Originally postedon 12/28/16
Most people probably think it's more fun to write bad reviews than good ones. But for me, it's way easier to write a review of a movie that I really like than one about which I can't think of a single good thing to say.
The stoner comedy DOOBIOUS SOURCES (2017) presents just such a dilemma. Sitting through its amazingly long running time of 102 minutes while trying to glean some worthwhile tidbit here and there is a joyless, almost punitive task. It's like getting fifty lashes in the public square and thinking, "Well, at least these shoes are comfortable."
Our heroes, Zorn Tappadapo (Jason Weissbrod, NEVER BEEN KISSED) and Reginald "The Reg" Block-Hunsleigh (Jeff Lorch, PICKIN' & GRINNIN'), are a couple of freelance investigative reporters who drive around in their mini-van trying to pull "stings" and sell the footage to the local news.
Their cameras are also constantly trained on each other as they hope to create a documentary about themselves, which allows us ("forces" might be a better word) to experience the entire story "Blair Witch" style.
One of their sting operations involves using a "Gregslist" ad to trick straight men into gay encounters in a motel room, with the latest victim, burly he-man Magnus Martindale (Joe Cortese of AMERICAN HISTORY X and JESSI'S GIRLS as sort of a Tim Thomerson type), striking back at them with a vengeance.
Meanwhile, the boys hook up with a mousey TV reporter, Ky Kittridge (Creagen Dow), to get the goods on some crooked city officials using an RV as their surveillance base.
I got lost several times trying to follow the reams of dialogue these guys were firing at each other, much of it within the RV and all of it framed in claustrophobic style through a few handheld cameras.
Even the "stoner" aspect seems tacked on--Zorn and Reg light up several joints while driving around or sitting on a stakeout, and they do the usual "sharp inhale, hold, cough" thing a lot, but there's never any real "stoner" humor like you might find in a Cheech and Chong movie.
In fact, the weed angle could be completely purged from the film without changing it a bit, just as long as the two main characters remained yakky, hyperactive jackasses.
As for the actors themselves, I think they all do a pretty good job with what they have to work with. On a technical level the film is adequate considering that it's simply meant to look like a couple of guys filming each other.
It would've been different if the "sting" aspect of the story had been interesting, or there had been some actual weed-related comedy (besides just puffing a lot of it and then acting stoned), or some funny comedy of any kind. But unfortunately, DOOBIOUS SOURCES has the dubious distinction of making MAC AND DEVIN GO TO HIGH SCHOOL seem twice as funny in comparison.
