Fans of “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job” and “Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule” by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim may be suckers for “Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie,” but their first feature makes me unlikely to seek out their TV fare. An early bit teases: a Schlaaang Super Seat ad for multiplexes that sort of riffs on AMC’s in-theater spot. The onetime Temple University classmates, who like to title their output with their names, call this “kind of a meta-movie” and intercut “Understanding Your Movie” spoof segments. In their press notes the collaborators liken their offscreen backstory to their current onscreen characters: “Who would give these morons any amount of money to make anything on TV?” Heidecker and Wareheim co-star as colossally incompetent co-directors who blow a billion making a bad film. It’s only a few minutes long. The Schlaaang Corporation wants its money back. Tim and Eric see a cable TV spot for a job paying a billion to manage Swallow Valley Mall and Pizza Court. Its tenants cue a rash of gross-out gags. The real headscratcher is how the title duo seem to think they are doing something with junk culture worth watching. With Jeff Goldblum, Robert Loggia, Twink Caplan, Ray Wise, William Atherton, Michael Gross, Robert Axelrod, Tennessee Winston Luke. 91m. (Bill Stamets)
“Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie” opens Friday at Landmark Century.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
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