Offensive Fun!

by Martin Hafer

The offensive American Rescue Squad isn’t your average movie. As an adult film, what it lacks in nudity and violence, it more than makes up for in other ways. It contains more offensive songs and dialogue than you could shake the proverbial stick at. And because of this, I can almost hear the politically correct, the extremely religious, and many other groups, gnashing their teeth. You have to have thick skin and a bit of frustration about the role of government in our lives, to get the most out of this film.

The biggest reason I enjoyed the movie, is that despite the film having a low budget, a cast of unknowns and coming from a small studio, it also made me laugh … a lot! It also took many risks and dared to be different, something we never see enough of these days. Just keep an open mind. You have been warned!

American Rescue Squad
Directed by
Elliot Diviney
Cast
Tony D. Czech, Douglas Sidney, KariAnn Christensen
Release Date
17 May 2015
Martin’s Grade: B+

*****
American Rescue Squad is a less-than-subtle, but very clever morality tale about personal responsibility and common sense, featuring two characters titled Personal Responsibility and, you guessed it, Common Sense! These two superheroes have apparently been missing for many years somewhere in America. They’re called out of retirement after a group of super-villains (including The Freeloader, The Bible Thumper and their leader, Congressman Dick Pansy) kidnap The Tax Payer and threaten to execute him! Why? Because these folk inexplicably resent The Tax Payer — even though he’s footing the bill for these characters and their selfish and crazy ideas! Does any of this sound subtle or make much sense? Nah … but it does make a few good political points along the way that would seriously offend both die-hard Republicans and Democrats alike. And doing so with humor, bad language, and musical numbers!

Of all the things in the film that made me chuckle, I particularly loved the songs, such as ones about stupid drivers, unprotected sex and welfare. In fact, if you have a pet peeve, it’s most likely to come out in one of their many, clever and bouncy songs. This is actually one of the best aspects of the film, as it tended to bring lighthearted fun to what otherwise could have just been a long political diatribe about limited government and responsible behaviors.

I also appreciated the acting and direction. In many ultra low-budget films with an unknown cast, there is a tendency towards overacting, uneven writing and editing that’s lacking. This is not the case with American Rescue Squad. It has a professionalism and nice look about it that you would expect from a movie with a far greater budget. This demonstrates a very high level of commitment by all involved in the production.

As a result, I found myself a bit less put off by the occasional tacky joke or some of the more controversial subject matter. Plus, and this is important, while American Rescue Squad pulls no punches and seems to be willing to attack a lot of sacred cows, at the same time it makes a lot of excellent points using humor to get its message across. In many ways, this all reminds me of the South Park franchise; offensive and sometimes gross, but also very clever.

Well worth seeing, provided you’re willing to accept it for what it is.