Weekend Film Recommendation: “Barry Munday” (2010)

Brian “Pac” Sostak

One of the goals Chris and I have set out to accomplish with our Weekend Film Recommendation is to suggest a movie available on Netflix Instant.  We give you these recommendations every Friday and if you really are interested in seeing the film, and are one of the 16 million Americans with Netflix, we want to suggest something you don’t have to look too hard to find.  Also, it can become tedious wading through Netflix looking for something worthwhile to watch, hopefully our recommendations can make that experience a little easier.

All that being said, I wanted to recommend a film in the spirit of the holiday;  I am, of course, talking about Super Bowl Sunday.

My lawyers advise I make no further mention of such events without licensing

Unfortunately, the only two football related films that I could find currently streaming on Netflix that I have seen and are worthwhile enough to recommend are Rudy, Radio, and Big Fan.  It felt unnecessary to do a “Weekend Film Recommendation” on the first two films because they are so popular, and I already wrote one for Big Fan in September.  So for those of you hoping to read about an underrated football movie about an underrated or undersized protagonist who overcomes all odds to make the team, sorry.

Instead you get this gem of hidden film,  Barry Munday.  In the film, the titular character wakes up in the hospital only to realize that his manhood has been removed due to a vicious attack by a young girl’s father.  To make matters worse, he is also facing a paternity suit by a woman that he cannot remember having sex with.

 

The film stars Patrick Stewart (The A Team, Watchmen, Lakeview Terrace) who steps out of his action film element to play a down on his luck nerd, and co-stars Judy Greer (What Women Want), Chloë Sevigny (Big Love), and Malcolm McDowell (Rob Zombie’s Halloween).  While I have been on record on this site denouncing the Romantic Comedy genre, this film technically falls into that category, but does it in an unconventional and much less glamorous fashion. 

In order to save face in my crusade against the RomCom genre, I’m more apt to look at the movie as a coming of age tale for Munday as he has to reflect on his life and prioritize what is important to him as he copes with the loss of his testicles, and the prospect of bringing a child into the world.  Imagine a more twisted version of Knocked Up where you don’t have to watch Katherine Heigl for 2 hours. 

Wilson embodies the character of Barry Munday wonderfully and seems to get lost completely in this role.  The characters are honest enough to relate to and quirky enough to incite hilarious laughs throughout.  Finally, just when the film starts to slow down enough that you start to notice, a hilarious scene featuring Christopher McDonald (Happy Gilmore) and Kyle Gass (Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny) draw you right back in.  You can check out the trailer for the film below, and as I said before the film is available to watch instantly on Netflix.  Have a great weekend.