Movie Review: Special Needs
Published April 02, 2007
If you're anything like me, you found that episode of Life Goes On where Corky burns down the family restaurant to be one of the funniest television moments in the history of the human race. I know it was supposed to be sad and depressing and gut-wrenching and blah blah blah, but I just couldn't help myself. My sides split instantly, my bladder emptied into my skin-tight black biker shorts, and I rolled around in my own sickly bodily fluids as I literally laughed myself into a stupor. I ultimately blame this forgotten series for my inability to take handicapped people on television seriously. To this day, whenever I witness Katie Couric delivering the nightly news all by herself, I lapse into violent fits of girlish giggles.
This could explain why I'm currently in love with actor/singer/writer/director Isaak James and his tastelessly hilarious mockumentary Special Needs, out on DVD this summer from Troma Entertainment. To list all the reasons why I adore this film would require lots of spare time, several reams of high-quality fax paper, and a giant green crayon the size of Mo'Nique's ultra-absorbent tampon. I will, however, try my best to rein it all in without dipping my review in a tub of ass-waxing hyperbole. The key word in that sentence is "try," so I apologize in advance if things get out of control. After all, there's nothing quite like a comedy that delivers the goods in such an entertaining fashion.
Special Needs follows the exploits of veteran reality TV creator Warren Piece (James) and his quirky crew of overachieving producers and slacker personal assistants. His latest creation, appropriately titled Handicaps, is on the fast track to becoming yet another hit on the CNT network. Unfortunately for Warren, his time in the spotlight may be coming to a very abrupt end. Apparently his last production cost the network millions of dollars, and they're not about to let that sort of thing happen again. To make matters worse, the handicapped individuals who are showing up for the auditions aren't exactly choice cuts of meat, if you catch my drift. Can our hero overcome Ex-lax lattes, disabled gangster rappers, and a plethora of untalented retards in order to keep his seat on the reality TV throne?
To say that Special Needs is funny would be the understatement of the year. In fact, I had such a grand time with Isaak James' directorial debut that I watched the damned thing again as soon as my initial viewing came to a close. This sort of thing usually doesn't happen with low budget, low brow comedies, especially the ones distributed by the likes of Troma. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with Troma, mind you, but the type of films they generally release are good for a disposable laugh or two, nothing more. Special Needs, on the other hand, just begs for multiple viewings, both sober and inebriated.
- Movie Review: Special Needs
- Published: April 02, 2007
- Type: Review
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Comedy, Video: Cult
- Writer: T. Rigney
- T. Rigney's BC Writer page
- T. Rigney's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us





