A Futile and Stupid Gesture

I was looking for something light-hearted to watch and thought that a movie about the great and irreverent National Lampoon would be just what I was looking for. And, indeed, the movie starts off as a highly funny comedy, telling the stoary of the Lampoon, the magazine, the radio show, Animal House and the insane cast of characters that revolved around the magazine's orbit.

Unfortunately, I wasn't familiar with the story of one of the founders, Doug Kenney, and the story soon goes sour. Breakdowns, drug abuse, infidelity and much more combine to bring the story down to its horribly depressing conclusion.

Not a bad movie and there are lots of fond memories of the out-of-control comedy that they produced, but it is not a good-time, feel-good flick. And, as the movie itself acknowledges, the cast really are nothing like the insanely famous people they are portraying, but do they really have to be?