Let's Go to Prison might be one of the most disappointing films I've ever seen. I hadn't heard much about it, and what I did hear was basically factual and appeared to me the week before the film's release. What lured me in? Simply the fact that Will Arnett, a.k.a. Gob Bluth from Arrested Development, was starring in it. The fact that Bob Odenkirk of Mr. Show fame directed it was a nice bonus but not necessarily something that convinced me to throw down 9$. Within 20 minutes, though, I knew that 9$ had been wasted.

The premise: A dude named Lishitski gets sent to juvenile hall, and then prison (twice) by the same judge. On his release from prison he decides to kill the judge. unfortunately, the judge died the day before. His second plan is to torment the judge's son, played by Arnett. Arnett gets sent to prison for attempted robbery that is simply an asthma attack (it sounds funnier than it is) and Lishitski decides to go to prison to torture him there.

There are two problems with this concept. 1) neither character is likable. I didn't care about Gob getting tormented because he is a spoiled asshole. (Problem 1-A is that Arnett is basically playing Gob, only without the supporting cast or the writers of Arrested Development to help him shine.) 2) once in prison, the plot relies on standard prison jokes to get by. shower scene? check. Crotchety warden? check. white power gang? check. large black man who threatens character with anal sex? check.

The only twist is that Arnett and said large black man (played by Chi McBride) actually fall in love. But, again, it's not as funny as it sounds.

Chi McBride is the only good part of the film, but otherwise the movie is really flat. And I think it's Odenkirk's fault as much as the script's. The jokes don't really come fast at all. There's a scene when Arnett and Lishitski (played by Dax Shepard) arrive at prison and the warden gives them 'the speech.' This is the scene in the commercial where he says "If anyone wants to leave, step forward and you can go" and David Koechner (sp?) hits him with his nightstick. Unlike the commercial, there's about 15 seconds between the guy stepping forward and getting hit. Is there any doubt that he's going to get hit? No. so why draw it out like this? This is pretty much what happens in Shawshank -- "When do we eat?" Slow walk, building tension... then ....WHAP! It works in a movie where prison is a threatening, horrible place. But not in one where the main character's name is Lishitski and the guard is played by one of the funniest supporting comedians to come along in a while. (Koechner, as it turns out, has nothing funny to say or do in the entire film.)

As for the script, there are a few too many 'classic' prison jokes (even two stolen from Arrested Development. For instance, Lishitski sells Arnett's character to McBride for cigarettes; although I guess this is just a standard prison joke. Later Arnett's character accidentally kills the head of the Aryan gang and becomes universally feared; he's then seen telling stories to other prisoners about prep-school and they laugh and laugh! I was waiting for them to call him Dorothy.

Getting back to the warden's speech, he basically says, "If you have any complaints I would love to hear them. Make sure you write them down and stick them up your ass." That's the punchline. What makes it 'funnier' is that he says it three times -- "If you have any suggestions about how to run the prison, make sure to stick that up your ass. And if you have any requests to make your stay here better, make sure you write 'asshole' on the return address so i know where to reply." What's even worse is that this takes about 2 minutes because he walks slowly past each of the prisoners.

On CHUD.com, the movie website I frequent (although less and less) there are a few people trying to defend the film as a 'black comedy.' It would have to be funny to even qualify. I wouldn't even recommend renting this.

As for Stranger than Fiction -- this is essentially The Truman Show, only about books. That pretty much covers it, although I think the ending to this is better than The Truman Show, where the resulting moral is that human beings like free will even though it results in suffering -- this is essentially the same moral for The Matrix and Oedipus the King. And I think it's a pretty shitty moral that ignores the face that people would rather be happy and ignorant, which is why they watch TV and surf the internet in the first place. And yet neither film seems to realize that irony.

Saying all of that does not ruin the ending of Stranger than Fiction, by the way. And since it is an enjoyable film, I will simply state that it is fun and light. it's almost like a more straightforward version of I heart Huckabees -- a little bit of philosophy with a little bit of romance. Farrell is not hamming it up. He's playing the character he always plays: the guy who doesn't know what's going on. In this case though he starts to realize something is amiss.

I recommend seeing this one in the theater or on DVD. It's got some nice visuals and good performances from Farrell and Emma Thompson. Queen Latifah appears but fortunately doesn't manage to fuck anything up (she's sorta underused, which is sad because I feel like she could be a good actress). Maggie Gyllenhal manages to act cute and for whatever reason falls in love with Farrell. It's weird but believable, especially in a movie where the main character hears the voice of the author of a book he's starring in who happens to exist in his world.