The Film Crew - Wild Women of Wongo (DVD)

NYPress.com

THREE MEN IN A DUB
MST3K, The Next Generation

Where do once-successful franchises go once they’ve been turned away from the likes of Comedy Central and the Sci Fi Channel? To DVD of course. Thus, here are the three gentlemen who once reigned over the cult TV show, “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” still dishing out wisecrack audio commentary tracks atop very, very bad movies. Now calling themselves The Film Crew, and without benefit of their puppets Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett tackle the Wild Women of Wongo. This is the third in a series of releases from Shout! Factory (the fourth, just out, is The Giant of Marathon).

The comic stylings of these middle-aged white Midwesterners are nerdy to the max, yet not without moments of inspiration. They’re no Three Stooges, but the timing that comes from working together for more than a decade is on display as they banter at full throttle. They do their best to drown out this amateurish film about island natives and their penchant to dance, skinny dip, wave spears and stumble over dialog (Though there is a surprisingly good underwater sequence where a lovely Wongovian lass wrestles with an alligator that barely looks fake at all.).

Nearly every scene provides the opportunity for a Crew member to score a one-liner ripe with sexual innuendo (“That’s it baby. Squat down and stir my soup.”). Familiarity with 20th century pop culture is a pre-requisite for viewers as allusions to Tonya Harding, Arby’s oven mitt mascot and “Karma Chameleon” are flung about. But the boys are at their best when they zing the sheer inanity of the film itself. They name the island queen’s pet the appropriate “Fakey the Lizard,” and make mincemeat of a ridiculously overused parrot that appears during every scene transition while barely uttering a word.

“Bonus” is not really the correct adjective to describe the whopping four minutes of additional features thrown in for no apparent reason. The guys dance a little and do a lame skit with some cardboard cutout Wongo women. As it was with MST3K, Nelson & Co. should be heard and not seen.