A Futile and Stupid Gesture

A film about the founding of the American humour magazine National Lampoon. Doug Kenney and Henry Beard meet at Harvard; both work on the university's humour magazine. After graduating they decide to do the same thing on a national scale and start their own magazine in the early 1970s. It works. Then come a radio show, stage productions and finally film; two pictures that came out of it changed the direction of American comedy. The second line is Kenney himself. As the success grows his order breaks down; he falls out with his partner, drugs come in, and at thirty-three he is found at the bottom of a cliff in Hawaii. The form is unusual: the story is told by an older Doug Kenney, the man he would have been had he lived. The narrator turns to the audience and points out the film's own lies as well. The source is Josh Karp's book. Will Forte plays Kenney, Domhnall Gleeson plays Beard and Martin Mull plays the older narrator. A large ensemble plays the comedians around the magazine. David Wain directed. It was released on a streaming service. An informative production for anyone curious about the history of American comedy. That said, the film passes too many names in too little time and stays crowded for a viewer who does not know the period.