While it has been the case for many years that National Lampoon found a movie that they liked and went forward with sponsoring and releasing it theatrically, National Lampoon’s Bagboy is the first film that they fully produced and created on their own. And, surprise, it is actually heads and shoulders above in quality many of the previous films that National Lampoon has slapped their name on. The film itself focuses on Phil (Peter Campbell’s) life, which is pretty boring, being stuck ass a grocery store bagboy. However, Phil has one amazing skill – the ability to go and bag things with a skill and speed that is virtually unheard of until Marty (Dennis Farina, playing a former competitive bagger and now-supermarket owner) finds out about Phil.
The training begins and Phil attempts to win the World Bagging Competition tournament, but I’ll let the readers watch the movie to flesh out the rest of the plot. Essentially, the comedy present in the film works on all levels; while there are gratuitous amounts o low-brow and gross out humor present, there is another level – high-brow humor – that points a pointy stick in the eye of competitive events. The cast, despite being at varying parts of their careet (Peter Campbell on eir way up, Brooke Shields on eir way down), gel together perfectly and play off each other as if they have had years of chances to interact and to grow closer. Beyond having the actual movie itself, there are a number of additional features with which individuals can sink their teeth into.
This means that there are interviews with practically every important character in the movie, a look behind the scenes of Bagboy, and perhaps best of all, there is footage of the event – the National Grocer’s Association competitive bagging competition – that the pivotal scene of the movie was taken off of. Finally, the “Cart Wrangler†episodes that are present are little slices of heaven, funny as hell and a perfect addition to what is already a great DVD. Here’s to hoping that National Lampoon will continue to make their films in-house, and have them come forth with the quality and comedy that was present in National Lampoon’s Bagboy. I could even seeing their films reaching a level of fame that is equal, if not exceeding, that of the Broken Lizard or the American Pie series of films. Give the movie a go.
Rating: 7.8/10
National Lampoon’s Bagboy (DVD) / 2008 Arts Alliance America / 94 Minutes / http://www.bagboythemovie.com / http://www.nationallampoon.com /