[SATIRE] Movie Review: Tacos in Greenland

The Marx Brothers return in A.I. form and turn comedy into a horror show

Trigger warning: Some folks do not enjoy satire or humor during these dark times. Enter at your own risk.

See Notes for image credits

By Ruminato Film Critic Wesley Williams Jennings Bryan Hutchinson XIV

This embarrassing film from the Jeff Bezos-funded film studio, No Compensation Productions, is a grotesque attempt to bring the famous comedians, the Marx Brothers, back to life through generative A.I. in a wretched movie with a preposterous premise even for slapstick comedy.

The movie tries to sell us on a mute, demented American president (A.I. Harpo Marx) suddenly obsessed with conquering Greenland after his sidekick, Rufus T. Firefly, played by an A.I.-generated likeness of Groucho Marx, discovers a “pretty rock” there.

What most doesn’t work for me is the early portions of the film, where the unnamed president babbles incomprehensibly about a variety of unrelated topics before he finally, and thankfully, is muted by his dementia. Listening to Harpo speak is alone disconcerting, but when it’s through a gravelly voice that sounds like the speaker has rocks in his mouth, it’s even worse. Adding to the pain are the numerous quirks the president has, along with a profound inability to articulate.

The film’s writers have a bizarre, twisted sense of humor, such as a president who is caught up in a billion dollar child sex trafficking scheme. We don’t expect slapstick comedies to engage in realism. But a backdrop like that is tasteless and offensive, in addition to being unrealistic (why would we believe for even one second someone like that could be elected?).

The president, unable to convince his generals to attack a NATO country, vows to do it himself with his sidekick, Firefly. When they arrive in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, they are accosted by a vast army of puffins in a scene that should be funny but comes off stilted in that usual A.I. way.

The word “taco” in the film refers to a term created by a somewhat wacky Wall Street financier (A.I. W.C. Fields), ‘Trump Always Chickens Out (TACO),” in the movie’s only hint at the president’s name. It’s a nod, I guess, to the failed fraudster from New York who was long ago imprisoned in our real world for real estate scams.

When the president threatens Europe with high tariffs if they don’t “give me Greenland” before a speech in front of billionaires and diplomats in Switzerland, the Canadian Prime Minister, played by an A.I. version of Clark Gable, goes ballistic and cuts off relations with the United States.

The A.I. Harpo president then attempts to give his speech, but he goes mute and remains that way for the rest of the film. He rescinds his order to impose tariffs, then embarks on his two-man invasion of Nuuk.

None of the film’s gags work.

When the Harpo Marx version of the president presents his leg to a pretty tween like the real Harpo sometimes did with adults in the old classic movies, it’s not funny. It’s gross, even after she hits him in the nuts with a nearby garden hoe.

The A.I. version of Groucho tries to make that scene funny, and nearly succeeds, when he says, “She’s weaponized hoes!” but that’s about the only moderately funny line in the movie.

This movie is a calamity, just like the IMDb blurb says it is, but not a funny one.

Notes

In case it’s not obvious, this review is created in an alternative timeline, where the grifter-in-chief is imprisoned long before he has a chance to do his relentless harm to the nation.

For a more serious take on the motivations behind the Greenland taco trap, check this out:

IMDB Image Alt Text:

Fake IMDb graphic featuring the name of the movie, “Tacos in Greenland,” with Harpo and Groucho Marx in frozen tundra. The blurb for the movie says:

“In this madcap A.I. adventure starring A.I. versions of The Marx Brothers, an American president made mute by his dementia orders his army to conquer Greenland.

“Unable to find a general willing to follow his orders, he ventures to the island by himself and his sidekick, Rufus T. Firefly, prompting a series of hilarious calamities.”

The review scores are bad. The Hollywood Reporter is quoted as saying, “Dementia isn’t funny”

Image credits: IMDb image created by author using public domain images of Marx Brothers and Adobe Stock for background image of tundra.

Thanks for reading!

Elbows and puffins 🇨🇦 🇬🇱 Up!

No A.I. was used in this post, including for images.

---