Rating :   57/100                                                                       90 Min       

A highly unusual film, featuring a stellar cast in a series of gross-out comedy sketches. To my knowledge there isn’t anything else quite like this, especially not with the sheer number of stars in it – something that has possibly lent the film its title. Four years in the making, and with different directors (including Elizabeth Banks, James Gunn and Brett Ratner) for each skit, the movie is given structure by a group of kids searching the internet for the fabled ‘Movie 43’, whereupon they encounter each of the different episodes. The American version of the film has this framework removed entirely, and in its place is a sketch with Dennis Quaid trying to pitch his ideas for a movie to exec Greg Kinnear, and each idea becomes one of the sketches in the film.

If gross-out comedy is something you religiously try to avoid, then there is nothing here that would merit a change of heart. If you’re not completely put off by the theme, then you will probably find at least something to have a decent laugh at. It’s the sort of film where you are unlikely to be tickled by most of it, but every segment will have a few different people in the audience in hysterics, possibly enhanced somewhat by the knowledge no one else around them is actually laughing. Perhaps most deserving of a chuckle if it’s a full house and you’re with your friends, including the ones that will endure the whole film and yet stoically refuse to laugh at any point as a matter of principal.

It’s the brain child of Peter Farrelly, one half of the Farrelly brothers (Bobby being the other), the duo behind ‘Me, Myself and Irene’ (2000), ‘There’s something about Mary’ (98) and ‘Dumb and Dumber’ (94), which should give you some indication as to the level of humour. The sketches have been assembled in the right order, with the weakest ones in the middle, though be sure to stay through the credits for the last one ‘Beezel’, a titular character who proves to be one of the best and most memorable in the whole film (it’s the part directed by Gunn) … Also, look out for the son who has to try and act not turned on by his mother, Naomie Watts, coming on to him. Difficult.

If nothing else the film does lend itself to a pretty awesome quiz question, albeit one difficult to truncate…

P.S. The pic above is of Gerard Butler as a leprechaun. Obviously.