I was looking forward to Buddy for all the wrong reasons. I’m not a well man, and I don’t just mean that when I hit 50, everything started to ache, and the noises I used to make in bed I now make getting out of bed.
I’m not well in the head. I’ve seen far too many extreme movies, and something has broken in my mind.
Buddy is a twisted tale, and it’s dark, very dark, and I loved it. It stars Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Topher Grace, Bennie Taylor, Eric Bauza, Patton Oswalt, and Keegan-Michael Key, as the voice of Buddy.
Casper Kelly is the director and co-writes with Jamie King. Kelly has written for Robot Chicken, and I will come back to the dark humour later.
The Story
You’ve heard of Sesame Street, Barney the Dinosaur, or Bear in the Big Blue House. They were sweet little kids’ shows, where they would learn about friendship, the alphabet, and the big wide world.
Well, this is the Buddy Show. Buddy and friends would sing songs, play games, and welcome the mailman every day. #awww
The problem is, what if Buddy was more like Homelander from The Boys? OK, maybe not that psychotic, but if you don’t agree with Buddy, you will face the consequences. The first 20 minutes are set in the ‘show’, with all the kids learning that everything is not as it seems.
The second act goes into the ‘real world’, and gets even darker. The third act turns the crazy up to 11.
The Cast
Kid actors are great these days. Don’t get me wrong, there have always been some great kid actors, but large numbers of hem were terrible. In Buddy, all the kids are excellent. There are times when they are singing their songs, but all terrified that if they get something wrong, they are next.
It’s always nice to see Milioti. I’ve yet to see her in something I didn’t enjoy. She plays a mother who’s lost a child to Buddy, but doesn’t remember. She knows she had a child, but no one else does. Also, she wears a nurse’s outfit for most of the movie.
Key is great as Buddy. He is always spot on with his acting. I love how much of a character he plays here.
Dark
Honestly, Buddy might be one of my favourite movies of the year. The entertainment level is off the charts. However, as I said, I’m not a well man, and I meant in the head. I have a very dark sense of humour and find things like Buddy funny, very funny.
There are moments where I was bursting out laughing at the sheer audacity of what they made him do. Let’s just say, for an episode of ‘Sesame Street’, there’s lots of blood, and even self-mutilation from one of the puppets.
The other reason I laughed heartily is that I had read that a lot of parents have taken their kids to see Buddy, missing completely what type of movie it was! I know I shouldn’t, but I found this hilarious.
They all sit down to watch a ‘Barney’ movie. It’s all sunshine and smiles, until one of the kids is killed off-screen. OK, that was weird, but OK. However, when it gets to a point where Buddy kills one of the kids and then dances with his dead body, I was proper laughing.
Imagine sitting there with your kids, and that happens; the crying starts, the kids freak out, and you must drag them out of the cinema. Then, at home, there are weeks of nightmares. All because you didn’t read the synopsis of the movie correctly.
Kids need a good scare; I saw Alien when I was about 7, and it didn’t do me much harm. Well, apart from making me laugh at things like this.
Overall
Buddy is a stupidly good movie! It’s well made, very dark, and very funny. It’s Bear in the Big Blue House if it were written and directed by Takashi Miike, well, not quite that bad.
All Buddy wants is to be loved, and if he has to force it out of everyone, then so be it. It’s a nice world where he lives; who wouldn’t want to live there with him? Oh yeah, anyone who finds out what he’s really like.
If you have a twisted sense of humour, you’ll like Buddy. If you have kids, I wouldn’t let them watch it; it might cause nightmares and emotional scarring. Look, if you can afford the therapy, then go for it.
I loved Buddy for all the wrong reasons, but it is funny and just great fun. The fact that it might have scarred some kids makes it even better. I’m giving Buddy 4 out of 5, just because I haven’t been entertained this much in a while; it’s stupidly good fun.
