored and uncensored trailers
Other Info:
Widescreen
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
French Language
Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 80 Minutes
Synopsis:
The following is from the DVD cover:
“It’s mating season…
Meet Carl (Bob Saget) and Jimmy (Lewis Black), two cold penguins on a desperate mission to get themselves some hot booty. After years of empty one-night stands, Carl wants more than a piece of penguin tail. He wants the love of the beautiful Melissa (Christina Applegate). Now it’s up to Jimmy to help his neurotic friend win her heart and find his dream girl. The only thing that stands in their way is…a seventy mile trek across Antarctica. It’s a road trip like no other, as these two best bros make their way to a penguin island paradise. From director and comedian Bob Saget comes a raunchy, yet heartwarming comedy like no other.
Get ready for a stiff and dirty ride!”
“Farce of the Penguins” is rated R for pervasive crude sexual content and language.
Mini-Review:
If 80 minutes of penguin sex jokes sounds like comedy gold to you, then “Farce of the Penguins” is the movie you’ve been looking for. If not, then you’ll probably be as unimpressed as I was by this film. It’s about an hour longer than it needed to be. Saget has just written one disgusting penguin joke after another and it gets boring and annoying very quickly. The longer it rolls on the more apparent its flaws become.
As it starts off it seems like an R-rated video from “America’s Funniest Videos.” Saget’s voice over stock footage just comes across that way. And it’s about as annoying as you might expect. As the film progresses, it seems like there are only three jokes penguins want sex, penguins are disgusting, and penguins have fowl mouths. (Pun intended and about as lame as most of the jokes in the movie.) It didn’t help matters that the sound quality of the movie was atrocious. It sounded like it was recorded in a closet at Saget’s house. The flat line delivery made it even worse.
One of the only redeeming points of the film is the wide variety of actors and actresses that lent their voices to the film. Saget must have cashed in a LOT of favors. It almost becomes a game trying to identify who they all are. It was a little creepy, though, hearing almost the entire cast of “Full House” portray the profane penguins. (Say that three times fast.) You won’t watch the squeaky clean show the same way again.
I can’t imagine what Saget was thinking when he decided to parody “March of the Penguins.” Was it, “Man, those penguins need to be taken down a notch!” How do you choose this as a film to parody? I don’t know, but it would have made a better internet short or SNL parody than a feature length film. At least then they could have trimmed it down to its best jokes.
If you feel like subjecting yourself to more abuse, there are quite a few bonus features on this DVD. There’s the obligatory commentary by director Bob Saget, censored and uncensored trailers, and a 15 minute “making of” featurette where Saget pretends he actually went to Antarctica to film the movie. There are also deleted scenes, one of which contains a rather disgusting image a penguin with a penis the size of a python. It was so incredibly absurd and gross you have to wonder who in Hollywood is willing to shell out money to produce this crap. Finally, the behind-the-scenes montage shows many of the guest voices recording their dialogue. It’s kind of sad seeing respectable actors step in, record penguin sex jokes with Saget looking over their shoulders, then step out again. I doubt you see this movie on many of their official filmographies.
