Sunday Matinee: Heckler [Film]

***Please be advised, this “review” of a truly great film, will very quickly turn into the ramblings of a bitter old blogger, and turns into a very long rant. Heckler is in there quite a bit, but be sure that if you scroll past it all, get to the links at the bottom to be able to support Heckler!***

There are several reasons I chose to showcase this Jamie Kennedy-produced documentary for you fine readers on this lovely Sunday. First of all, it’s a damn fine and informative flick. Secondly, a key player in the making of the film may be making a reappearance later this week! And finally, while I hope most of our readers are not the heckling type, as I truly believe you are all just wonderful people, who know how to sit down and shut the fuck up at a comedy show. Except for the laughing. Definitely do the laughing. But, besides that, seriously…keep your damn mouth shut!

We have been showcasing a lot of folks from the world of stand-up comedy lately (ironically, NONE of them appeared in this film!) and have come to notice that the problem with hecklers and critics in this part of entertainment is a persistent problem that doesn’t seem likely to be stopping any time soon. Just further proof that the human race is filled with too many terrible mouth breathing shitheads. That’s right, I’m critiquing..but, not critiquing art. Critiquing a society that never seems to learn. And that is also what the 2007 Michael Addis directed documentary Heckler has managed to convey ever so brilliantly! But here’s the thing..this film was released 10 years ago! Does anyone else remember 2007? The era of Myspace, around the dawn of Facebook, and before we could have fathomed series news being given to us, by our nation’s Commander in Chief for that matter, in the form of something called a “tweet”. In 2007, if somebody told you that they just “tweeted”, you’d probably lead this to a sexual reference of some sort of bout with mental illness. But alas, it is a commonality of today we all practice. So what the hell does this have to do with Heckler? Well it should be obvious, that this is a brilliantly made documentary that discusses the ideas of heckling and biased critical analysis, but occurs in a Pre-Tweet Society.

And I’ll tell you folks, it really looked frustrating in 2007, I couldn’t imagine what a redux of a showcase of these ridiculous problems would look like if made today. Granted, the idea of some drunk asshole standing up at a comedy club and yelling nonsense is a trait as old as time, and will not be fading away any time soon. But, to see Heckler in a time when tweeting and blogging have become actual legitimate things somehow, I’d probably finish off the whole thing in tears. And I’m a blogger!

But despite the amount of change that has occurred in the last decade, Heckler is still a damn fine and relevant documentary that encompasses the spirit of what it is like to be involved in stand up comedy (and other professions), and have to deal with so much ignorance and downright stupidity from people whom which they simply want to entertain. In essence, the film really seems to want to find out what exactly it is that makes people feel compelled to act like such savage creatures either in the audience of a comedy show, or even behind the guise of a publication in which they are being paid real money to shit all over someone else’s art. And while I feel the film does some wonderful analysis to try and help explain what goes through a heckler’s mind, I feel like the film’s strongest point that it is able to convey is a simple one…people fucking suck. Some of them anyway. Most of them. Damn near all. But, I am rambling.

While I came into watching Heckler mainly to learn about the stand up comedy element of it all specifically, I actually found myself most intrigued by the discussion of asinine critics who make a living shitting on everything. I am most fascinated because by all technicalities, some might call these scum-sucking pieces of shit, my “peers”. And I will be god damned if I allow that to happen. I have been “reviewing” and “critiquing” music, film, art, etc. for the last 10 years.  And I am proud to say that I have not done one single negative review, or made discouraging comments about a single interview subject. Why? Are you asking me why? Well first of all, that is a stupid question. It should really be reversed! Why WOULD you want to be negative? Just as Arsenio Hall, Roseanne, and many others point out.just because you don’t enjoy something, doesn’t mean it is necessarily bad. It’s just not for you. “You’re not going to impress everyone”, said the often despised (for strange reasons, I never understood) Carrot Top. And they are all right!

And does the fact that I have never written a negative review mean that I have not received some great piles of digital shit through my inboxes? No. I have sat through hours of god awful Brooklynite EMD nonsense that someone wanted to call music. I’ve watched hours of just insanely bad acted, poorly written, and infuriating cinema..that somebody wanted me to talk about. I’ve been offered and refused interview opportunities, some with very “high profiles” that could probably help boost the site views a bit, because it was with people I am absolutely no interest in and/or couldn’t think of a single nice thing to say about them. So why have I never said a word about them in any sort of publication? Because it obviously just wasn’t meant for ME! I didn’t like, but again, that’s just me. Who the fuck am I to shit on someone else’s dream when they are simply attempting to create. If they are not presenting something entirely negative and obscenely racist, homophobic, sexists, etc. and the only they thing it is offended is my eyes and ears with its shitty taste..why the fuck should I even open my mouth to say anything about it at all.

Alright, that is going to end my rant on the subject matter. Seriously folks, the simple idea that a film can bring this sort of emotion out of me should act as a good sign that it has done its job. If you have the ability to watch this film, and still continue to be able to attend any sort of live event are not able to simply keep your god damn mouth shut, then you have something physically and mentally wrong with you, and just simply stay in your home and prevent the world from being infected by whatever is wrong with you.

That’s it folks! See Heckler! It’s phenomenal! Visit jamie kennedy.com to check it out!

Check out this trailer for Heckler courtesy of High Fliers Films: