14x02 Thunder Gun 4: Maximum Cool

[7.7/10] I roundly enjoyed this episode and even had some good laughs at it. It’s a whip smart satire of both modern movie-making and critiques of modern movie-making.

So why didn’t I rate it higher? Well, it’s essentially something of a big essay instead of an episode. Don’t get me wrong, IASIP can do some amazing episodes when it’s just The Gang in a room together going over something (see: the episode where Mac comes out), but this one was filled with more straight up, almost expository dialogue about movies and audience reactions, rather than one that felt like a deranged conversation between this quintet of utter loons.

Still, it was a lot of fun despite the fact that it felt a little overly writerly. For one thing, the parodies of modern blockbusters in the form of Thundergun 4 were spot on. The show nicely mixed up influences like John Wick and Logan and even Indiana Jones 4, and Dolph Lungren was the perfect avatar for it. The heavy contrast, dimly lit visuals were pitch perfect, and a cheesy son reveal and literal torch passing were a nice way to take the stuffing out of it.

The Gang’s reaction and the moderator’s disbelief was generally good too. I loved the running gag that Charlie absolutely did not understand anything in the movie, no matter how clear or obvious. I also got a kick out of Frank’s usual cretinism, pining for the days of porno theaters. And at the same time, there’s a nice spoof of audiences, particularly fans of old school action movies, wanting obvious cues that bad guys are different and therefore evil, and that the women on screen are not as a smart/funny/attractive as them. It’s a nice unpacking of that great T.V.-related chestnut from Futurama: “Clever things make people feel stupid, and unexpected things make them feel scared.”

I also like the back-and-forth over Thundergun not “hanging dong.” Dennis’s psuedo-principled defense of the forced nudity/exposure is amusing in its argument ad absurdum, and it works as a nice satire of the anti-PC crowd. There’s something a little too self-satisfied and yet deservedly cutting about the moderator’s “It’s PG-13 because that gets a wider audience, which we need because people like you pirate.”

Speaking of which, the piracy humor was really good, especially the list of ridiculous websites. And the tag at the end with The Gang watching the new movie on Dennis’s phone with “auto-motion plus” cracked me up. At the same time, the running gag about Dee not being able to do the action movie one-liners was a great dose of pure silliness.

Overall, this one speaks a little too directly to its audience in lieu of having a story or even sketches, but the content is funny enough that it still more than passes muster.