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Pauly Shore's Natural Born Komics Sketch Comedy Movie: Miami
R0 - America - First Look Studios Review written by and copyright: Rob Fields (24th March 2008). |
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The Film
 I first heard of Pauly Shore back in the early 1990's when he was big on MTV. He has since gone on to do feature films. I first saw him in “Encino Man” (1992), which wasn’t a bad movie. I would later see him in “In the Army Now” (1994), where he ended up losing his long hairstyle. After that I pretty much lost sight of him, not that I was following his career, anyway. He just happened to be in a couple of movies that I was interested in seeing at the time. I would later rent out a VHS video that he was in called “Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge” (1989). This was another B-horror film that I ended up liking. Again, Shore just happened to be in it. I would also see him in an episode of “21 Jump Street” (1987-1991) when I started getting the series on DVD. It wasn’t until I saw “Pauly Shore Is Dead” (2003) sitting on the shelves of the video store where I used to work that I had realized he wasn’t altogether out of the picture. Now he’s got this comedy sketch movie, which is up for review here. When it comes to comedy sketch movies, I am no stranger to these either. The only one that I can recall seeing is “The Kentucky Fried Movie” (1977). While there were a few sketches that were interesting, I didn’t really care for the movie. But the biggest sketch programs out there right now are “Mad TV” (1995-Current) and “Saturday Night Live” (1975-Current). Now that I think about it, I also remember a sketch program by Rodney Dangerfield called “Rodney Dangerfield: Opening Night at Rodney’s Place” (1989) that played on HBO. This one was actually cool. After all, how can somebody like the late, great Rodney Dangerfield – the man who gets NO RESPECT – go wrong, right? Well, now we’ve got Shore and his program. The question will be...Will his movie make the cut? Read on...Oh, and by the way, this title is NOT for anyone under the age of 18 due to language, sexual innuendo, and nudity. This is the synopsis as listed on the back outer cover: “Pauly Shore’s Natural Born Komics: Miami” (48:34) is the hilarious follow-up to the smash hit “Pauly Shore is Dead!” (2003). Shore is back and funnier than ever in this outrageous sketch comedy movie filmed on location in red hot Miami! Have fun in the sun with the whole cast as Pauly embarks on a slew of hilarious hidden camera pranks, sidesplitting parodies, man-on-the-street interviews, and must-see music videos. Join Pauly and an all-star cast of celebs and hotties including actors Vivica A. Fox and Steven Bauer, recording superstar T-Pain, American Idol winner Ruben Studdard, comedy superstar Charlie Murphy, and many more. It’s Pauly like you’ve never seen him before. There was only one sketch that I actually liked. This would be the one where the little guy is somehow getting into Pauly’s house. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m not going to go any further for fear of going too far...spoilers. The downsides? Other than the one sketch I noted above, the rest weren’t the least bit funny. Yes, I understood the jokes, but I just didn’t think they were funny. When it came to Pauly, his acting was pretty much the same in each skit that he wasn’t playing himself in. It seemed that he didn’t know how to slip into his roles. Instead of making the characters he played his own, the characters ended up becoming Pauly. Also, the theme for most of the sketches seemed to be centered around one thing – sex. Okay, I said earlier that I didn’t care about “The Kentucky Fried Movie”, but at least sex wasn’t the main theme for most of the movie. This helped to be able to watch it better. To sum it up, “Natural Born Komics: Miami” was just plain terrible. My final word: For those of you who are into this sort of humor, then this title is right up your alley. You may want to add this one to all those others - Dave Chappelle, Kevin Smith, Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, and all those other comedian DVD's you probably already own. As for the rest of you, this is one title you can just leave sit on the shelves. In other words, don’t waste your money at the video rental place. There are other titles on the shelves that are far more worthy of your hard-earned money.
Video
The film is presented in full screen format (1.33:1 ratio). The picture looks all right as far as the quality goes. Some of the sketches looked a little blurred at times, as if they’ve been taken with a home video camera. I think that’s how the quality is supposed to look for some of the sketches, in order to keep with the theme. The Chapter Selection option allows you watch whatever sketch you want. This will probably be helpful to those of you who want to see only certain sketches, or if you want to repeat a certain one over and over again.
Audio
The film and the extras feature an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack. There are no optional subtitles available. The mix for the left and right front speakers definitely is evident that it is mono, since the sound seems to be more localized at the front near the TV. Still, if I wanted more sound from this film, I could just as easily turn on the Dolby Surround to upconvert this track. But for review purposes, I have left it the way it is. The track itself sounds perfectly normal. No complaints here.
Extras
First Look has released this film is a featurette and a bloopers and deleted scenes reel on this DVD. Below is a closer look at these supplements. "The Diarrhea of Pauly Shore" is a featurette that runs 17 minutes and 32 seconds and takes you into the making of “Natural Born Komics: Miami”. Pauly actually gets serious when he’s going into details about making the movie. In truth, I actually enjoyed this part of the DVD more than the main feature. There is no chapter selection menu, but there are chapter stops. The second option is for the Bloopers and Deleted Scenes. This could very easily be a second sketch comedy movie, and not any better than the feature film itself. You will see some sketches that didn’t make it into the main feature. Since there are no actual selections for the scenes (I don’t know why they had ‘Bloopers’ in this option; I didn’t see any), I will have to list them as I see them. No chapter selections here, either. There are chapter stops for this feature as well, which will be helpful for separating each sketch. Here is what each chapter stop yields: - Introduction to a sketch with Pauly running around with another man’s girl runs for 19 seconds. - The actual sketch. There’s an argument with a girl who likes Pauly and her ex-boyfriend runs for 2 minutes 29 seconds. - T-Pain performs “I’m in Love with a Stripper” on stage in a club runs for 2 minutes 33 seconds. - Cast member Ari Shaffir does stand-up comedy on stage in front of a crowd runs for 2 minutes 48 seconds. - Another ‘Spunk’d’ sketch featuring Vivica A. Fox, as she does a choking act in a restaurant in front of Pauly runs for 4 minutes 49 seconds. - Pauly and his heavy girlfriend have an argument in a Mexican restaurant runs for 1 minute 12 seconds. - Cast member Ian Edwards does stand-up comedy on stage in front of a crowd runs for 5 minutes 32 seconds. - Pauly and Ian pull a joke on a housekeeper in a hotel that Pauly had just stayed at runs for 3 minutes 30 seconds. - Cast member Kirk Fox does stand-up comedy on stage in front of a crowd and runs for 3 minutes 43 seconds. - Pauly introduces a couple of girls to T-Pain and runs for 32 seconds.
Packaging
This DVD is packed in an Amaray keep case, with a cardboard slip-case that opens up in front.
Overall
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