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November 23, 2004
‘Seed of Chucky’ not even laughably bad
Seed of Chucky is a bad movie.
Any critic who doesn’t preface their review with such a disclaimer is doing a definite disservice to their readers.
That being said, however, the film is also rather entertaining and funny.
The fifth film in the Child’s Play series introduces new characters and takes the bizarre, body-snatching, killer doll storyline to new heights.
As a whole, it has one too many plot lines thinly strung together, and at times the pacing is slow.
The major problem with Seed of Chucky is the seed him/herself, an ambiguously sexed character I’ll henceforth refer to using “he.” Voiced by nobody’s favorite hobbit, Billy Boyd of Peregrin Took fame, this irritating Glen/Glenda character has no reason to be in the movie.
The character doesn’t work as a plot device, because all he does is delay scenes with funnier characters.
The film begins with Glen/Glenda, a ugly ventriloquist dummy that is alive. He soon realizes that Chucky and his bride, Tiffany, are his parents, and he tracks them down.
No explanation is ever given for how he was separated from his parents, when he was born, or how he ended up as a ventriloquist dummy.
Thankfully, the movie has a few other plots.
One involves Chucky and Tiffany killing celebrities in Hollywood. They do this while a movie is being made about their killing spree in the previous film. There comes a point in every horror franchise where they use the movie within a movie concept, and it never works.
Seed of Chucky also falls flat for the same reason that Scream 3 was terrible: The audience can’t relate to a killer that only murders famous people.
It is undeniably funny to see Britney Spears killed in one scene, but, because I’m not famous and not living in Hollywood, I feel pretty removed from the action.
The best parts of the film all revolve around Jennifer Tilly, famous for her lesbian mob movie Bound.
Tilly plays both herself, starring in the movie within a movie, and the voice of Tiffany.
The Tilly character is attempting to revive her career by sleeping her way into the part of the Virgin Mary, and I derived much humor from this concept of a faux Passion of the Christąstyle film directed by Redman.
The movie is clever enough to utilize the fact that Tilly plays dual roles, and she’s extremely funny playing herself as a washed-up sexpot who at 46 has breasts that would make Pamela Anderson jealous.
Tiffany comments on Jennifer Tilly’s weight, promiscuity, and failing career, while Tilly describes the doll as having the voice of an angel.
The pluck of this leading lady was more than enough to win me overčfor a moment or two.
Unfortunately, the rest of the cast lacks her charm, talent, and charisma, with the exception of John Waters in a wonderful cameo as a doomed paparazzi photographer hoping to dig up dirt on Redman.
In the end, Seed of Chucky is still bad, in pretty much every way a movie can be bad, and it’s not even “so bad it’s funny,” as I had eagerly hoped it would be.
It’s simply a boring horror movie mixed with funny satire about a has-been actress.
As bad as it is, however, I can still safely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the Chucky series, and
Tilly fans will no doubt consider this one of the funniest roles for the Academy Award nominee.
Finally, this movie will also likely be enjoyed by what is obviously its target demographic: intoxicated college students.
Posted by msveum at November 23, 2004 11:17 AM
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