(Punchline/Beyond)

Jamie Kennedy complains about the complainers

Heckler is a documentary made by stand-up comedian and that guy from Scream, Jamie Kennedy. At first it focuses on hecklers and how comedians deal with them – there are interviews with Patton Oswalt, David Cross and others – but from there it turns into something else. Kennedy’s had some bad reviews in his time, because not every movie can be Three Kings and sometimes you make Son Of The Mask, and apparently he took it pretty personal. A series of talking heads discuss the culture of criticism and especially how the Internet has lowered the tone of bad reviews, taking away the editorial control that prevented a degree of poison ink from pouring into the veins of sensitive artists. If you think that sounds less funny that stand-ups talking about their worst heckles and best comebacks, you’re right, though it’s still interesting. When the bloggers who’ve given Kennedy his most personal criticisms sit down with him their nerdiness and his petulance are grippingly awkward. However, having film-makers like Joel Schumacher, Uwe Boll and George Lucas on his side arguing that criticism is bunk doesn’t help. Listening to Schumacher defend Batman Forever by suggesting that a movie based on Batman could never really be that good or beloved by critics sounds twice as stupid after The Dark Knight. As an added bonus there’s one of Kennedy’s stand-up performances on disc two so you can see how he deals with hecklers live and hear all the jokes where he blithely criticises TV shows and Mexicans for laughs.

***½  

JODY MACGREGOR

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