The Ridiculous Six

THE RIDICULOUS SIX

Director : Frank Coraci
Year : 2015
Genre : Comedy
Rating : 1/2*

Having produced and distributed some of the most critically acclaimed television programmes of our generation, US streaming giant Netflix earlier this year decided to broaden their horizons and finance their own movie empire to match their already phenomenal TV output. However, turning to Adam Sandler, the man behind some of the biggest comedic flops of this decade so far, was probably not the best way to start. In fact, despite being available to the public for only four days (as of time of writing), the poisonous reviews for Sandler's spoof Western 'The Ridiculous Six' from both critics and audiences alike have forced Netflix to all but bury their product less than a week after it's release. But what is it that makes 'The Ridiculous Six' so utterly dreadful? After all, it's just the same dross that Sandler and his production company Happy Madison has churned out for the best part of twenty years isn't it? Well, yes it is but that's exactly the problem.

Set in the Wild West, 'The Ridiculous Six' sees Sandler as Tommy ''White Knife'' Stockburn - an Indian-raised American who must traverse the barren deserts of his homeland when his estranged father (Nick Nolte) is held hostage by a gang of eye-patched bandits. On his travels, Tommy becomes acquainted with his five ethnically diverse brothers; his father being a very promiscuous sort of guy - and together the sextet of siblings work out multiple daring schemes to generate the $50, 000 needed for their Dad's ransom.

While there is a lot to hate about 'The Ridiculous Six' and believe me there is so much to despise here, the $60m given to the film has lent it a nice look at least. The environments and settings all look great, reflecting the visual aesthetics of all the classic Westerns we've come to know and love. However, the rest of the production is so ungodly half-arsed that it makes some of Sandler's lesser work look like unbridled comedic genius. All the jokes centre around either lame slapstick, funny voices  (Taylor Lautner's career being the films major casualty as a buck-toothed yokel) or that old reliable, toilet humour.  In short, I could count how many times I laughed on one hand. In fact, I could count how many times I laughed on zero hands. I didn't laugh once. Not even a guilty titter.

Of course, it's nothing new not to laugh at an Adam Sander film as he hasn't starred in anything remotely amusing for the best part of two decades. But it is the fact that he doesn't even try anymore that makes 'The Ridiculous Six' so abysmal. There was a huge amount of gossip surrounding the movie earlier this year when it was reported that many native Americans had walked off the set of 'The Ridiculous Six' due to relentless and quite insulting stereotyping of their people. Now, I don't know the full details about the protest but having watched the movie two nights ago, I can see why the indigenous people of America may be upset by the movie. Racial and sexual stereotypes run rampant throughout the two, yes TWO hour long running time of the 'The Ridiculous Six' - with every Indian being portrayed as a frumpy mythical wizard with offensively patronising names and every woman being portrayed as a steamy prostitute or big breasted bimbo with no character whatsoever. 2015 has been in many ways been the year of the woman in cinema with 'Carol', 'Suffragette', 'The Hunger Games : Mockingjay - Part 2', 'The Duke Of Burgundy' and even 'Inside Out' proving to be big critical and commercial successes despite having predominantly female casts and crews - something which would have all but killed a movie 20 and maybe even 10 years ago. 'The Ridiculous Six' sees stereotypes of women not seen since the 70's and it is such a shame to see a film with such a large budget and calibre of cast resort to such an ancient brand of comedy when the rest of cinema has proved to be so progressive.

Besides this onslaught of sometimes blinding offensiveness, 'The Ridiculous Six' also offers up diarhettic donkeys, the assassination of Lincoln and the invention of baseball and the end result is the most painful comedy since Seth MacFarlane's own Western farce 'A Million Ways To Die In The West'. Revolting, overlong and just plain unfunny, 'The Ridiculous Six' has proved itself to be yet another bomb for the once great Adam Sandler and with another 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 'The Ridiculous Six' may prove to be the final rusty and very long overdue nail in the coffin of his abominable career.