“Turn up the good, turn down the suck!” yells Dean (Paul Spence) early into this riotously fun movie, and writer-director Michael Dowse does just that from start to end. “FUBAR” (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition) blends reality and fiction, taking off from the stand up comedy of Dave Lawrence (who also stars as Terry) and shooting it as a low budget documentary. Like “This is Spinal Tap”, only with more pathetic protagonists- and funnier!
Terry and Dean are two hard-partying Canadian dudes with mullets who live for heavy metal. Generally unemployed and uninvolved with anyone but one another, the extent of their worry is where and when they’re gonna get piss-drunk next. For them, the perfect night consists of shot-gunning beer after beer and breaking stuff. They’re basically flesh-and-blood Beavis and Butthead, a pair of losers gloriously revelling in their arrested development. The movie revolves around a documentary filmmaker (Gordon Skilling) making a movie within the movie about head-bangers, with Dean and Terry as his subjects. While he follows them around with his small crew, tragedy strikes as Dean is diagnosed with testicular cancer. But all the chemiotherapy in the world couldn’t stop him from “giving ‘er”!
It’s kinda hard to properly review a movie like this: there’s not much themes to be discussed, there’s barely any plot to speak of! I guess you could describe it as a triumph of the dumbass story, or applaud it for accurately if mockingly depicting the lifestyle of aimless small-town Alberta youths. I’ve been there, and I can tell you that it’s that bad! Though, let’s admit it, you can find dopes like this everywhere. Wherever there’s a city too little to afford culture or proper entertainment, people will find their own stupid ways to amuse themselves, like by lighting gasoline fires in trash cans and burning stuff or jumping off bridges.
What I can tell you about “Fubar” is that it’s the most hilarious movie I’ve seen since “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” and that it’s sure to become a cult flick. It’s technically clumsy, but that goes with the documentary concept and it’s got more than enough wonderfully idiosyncratic performances and bitchin’ metal tunes on the soundtrack to make up for it. Find the movie, it’s worth it. You can visit the official site at
I’ll leave you with some of Dean’s heart-tugging poetry:
“One way street, never mind the signs
Full charged gasoline in the tank
Your foot is on the gas and the tires say YEAH!
Woman is a danger cat”