(Source: http://www.tuckermax.com/movie/)
Tucker Max's "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" novel made the New York Times Bestseller list in 2006, 2007 and 2008. I remember reading the book in high school and laughing out loud at Max's fearless, arrogant yet self-aware humor.
Naturally, a film adaptation of the novel ensued in 2009, but with much less success. According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed about $1.4 million throughout its one-and-a-half month stay in U.S. theaters. To put this in perspective, "The Hangover" grossed over $277 million domestically during its six month reign at the box office.
With adjectives like "horrible," "painful" and "wasted potential" used to describe the adaptation by IMDB users, it's obvious why it performed so poorly in theaters. However, my roommate and I thought the movie was pretty entertaining. This should not set off red flag indicators about my character; don't judge me, jerks.
To my defense, I thought that some scenes were overly offensive (whether they were racist or sexist) in hopes of utilizing shock humor. On the other hand, my roommate laughed for a few of these scenes. You jerks can judge him.
For pious old me, could the reason I didn't find these scenes funny be that I have matured since reading the book? Or, did they seem more offensive because I was watching them take place as opposed to reading about them?
Furthermore, when my roommate's girlfriend walked in, she told us that she and a friend had watched the movie and thought that it was one of the worst movies that they'd ever seen. After she judged our character for laughing, she walked out, leaving me to wonder if Tucker Max's humor is gender-specific.
What I am most intrigued by, and scared of, is that I saw a lot of myself in Tucker Max. No, I am not a misogynist, nor am I a racist. Shallow belief systems have always disgusted me.
In the film, Max's selfish inclination to live life by the seat of his pants leads him to create disasters out of simple situations, but then somehow find a way to make things right. His ability to make things right after he messes them up is what perpetuates Max's selfishness.
In the movie, Max convinces his best friend to lie to his future wife and hold his bachelor party at a far-off strip club, which he raves about. It turns out that Max had not only lied about previously visiting that club, but also had ditched his belligerent best friend, who ended up with two black eyes and one night in jail, in favor of a stripper. Once the wife-to-be found out, the wedding was put in jeopardy.
After being uninvited to the wedding, Max crashed it anyway and gave a speech, somehow winning back his friend.
Last month, while I was on my fraternity's bus to Dallas for the Red River Rivalry, I realized that I had left my ticket to the game in my apartment. Luckily (or so I thought), the bus was just outside my building. I ran up to the bus driver and pleaded that he let me get off the bus and run to my room to grab my ticket, which he did. Somewhere in my subconscious, I'm sure I knew that if I somehow missed the bus, I would still find a way to Dallas.
To make a long story short, my date had to ride the 5 hour trip without me. I ended up being lucky enough to be allowed to catch a ride in a rival fraternity's bus (which is unheard of). When my fraternity arrived in Dallas, my roommate, his girlfriend and my date could not check into the hotel because it was under my name. I had officially messed up the weekend before it even started.
By the time I reached Dallas, I had the wherewithal to get flowers for my date and my roommate's girlfriend. The flowers, coupled with a sincere apology, seemed to fix most of our problems, which enabled me find more ways to screw up the weekend.
Both Max and I fail to learn that "winging it" complicates things, despite the obvious correlation. Although I am curious as to why I found this movie so funny, I am sure (or at least hope) that a significant part of this answer lies in my ability to relate to the main character and his blunders.
