Snakes on a Plane (it had to happen)

Even I was drawn into the marketing blitz that was Snakes on a Plane. How can you ignore that title?

I'll be honest, though - I was almost bored by all the hype. When my friend Steve told me about it months ago I went into a fit of laughing in disbelief, especially when Samuel L. Jackson signed up for it. On many parts of the internet, I had been tracking it delightfully. I saw all the blogs, sites, trailers, and fan videos, and I was proud that fans had actually played a huge part in making movie history.

Then, it took too long to come out. If they released it early on, I might have been more excited. I know they wanted to build up the mystery, but for me, once it became a part of mainstream culture and not an inside joke with my slacker pals, it started to loose its taste for me. Others undoubtedly were more excited, but I knew it couldn't survive the hype. I also knew that I couldn't see it with the guys, which disappoints me. This is what I get for moving cross-country.

I was considering not going, unless my lady friend wanted to. Of course, she's great, and I love her for loving movies where people die in them (who else has a girlfriend that digs action and gruesome horror flicks more than you?). We went and enjoyed it in relative silence. I would've liked to have my pals to liven things up, but we were excited, and that's enough.

As for the film itself? It somewhat lived up to the hype. Not totally, but good enough. I think it made me laugh more than almost any film this year, maybe not Little Miss Sunshine, but more than most comedies. There were, I have to say, some down moments. It took itself too seriously, which is of course the point to it being terribly enjoyable, but that meant scenes of people trying to act, which is no good for any fun crapper.

In fact, I was struggling to sit through the first half hour or so, begging them to please just put one snake on screen. As expected, some of the acting is terrible - the FBI agent in LA and the main kid should never, ever work again - but they also took too much time trying to explain the plot for some odd reason. Come on! Just admit that there's no real explanation for the premise and move on. Get to the blood, which everyone is waiting for. Later on, they had awkward regrouping scenes. It could have been better, and by better, I mean WORSE.

This was redeemed, though, because when the craziness did begin, was it fun. I can't believe they ever considered NOT pushing the envelope (and NOT going for an R rating). That would have sucked, and in a bad way. SNAKE VISION?!?!?!?! Yes! It certainly had a lot of stuff jumping out at you, which I always hate, but it was deliberate bad filmmaking, so I let it go more than I usually would.

I think they also copied off two Simpsons episodes with things that would be spoilers to give away. Let's just say that I was hoping for them to cut to James Taylor in mission control as he snuck away, worried.

The final redeeming point was the last scene, with the final ending shot. That saved it. I don't think I laughed at an ending like that before, not even the impromptu Age of Aquarius video.

This isn't a campy, Troll 2 level B classic quite yet. It needs to age some, become dated, and it has a lot of down time. It's bad enough. If I made a list of enjoyably bad movies, I think it would fight for a top ten spot. I couldn't help comparing this in my mind to Roadhouse, the golden standard, and it just doesn't hold up. It was almost worth the wait, but I'd encourage you to get more excited for stuff you'll like on a normal level coming out soon.

Also... this is why Julianna Marguilles quit ER, right?