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DVD Review: WILL FERRELL: YOU'RE WELCOME AMERICA
- A FINAL NIGHT WITH GEORGE W. BUSH

Studio: HBO Home Entertainment
Year: 2009
Cast: Will Ferrell, Patrick Ferrell, Pia Glenn, Michael Delaney, Adam Mucci
Director: Marty Callner
Release Date: November 03, 2009
Rating: Not Rated for (language, brief nudity)
Run Time: 01h:31m:53s
Genre(s): comedy

"I was a simple, normal kid. I liked to do simple, normal things. Like shoot wrist rockets at a stray cat strapped to a propane tank. Just basic mischief, you know? Or like this one time, we shot up a sleeping hobo full of Novocain, then we'd yell, "Pie on the windowsill!" And they'd wake up all numb and poor and we'd laugh. But that's just the kind of stuff you do growing up in Midland, when you're a young, precocious little thirty-year-old." - George W. Bush (Will Ferrell)

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Will Ferrell as George W. Bush. I think you already know whether you'll think this is going to be funny or not, which is dependent on your stance on both Ferrell and Bush.

Movie Grade: B-

DVD Grade: B-

It doesn't matter much that Will Ferrell sometimes looks more like Tom Brokaw than George W. Bush in this nearly one-man Broadway show recounting the life and times of our 43rd President, because the material is wildly absurdist and often quite funny. Perhaps not a wholly perfect set, but certainly one with more than enough sharp, comical barbs.

Appearance issues aside, the guy really becomes Bush enough with his delivery and cadence, inserting a skewed personal history lesson that more often than not veers into the realm of Ferrell-ian weirdness. No big surprise, but Ferrell's brand of humor falls squarely in that "you like it or don't" school, and if you happen to enjoy his bizarrely tangential delivery—usually punctuated by something completely out there—then Ferrell here will no doubt make you laugh.

In this performance—recorded at the Cort Theater for HBO just seven weeks after the Obama inauguration—Ferrell spends 90 minutes bounding between various Presidential period guises, ranging from "flight suit Bush" to "fighter Bush" to "cowboy Bush" to "plain suit Bush" to "frat boy Bush". The modest costume changes that accompany these transitions seem to be in place just to break up the visual look of the show, as well as giving Patrick Ferrell (who plays an ever present-but-silent Secret Service Agent) an opportunity to deliver some terrific physical comedy. A large panel of three video screens high along the rear wall of the stage is used frequently—like a high-tech PowerPoint presentation—including some unexpected full-frontal male nudity.

Things begin a bit slowly, but once Ferrell hits his stride the funny comes on with regularity, as his Bush tales go from strange to bizarre. Ferrell portrays Bush as cluelessly entitled, a buffoon who doesn't seem to know he's full of himself. He refers to Obama as "that Tiger Woods guy" and begins a prayer with the disclaimer that its intended for "blond, good-looking, lightly-bearded or clean-shaven Jesus Christ, not hippie-looking Jesus or swarthy, more Middle Eastern Jesus - who's probably more historically accurate". A sexy dance number by Condoleeza Rice (Pia Glenn) is a bit simplistic, but Glenn's moves are so over-the-top the gyrations are humorous and libidinous, though it seems a bit unfair for Ferrell to drag Rice down the very same Bush rabbit hole.

Throughout the performance, however, Ferrell-as-Bush is expectedly foul-mouthed. lurching into anecdotes about handjobs and satanic sexual rites. By the time Ferrell is talking about blowing off a mass of fireworks taped to a Hellboy action figure or a brilliantly funny story about rogue monkeys with spear guns, the theme of Bush-as-dim-bulb is firmly in place. Near the end of the show, an attempt is made for somber reflection of those lost in battle, and it's played surprisingly straight until an odd payoff that sort of bungles the seriousness of the message.

It's unlikely that the Bush clan or their supporters will be laughing too loudly (if at all), and I really doubt Dick Cheney will find the stories about him (including a sexual encounter with "a giant goat-devil in a room full of pentagrams") particularly pleasing. But it sure is funny, though.

IMAGE/AUDIO
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is decent, but far from exemplary. Solid fleshtones and bright colors, but black levels are not quite as consistent. But given that most of the performance features closeups or body shots of Ferrell, with really minimal emphasis on background elements, the presentation imperfections are not major distractions. The 2.0 surround track is more than serviceable, with Ferrell's dialogue clear, and audience sounds mixed modestly underneath.

EXTRAS
This single disc release is packaged with a red slipcover that features a cut-out star that reveals the case beneath. The inner artwork has an image of Ferrell as Bush, though the backcover of both the slipcover and case are identical (save for the background color).

If you pop the disc in a PC you're given a special menu to access an optional digital copy (expires 11/03/10). The other supplements include a brief behind-the-scenes piece entitled Road To Broadway (07m:45s), while the Bush on Bush Interview (13m:02s) has Ferrell-as-Bush interviewing Ferrel-as-Bush, and it's damn funny. Not so fun is the oddly titled It's Time Has Come of Being a Decider, America: True or False, an interactive game featuring a series of true/false questions.

Posted by: Rich Rosell - November 6, 2009, 8:32 am - DVD Review
Keywords: will ferrell, hbo, george w. bush, comedy, one-man show, broadway