Freeloaders: Pretty Sure It’s Just Me

Well it’s official. I just finished watching the new slacker comedy Freeloaders, the latest film in the Broken Lizard canon and I am 70-85% convinced that I am now, in an official sense, old. Freeloaders features the same tried and true shenanigans that many have come to know and love from the zany band of comedy filmmaker friends collectively known as Broken Lizard. Super Troopers, Beerfest, and Club Dread are among their more famous efforts. And while I enjoyed Super Troopers and Club Dread immensely, and respected Beerfest for where it was trying to go, there was something in Freeloaders that I couldn’t quite connect with. I have a sinking feeling that the movie itself was fine, and it was I who was lacking in this equation.

 You see, I have always been a fan of comedies where sexism, beer, and dick-jokes abound. I have seen Ski School hundreds of times, and I loved Harold and Kumar, Grandma’s Boy, Van Wilder, How High, and even the distant and forgettable 80s classic Hamburger: The Movie. It would therefore make sense that anything Broken Lizard had to offer would be welcomed with my open arms so that I may laugh and guffaw gloriously in the comedy Valhalla of… whatever, chances are I would like the dorky comedies they put out.

But alas! Freeloaders, while enjoyable in a bland sort of way, did not bring out the uproarious laughter I had been hoping for. Nor did it contain any sort of shock value for me. But that’s not to say that Freeloaders didn’t contain laughs and shocks, because it did. I think I’m just getting too old for these kinds of things. For example, the fact that conservative Asian parents ended up walking in on a pirate-porn bukkake scene didn’t really faze me. I actually found it a little quaint, nostalgic even. There are also several scenes where the lead characters are throwing lavish pool parties at their mansion, hobnobbing with famous people, or having philosophical conversations while smoking week hookahs in the surround-sound entertainment room. I found none of these scenarios funny or cool or (as the kids are saying these days) “off the hook.”

Nope, it was all just something to watch. But I *like* these kinds of movies, and so I can’t imagine for the life of me what is wrong here. It must be my age. Maybe there’s a “dick jokes aren’t funny” enzyme that starts to kick in after a while. Or perhaps I am going through some kind of subtle, yet deep and serious emotional affliction where a grey joylessness coats the whole of the world.

Whatever my personal issues are, don’t let them keep you from watching Freeloaders. It was watchable for a comedy, I just didn’t laugh. Maybe you’re younger or have a fresher outlook on life that will allow you to fully appreciate the raunchy and dorky humor of Broken Lizard in its full glory. Test it out for me and let me know whether or not I’m right.