I guess the highest praise I can give to the new Kevin Smith horror-comedy Tusk is that there's never been anything like it. Then again, there's nothing been anything like a film where a guy gets his legs forcibly shoved down his throat yet either and I don't think I'd pay money to see that. The problem with this film is that writer-director Smith (who took it from one of his Smodcasts) constantly confuses vomit inducing and disturbing for scary. The horror element of this film is the equivalent of someone taking a bunch of dirt and putting it inside a giant open wound of theirs right in front of you. It's not scary...it's unnecessarily disgusting. For that matter, some of the comedy parts are alright but most of them give the audience a "you had to have been there" vibe. Those are mostly the equivalent of a bunch of frat boys making loud noises and laughing because only they get what the loud noises signify.
The film stars Justin Long as Wallace, a horrible human being (although it takes all too long to figure that out) who runs a successful podcast with Teddy (Haley Joel Osment.) The idea of the show: Wallace goes to visit weird people to see and hear their bizarre lives first hand. Upon returning, he tells Teddy all about it and sees Teddy's reaction. One day, Wallace travels up to Canada and discovers that, for various reasons, his trip was a flop and he has no show. That is, until he discovers a flyer promising fascinating tales. This prompts him to go into the middle of nowhere and talk to Howard (Michael Parks,) an old man with a very smart, suave Hannibal Lecter vibe. Wallace then discovers that Howard is very bad news which prompts Teddy and Wallace's girlfriend, Ally (Genesis Rodriguez) to look for him.
Right down the line, the acting is great in this film. Long, Osment and Rodriguez are all terrific, giving their characters a sense of being and life that easily could have been lost in translation. Parks is the stand out, however, giving a performance that recalls the days of Vincent Price and Bela Lugosi. However, this is one boring film. There's a great horror film in this premise but then the first 20 minutes were up and I was just bored. If Smith were to have made this a short film that would be released as a bonus feature on one of his Special Edition DVD's and Blu Rays, this would probably be great. However, it keeps going and going and going. There's even a small surprise role by a well known celebrity. This is a celebrity I've soured on quite a bit over the years but they're very funny in it. However, they're funny in a way that doesn't fit the film at all. The film, at that point, has already established itself as a disturbing, dark film and then this character comes on screen giving the impression that they just came out of The Naked Gun 4 and 1/4.
Between Red State, Jersey Girl and Cop Out, Smith has certainly proven that he's not the quality writer or director he was back in the Dogma-Clerks-Chasing Amy-Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back days. Chalk Tusk up as another one of his failures. It's not completely awful, mostly due to the terrific acting and the hints of a good idea about the similarities and differences between man and animal. However, Smith has much too hard of a time finding the right tone and the film ends up being mostly a depressing, boring, impossible to swallow mess. If you sit through the whole film, you may begin to feel just as tortured and lifeless as Wallace.
(1 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for some disturbing violence/gore, language and sexual content)
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