Futurama Movie: Bender's Game

Well, i'm back, after a very long break with yet another scathing review. You didn't think i'd give up on this blog altogether, did you? Writing, is, after all, the only thing that fills the void in my empty, empty life.

So, futurama's newest made for tv movie, Bender's game, (that's three so far, if you can count that high) came out today and yours truly took a chance and saw it for myself. If you've seen either of the previous movies, you probably think this was a stupid endeavor as you "know" it was going to suck. Well, let me tell, i've seen all three and i can say without a hint of hyperbole that this one was a trillion times worse than the previous ones put together.

I went into this movie expecting a play off of dungeons and dragons with more jokes akin to the cliched "my plus one (whatever)" and jokes about virginity and other niche specific proddings. After all, this is what the futurama writers did best when they weren't producing shitty made-for-tv movies. Instead, what we get is some contrived plot about fuel that i assume is supposed to be a parody of what's happening with big oil but falls far short of anything remotely clever or topical. In fact, the only actual part about fantasy games like D&D is relegated to the odd cut scene with the "loser" characters of the cast until the last 20 minutes when it's inexplicably thrust in for the main storyline (and even then more resembles a LotR's parody than D&D).

What's more, the story itself is composed of several different plots, and jumps around so awkwardly you can't help but think that it was written by 7 or 8 writers and sewed together last second before it had to be sent to be produced. Many of the other plots barely start and don't finish and the hackneyed "twist" near the end is so obvious and unimportant, it's a wonder they even included it in the first place, particularly considering if cannon, it has HUGE implications on the future of the actual story itself.

The other thing this movie lacks is the one thing it should have in spades: comedy. It has everything going for a good equation for comedy, after all. An array of established characters with loads of traits, quirky plot lines (fragmented though they may be) and a setting so vast and diverse (the future!) you couldn't possibly run out of original jokes and ideas. And yet... *sigh*

The problem with futurama it seems is that they've fallen into the pit of "character humour is the only humour". Let me put this simply: characters, no matter how diverse and colourful, are not funny on their own (incidentally, this is a problem with almost EVERY show out there, not just futurama).

Fry is a stupid, lazy oaf from the past. This isn't funny. Leela is a prudent woman with a penchants for violence. This isn't funny (on a side-note, female characters are almost always written badly due to the gender flip phenomenon). Bender is a greedy, self-adoring alcoholic. This isn't funny. The characters themselves are not funny because no character trait, no matter how exaggerated, is funny! Not on it's own, anyway. What is funny is Fry's inability to fully adapt to a future so different to our current time, it seems oddly familiar. Character traits need to be contrasted against a situation, otherwise it's just "life" and who in their right mind finds that funny? As someone anonymous once said (and i'm copying) "comedy happens when two ideas intersect" not when the same idea intersects with itself.

Now, i could sit here and rant all day about the shortcomings of this movie (and contemporary tv shows in general)... but that's probably why i'm still single. So instead, i'll just say, if you liked futurama, the beast with a billion backs, seek help. If not, don't watch this movie as it's pretty much more of the terrible same. This ranter gives Bender's Game a single imaginary star (out of a possible 5 real stars).