‘A Futile and Stupid Gesture’ Film Review: National Lampoon Biopic Gently Celebrates Anarchy
It’s hard to overstate the impact of National Lampoon magazine, but director Douglas Tirola tried anyway in 2015 with “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead,” a documentary examining its history and legacy.
As much as David Wain’s “A Futile And Stupid Gesture” (premiering on Netflix January 26) might feel like a retread of its buoyant history lesson, his adaptation of Josh Karp’s book of the same name focuses primarily on the exploits of Lampoon co-founder Douglas Kenney, filtering the publication’s incendiary accomplishments through his suitably troubled personal history while assembling an impressive cast of contemporary comedy stars to provide some occasionally wildly uneven but always fun-to-behold impersonations of their iconic predecessors.