In Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon, it’s the images rather than the anecdotes that matter. Interviewing everyone from film directors John Landis and Judd Apatow to actors Chevy Chase to Kevin Bacon among the roster of alumni and fans of the infamous American humour magazine during its nearly three-decade run from 1970 to 1998, the documentary isn’t found lacking in the latter category. And yet, while words flesh out a rise-and-fall narrative that saw the ground-breaking publication develop from a Harvard campus newsletter to an empire of movies, albums, tours and books, they only tell part of the story.
Though it frequently pushed the boundaries of good taste, strove to be seen as inappropriate and would firmly be considered an adult-oriented effort courtesy of its blend of nudity and rudeness, National Lampoon wasn’t the type of magazine that readers said they only bought for the articles; indeed, satirising the likes of Playboy was all part of its routine. There was a specific level of comedy, parody and subversion, however, that shone through in its illustrations and photographs. Whether using the design of a Monopoly board to call attention to class disparities, or making its sales plea plain by pointing a pistol at a puppy — accompanied by the headline “If You Don’t Buy This Magazine, We’ll Kill This Dog” — on its cover, its visual gags remained among its core strengths. When founders Doug Kenney, Henry Beard and Robert Hoffman and publisher Matty Simmons’ efforts evolved into live shows and filmed skits, smart sight gags remained prominent.
It is far from surprising, then, that the same proves true of writer/director Douglas Tirola’s (Hey Bartender) documentary charting National Lampoon‘s ups and downs, as co-written with experienced factual feature scribe Mark Monroe (Racing Extinction, Sound City, The Cove). Revisiting the original material — or perhaps glimpsing it for the first time, for many in the audience — comprises the crux of the film, as well as the source of its many laughs. As famous faces speak about the wit that filled the magazine’s pages, seeing those jokes first-hand helps cement their claims. If championing the publication’s importance and influence is Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead‘s main aim, then, like all fleshed-out arguments, its worth resides in its cavalcade of examples that support its cause.
Elsewhere, Tirola fills his upbeat celebration with the usual details: high-profile names singing many a praise in talking-head interviews, the less well-known guiding forces sharing their warts-and-all behind-the-scenes experiences, and a chronology of National Lampoon‘s lifespan chief among them. Brisk editing ensures that the movie never lingers on one topic in its checklist of the magazine’s highlights for too long, even when audiences might want it to (when John Belushi and John Hughes come up, for example). And yet, as crucial to the context of the publication as the parade of tales remains — particularly in regards to staff changes and challenges — when interspersed with the laugh-inducing content itself, it almost feels like filler. On one hand, that’s a testament to the material that made National Lampoon what it was. On the other, it’s indicative of the documentary’s applauding but hardly analytical approach.
Of course, the lively and loving film’s underlying message remains valid, either way: without National Lampoon, contemporary American comedy as we know it would be rather different. Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead reiterates that position with affection, archival footage and insider titbits; however, while the documentary perhaps works best as a primer for the uninitiated, reading the magazine itself, watching the features it spawned, and following its many contributors’ careers through the likes of Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons and more makes the same point.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon
Director: Douglas Tirola
USA / UK, 2015, 98 mins
Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne
www.acmi.net.au
17 April – 3 May 2016
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