When major studios stop releasing comedies designed for theatrical audiences, they leave room for comedian-podcasters with intensely loyal fanbases. Busboys, starring Theo Von and David Spade, is a clear example. The film received a brief limited theatrical release last spring before finding a larger audience on Hulu, where it has remained near the top of the streaming service’s charts for the past two weeks.
Busboys: Stream It or Skip It?
The Story
Markie (David Spade) and Steef (Theo Von) are best friends stuck near the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. After working together at a dead-end septic-pumping company, they decide to leave their old lives behind, move to Mexico and become waiters—an occupation they view as unusually prestigious.
Before they can reach that goal, however, they must start as busboys. Their attempt to work their way up in the restaurant industry forms the film’s central premise, though Busboys takes a long and disjointed route to get there.
The movie spends roughly 25 minutes on laborious backstory before settling into the story of two older men working as busboys in Arizona near the Mexican border. It then veers into a drug-dealing storyline and briefly sends the pair back to school in a plot reminiscent of Billy Madison. Instead of developing an observational comedy about the indignities of restaurant work, the film moves through disconnected jokes, complaints and escalating misfortune.
What Movie Does Busboys Resemble?
Spade and Von are credited with writing the screenplay, which often feels modeled on the least successful Happy Madison productions. Alongside Adam Sandler comedies such as The Do-Over, the film recalls Sandler-produced titles such as Paul Blart: Mall Cop, in which capable comic performers play scrappy underdogs who cannot catch a break.
The approach repeatedly places its leads in the path of cruel characters, apparently to establish them as lovable losers. Instead, the accumulation of abuse can make the movie feel hostile. Steef’s mother angrily insists that he direct all his money toward her preferred sex-change operation, while Markie’s inexplicably included girlfriend repeatedly cheats on him with a waiter. A childhood teacher mocks Steef because his father is in prison for murder, prompting him to leave school. Later, a Mexican child repeatedly subjects the men to an extended stream of profanity.
The result is a comedy about two foolish white men beset by women, transgender people, Mexicans and teachers. Its aggrieved tone can resemble a particularly resentful podcast.
Performance Worth Watching
Spade gets most of the film’s few laughs, but Lean McKendrick makes a stronger impression as a fellow restaurant worker. McKendrick, the talented writer-director of Scrambled, has only a small part, yet her brief appearances provide some of the movie’s brightest moments.
Review: A Confused Underdog Comedy
One character notes that busboys are generally young, entry-level restaurant workers, sometimes only 18 or 19. Rather than build comedy around the mismatch between that reality and two middle-aged men taking busboy jobs because they mistakenly believe a promotion to waiter will transform their lives, Busboys complicates its characters’ ages almost immediately.
An opening flashback shows a teenage Steef leaving school and meeting Markie, who is an unspecified number of years older, after Markie accidentally hits him with a car. The setup also requires Markie to drive around dogs dying of cancer and give them an enjoyable final experience. The teenage Steef is played by an actual teenager, while the main story takes place 16 years later. That leaves the 46-year-old Von playing a character who is apparently around 30, while Spade more convincingly portrays someone closer to Von’s real age.
The unnecessary timeline and backstory obscure a much simpler premise: two lifelong friends in dead-end jobs searching for a better life. The film’s convoluted structure suggests that Spade and Von began with a personal frustration about their less affluent backgrounds but never turned that material into a relatable or fully realized comedy about economic struggle.
Spade occasionally throws away a punchline effectively, and even modest laughs begin to feel valuable. But he lacks much of the half-amused, half-self-loathing snark associated with his best-known roles. He is in Joe Dirt territory without fully committing to the dumb-guy performance, leaving himself with a generic sad-sack persona. The film carries the same surly melancholy found in much of Spade’s later work, making it an unpleasant experience rather than an entertaining one.
Busboys also looks and feels underdeveloped. Spade and Von financed the project themselves and hired Jonah Feingold to direct. Although Feingold has considerable experience, including the poorly received romantic comedy Dating & New York, the film repeatedly stages scenes like rough versions of ideas that were never fully formed. Clunky transitions, weak spatial blocking and underdirected performances add to the problem.
The production ultimately depends on the scattered Spade-and-Von screenplay, which frequently introduces characters only to abandon them for long stretches. The film establishes an ensemble of restaurant workers, then sidelines that group for a drug-dealing plot. It is one of several choices that work against the movie’s own premise.
Comedy is difficult, and major studios have not helped younger comic performers by reducing production of inexpensive theatrical comedies. Still, Spade and Von are experienced enough to have recognized the film’s problems.
Our Verdict
Theo Von appears to have a fanbase that will not be easily deterred by negative reviews, which may help explain Busboys’ strong performance on Hulu. For most comedy viewers, however, the verdict is clear: skip it.
This is a dire, amateurish comedy that may leave viewers longing for the days of Black Sheep, or for something as genuinely funny as Tommy Boy.
Jesse Hassenger is a writer living in Brooklyn and a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon and The Week. He also hosts a podcast at www.sportsalcohol.com.
Stream Busboys on Hulu.
Source: decider.com
