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It's been a while since we've heard from polarizing filmmaker Harmony Korine. Despite coming off his biggest critical and commercial success to-date with 2013's Spring Breakers, he stepped away from the industry for several years with the exception of a couple of bit acting parts in his friend's movies (David Gordon Green's Manglehorn and Jonah Hill's Mid90s). After a six year layoff, Korine has finally returned to his home behind the camera with The Beach Bum-a euphoric project that successfully combines his hypnotic, episodic storytelling style with the good-natured breeziness of a goofy stoner comedy.
Korine's decision to make a full-on comedy isn't a complete shock. His films are always focused around eccentric characters on the outskirts of society and through examining their lives, humorous situations have a tendency to arise sometimes. However, The Beach Bum represents a huge jump in terms of frequency and effectiveness of his humor. The jokes cover a wide variety of movements (absurdist, dark, stoner, screwball, slapstick) within the genre and like any great comedy, it hits its stride early and only gets funnier as it goes along. While I never doubted Korine's ability to pull something like this off, making a movie that is consistently hilarious and entertaining throughout was still kind of an unexpected treat.
This seamless transition is further aided by the fact that Korine brought in the perfect individual to lead this woozy little project. I say this with no intended hyperbole: Matthew McConaughey playing a laid-back, hard-partying poet known as Moondog is one of the finest pieces of casting in the history of cinema. The 49-year old Oscar winner brings a tremendous amount of joy, passion and charisma to a character that likely would've been a grating shithead in less capable hands. Watching Moondog delay work on his long-awaited book to engage in a series of loosely-connected misadventures with an array of similarly eccentric accomplices (Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, Martin Lawrence, Zac Efron, Jimmy Buffett, Hill) is some of the most purely absorbing, laugh-out-loud fun I've had in a movie theater recently. While I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a one-off, I really hope this is just the beginning of a long partnership between Korine and McConaughey. If this project is any indication, their ability to operate on the same oddball wavelength seem to bring the best out of each other creatively.
Colorful characters engaging in hedonistic behavior is going to be on the docket whenever you sit down to watch a Korine film. Where The Beach Bum enters uncharted territory is with the presence of some warmth underneath its scuzzy exterior. Its underlying message of treating life as a gift and embracing happiness over financial wellbeing leads to a few unexpectedly heartwarming moments as Moondog's wild journey of self-exploration reaches its excellent conclusion. Copious amounts of sex, drugs, booze and generally immoral behavior are still very much at the forefront of his work, but these little glimpses of legitimate poignancy suggests that even a proud nihilist like Korine is capable of acknowledging the brighter aspects of the human experience from time to time.
The Beach Bum is a beautiful change of pace for Korine. While its vulgar content and non-traditional narrative style will make it every bit as polarizing as his past projects, the lighthearted way in which this non-stop debauchery is delivered results in a project that features a heavy dose of positivity that never really crept into his past work. The former avant-garde rebel reflecting anything that even resembles happiness or mainstream accessibility in his work was a move I never would've ever expected, but am ultimately very glad came to fruition.
Korine's decision to make a full-on comedy isn't a complete shock. His films are always focused around eccentric characters on the outskirts of society and through examining their lives, humorous situations have a tendency to arise sometimes. However, The Beach Bum represents a huge jump in terms of frequency and effectiveness of his humor. The jokes cover a wide variety of movements (absurdist, dark, stoner, screwball, slapstick) within the genre and like any great comedy, it hits its stride early and only gets funnier as it goes along. While I never doubted Korine's ability to pull something like this off, making a movie that is consistently hilarious and entertaining throughout was still kind of an unexpected treat.
This seamless transition is further aided by the fact that Korine brought in the perfect individual to lead this woozy little project. I say this with no intended hyperbole: Matthew McConaughey playing a laid-back, hard-partying poet known as Moondog is one of the finest pieces of casting in the history of cinema. The 49-year old Oscar winner brings a tremendous amount of joy, passion and charisma to a character that likely would've been a grating shithead in less capable hands. Watching Moondog delay work on his long-awaited book to engage in a series of loosely-connected misadventures with an array of similarly eccentric accomplices (Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, Martin Lawrence, Zac Efron, Jimmy Buffett, Hill) is some of the most purely absorbing, laugh-out-loud fun I've had in a movie theater recently. While I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a one-off, I really hope this is just the beginning of a long partnership between Korine and McConaughey. If this project is any indication, their ability to operate on the same oddball wavelength seem to bring the best out of each other creatively.
Colorful characters engaging in hedonistic behavior is going to be on the docket whenever you sit down to watch a Korine film. Where The Beach Bum enters uncharted territory is with the presence of some warmth underneath its scuzzy exterior. Its underlying message of treating life as a gift and embracing happiness over financial wellbeing leads to a few unexpectedly heartwarming moments as Moondog's wild journey of self-exploration reaches its excellent conclusion. Copious amounts of sex, drugs, booze and generally immoral behavior are still very much at the forefront of his work, but these little glimpses of legitimate poignancy suggests that even a proud nihilist like Korine is capable of acknowledging the brighter aspects of the human experience from time to time.
The Beach Bum is a beautiful change of pace for Korine. While its vulgar content and non-traditional narrative style will make it every bit as polarizing as his past projects, the lighthearted way in which this non-stop debauchery is delivered results in a project that features a heavy dose of positivity that never really crept into his past work. The former avant-garde rebel reflecting anything that even resembles happiness or mainstream accessibility in his work was a move I never would've ever expected, but am ultimately very glad came to fruition.
Grade: A-
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