Funny like its subject but not nearly as daring, “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon” certainly showcases the dark sense of humor that originated as a magazine at Harvard and became a comedy factory whose influence still appears in radio, TV and print and through filmmakers such as Judd Apatow. This documentary has many examples of National Lampoon’s button-pushing work, including a Mademoiselle parody story (“Exclusive: Clothes to be dead in”) and a cover featuring a dog with a gun to its head with text reading, “If You Don’t Buy This Magazine, We’ll Kill This Dog.”
That’s plenty entertaining, as is seeing footage from the early careers of people such as John Belushi, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner, who went from Second City to National Lampoon to “Saturday Night Live”—whose first cast, in fact, was primarily taken from NatLamp. (Some people really called it that, apparently.) But a documentary needs to do more than just say what happened. “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead” doesn’t have to overanalyze comedy, but it should analyze the people who gave life to its subject.
Other than somewhat broadly recalling personal problems experienced by founder Doug Kenney, the film never goes very far outside the office. Alternating repetitively between talking heads and archival footage, with photos frequently and tiresomely made to look like pages in a magazine, director/co-writer Douglas Tirola neglects to consider much criticism leveled at National Lampoon, or to explore why the staff was mostly men, or consider the role of substance abuse as part of the creative process among some of its originators and most famous alumni. Outside of just them being rich and famous and the drugs being available.
It adds up to a reasonably informative good time, with memorable takeaways such as the brand teaching Billy Bob Thornton about using humor to tell the truth and making Kevin Bacon want to buy the magazine because he wanted to see breasts. The problem is that National Lampoon, never afraid to satirize controversial subjects including politics and war, wasn’t just about being funny. It was about being smart and courageous, and that’s where “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead”—which isn’t nearly as dramatic as its title—lets down the material.
Originally published during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival
2.5 stars (out of four)
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