Tom Green, some people hate this guy, some people love this guy. I happen to think he can be pretty funny, but I don't necessarily like him. He's a guy who takes big risks - that means, sometimes he's hilarious and sometimes he bombs like a nuclear warhead. Likewise, when you buy a ticket to a film written, directed and starring Tom Green you are taking a big risk. Hopefully this review can help out.

I'd enjoyed Tom in several of his MTV spots (the testicle thing was TV history), but, when I saw Tom in "Road Trip" I wrote (and I quote myself) "Tom is best in an unscripted, unprompted environment." Further, his contributions to "Charlie's Angels" were completely lame. Therefore, I had already mentally prepared myself for an hour and a half of Tom painfully trying desperately to look spontaneous in "Freddy." And while, there ARE those moments in this film, I must say for the most part, Tom pulls it off!

Of course he's gross, vile, and pitiful; yet, somehow repulsively endearing. In "Freddy," Tom strings together a story of silliness and gross out - from playing with the strewn guts of a deer to scuba diving in his own toilet. Sometimes this outrageous material is laugh-out-loudable, sometimes it's merely wince-able; but surprisingly, seldom does Tom fall flat on his face (entertainment-wise). And even more impressive is that the production works on the whole - not perfectly, but it works as a film.

Tom details the jagged, angst-filled relationship between he and his hard-bellied dad (Rip Torn). The filmmakers develop this conflict with a substance behind the humor as respectable as any drama. In fact, everything else in the film is simply ridiculous - no sense in seeking to make sense of it. But that snowballing father-son tension hardly seems unreal. And though, I felt that conflict deserved a more appropriately careful resolution than what is offered - I wasn't terribly disappointed with the lite version.

Gordon (Green) still lives at home with his parents. He's a skateboarding, cartoon-drawing loser whose father constantly hounds him about getting a job. Though quick to point out, "I'm a 28-year-old man!" Gordy still indulges in child-like fantasy. Perhaps, this is his saving trait. It's hard to hate a guy that delights in wearing scuba gear in the shower, then when confronted by his angry father holds up soap on a rope and exclaims, "I've found the hidden treasure!"

Excellent performances by Marisa Coughlan as Tom's weird, but cute, love interest and Anthony Michael Hall as David Davidson, high-powered animation producer. They make the disconcerting task of acting alongside Tom Green look effortless.

A very strong B+, relax, don't take it too seriously and you'll have a fun time.

Still not sure if the film's for you? Here's a quote from Tom himself (burrowed from www.freddygotfingered.com).

"The goal is to make people enjoy themselves when they go to the movie theatre. That is the goal. We want smiling faces in the seats of the movie theatres. We want to make people smile and happy. We don't want to make people angry. Actually we do. We don't want to make anyone between the ages of 18 and 35 angry. We'd like to make 30% of people between the ages of 35 and 50 angry, and we'd like to make 75% of the people between the ages of 55 and 70 angry. And we'd like to make 100% of the people between the ages of 70 and 100 angry.

Anyone over 100 who goes to the movie probably won't leave the theatre. I'm not saying the goal is to kill people over 100. We're not trying to murder 100 year olds with the movie. If 100-year-old people die while watching Freddy Got Fingered I don't think that would be an accomplishment. I'd say that'd be a negative thing. I would just warn anybody in that age bracket, the 100 to 110 years old age bracket, to maybe consider going to another movie or maybe not going to a movie. I don't want to offend people between the ages of 100 and 110. It's just my opinion that people between 100 and 110 should not go to movies period. I don't want to offend those people. I just don't think they should go to movies. They could go down the hall, but not to movies. They could go to bed."