Product Details

• Actors: Len Cariou, Steven Seagal, Larissa Laskin, Abigail Mavity, Daniel Dae Kim
• Directors: Tom Kuntz, Mike Maguire, James Kleiner
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: June 3, 2008
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0017XOF50
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,808 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Shelved since 2003 then released straight to DVD, the feature-length Onion Movie is based on the satirical nationwide newspaper The Onion, which works better in print than on celluloid. That said, hardcore Onion fans will appreciate this effort to enliven text with filmed comedic sketches that strongly resemble Saturday Night Live news and National Lampoon. Directors Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire translate what would normally read as sarcastic headlines into slapstick skits starring three news reporters, Norm Archer (Len Cariou), Larissa Laskin (Dana Dobbs), and Scott Klace (Kip Kendall), reporting on idiotic events either live or in the studio. The newsreel opens, for example, with a report from Archer on the dangers of "neck belts" in automobiles, that have lately been decapitating drivers. Spoofs on everyone and everything, from slutty teen stars, racial stereotyping, the handicapped, to military recruitment officials turned peaceful by marijuana, add plenty of characteristically perverse and iffy Onion humor to this odd film. The Onion Movie relies loosely on a plot in which Norm Archer, devoted anchorman, protests a toy penguin interrupting his screen time in the name of advertising an upcoming film, Cockpuncher, that the network’s corporate sponsor, Global Tetrahedron, has funded. This facetious action film featuring Steven Seagal, looks a little too life-like after Norm takes measures to fight the power. At an hour and a half, news skits interrupted by fake commercials and Archer’s fits of rage feel played out, though skit-to-skit, the news broadcasts are quite hilarious, making the film an overall winner if you’re in the mood for mockery. --Trinie Dalton

Product Description

This just in...The Onion invades DVD! Based on the wildly popular newspaper hailed by The New Yorker as â??the funniest publication in the United States,â? The Onion Movie brings you uncensored, uninhibited, UNRATED news and views from around the world. In a stunning development, when Onion News anchorman Norm Archer (Len Cariou) is asked to compromise his journalistic integrity to please a new corporate sponsor, he doesnâ??t just get mad, he gets...angry. Taking aim at pop stars, prisoners, peace talks and, of course, high-testosterone action films, The Onion Movie delivers hard-hitting headlinesâ?"and side-splitting laughs!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stereotypes; Where Would We Be Without Them?, June 29, 2008

By	AMP "Al" (Somewhere on Earth) - See all my reviews

The Good Things
*A great, varied assortment of comedic sketches that makes fun of many different aspects of modern-day society, culture, and politics. Topics include such issues as terrorism, sexuality in pop music, corporate greed, and so on.
*A few good parodies (most prominently, Steven Segal parodying himself!).
*Also a good number of original sketches.
*A few funny pieces of self-parody (ie, the scenes where film critics gather around and rate the movie).
*There is a very slight story arc that ties in many of the sktis together into a bizzare finale, and ultimately presents some major themes about journalistic ethics and corporate greed (although these themes are not very strongly developed).

The Bad Things
*No characters to develop, no story to tell (but hey, it's sketch comedy, so who cares?).

The Questionable Things
*A fair amount of perversity. Expect a lot of swear words and a little bit of graphicness. Some may find it too crude, but I think it's just right.
*Quite a bit of racey humor.

This eighty-minute collection of skits is probably the funniest thing I have seen in a while. The comedy is great, and presents enough satire to make it somewhat thoughtful. There is some sickness to some of it, but it's nowhere near as bad as some other comedies out there (like "Meet the Spartans" or the "Scary Movie" series). It may not be as funny as the Onion website, but I would say that this is comparable to "Saturday Night Live," "Robot Chicken," or Monty Python's "Meaning of Life."

The disc has okay video and sound quality. It has ten minutes of deleted scenes (which are really good) and outtakes.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Onion Movie-Kentucky Fried Movie for the new millenium, June 24, 2008

By	nihil (Chicago/NW Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews

This movie is really really funny. It's not "the greatest thing ever made" but it's still pretty damned hilarious. It's a great parody. I rented it hoping it was exactly what it was: a variety of parodies with a plot mixed in. No, it's not the paper.........it's a movie based on the Onion style of viewing the world. If you have ever seen Kentucky Fried movie this will seem like an updated companion piece. You really need to go into watching this movie with these things in mind. It's just a good ride. The movie isn't high-brow humour that's meant to be the best in the world but you'll get a chuckle out of it. I've been waiting for this for a while since I saw a preview on another DVD I rented. I know all my friends who are ZAZ (Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker) fans will love this and I am going to buy it so we can all watch it.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Area Man Disappointed, June 3, 2008

By	Sam Clemens "Luke" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

As a more thorough review has already been posted here, I'll keep it brief when I say that I was fully disappointed by this film. I'm a huge fan of the Onion newspaper and the Onion online, especially when I rushed out to rent this movie the first day it was available (good thing I didn't buy it). The trailer that has been circulating the internet for some time is hilarious, but captures the only good scenes from the entire feature. Most segments are long, redundant, and unfunny, and although they are tied together in the end, the movie is missing the charm that I have come to expect from the Onion's caliber of work. Overall, rent this DVD if you have to, but it's something that should remain on the shelves.