Farce of the Penguins is a 2007 comedy parodying March of the Penguins. The film was released direct-to-video, and centers around two penguins, Carl and his best friend Jimmy (voiced by Bob Saget and Lewis Black) as they make the journey to find mates for the breeding season. The film is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and features the voices of several other celebrities including Christina Applegate, Mo'Nique, Tracy Morgan, James Belushi, Jason Biggs, Whoopi Goldberg, Norm Macdonald, David Koechner, Brie Larson, Abe Vigoda and Gilbert Gottfried.
This film provides examples of:
- Accidental Adultery: Jimmy accidentally has sex with Melissa not knowing it’s her and she believes it was Carl until he tells her he was asleep.
- Advertised Extra: Despite the movie touting an
All-Star Cast, a majority of the featured actors only appear for one scene. - Ambiguously Jewish: One of Carl's exes, Esther, speaks in a Jewish accent and dumps him for not keeping kosher.
- Artistic License – Biology: The male penguins have noticeable bulges between their legs, and Marcus likes to boast about his large penis. Actual male penguins don't have penises; all penguins regardless of sex have a single cloaca, used for urination, defecation, and reproduction.
- Artistic License – Geography: Juan Sanchez is a rockhopper penguin, a breed of penguin which resides along the islands of South America, and the global warming penguins are yellowed-eyed penguins, which are native to New Zealand.
- Atomic F-Bomb: The "nutless" penguin (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried) drops one as he walks away at the end of his scene:Nutless penguin: FUUUUUUCK YOOOOOUUU!!
- Bedmate Reveal: Played with. Jimmy realizes that in a late-night horny stupor, he'd accidentally done it with Melissa, who thought it was Carl.
- Big "OMG!": Melissa’s reaction after realizing Jimmy did it with her.
- Big Eater: The Starving Penguin who loves sand dabs.Starving Penguin: God, I love sand dabs. They're so good. All succulent, pan-fried with a little butter.
- Bird-Poop Gag: In the beginning of the movie, after the narrator calls Antarctica one of the most beautiful places on Earth, a seagull drops a shit on the camera.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The penguins sometimes can hear and talk to the narrator and it’s hinted that they are aware they are characters in a film.
- Character Catchphrase: Marcus: "I'm just fuckin' with you!"
- Closet Gay: The other characters suspect that Sydney is gay, which he denies until the ending.
- Con Man: When Carl and Jimmy make it to the breeding grounds, they are initially greeted by an Arctic fox who asks them if they want to buy tickets, watches, and other stuff off him.
- Eye Pop: Vicky has this reaction when Marcus shows off his…attributes to her.
- The Generic Guy: One of the penguins claims to have no personality.No Personality Penguin: Where you lead me I will go, Jimmy. I have no discernible personality.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Jimmy invokes this trope as Carl starts to get worried when they temporarily strayed from the path and ended up right back where they started from.
- Global Warming: One of the aside scene features some penguins walking on terrain where the snow has melted, and one angrily rants about global warming. Ironically, his yelling causes multiple avalanches.
- Informed Deformity: Vicky says one of her past ex-mates, Ralph, was ugly. In the flashback, Ralph is shown to have been a king penguin who hadn't finished shedding his brown feathers.
- Jerkass: Helen, one of the female penguins.
- The gang of seals that forced the male penguins to take a detour from their path.
- Jive Turkey: Marcus.
- Left the Background Music On: Marcus acknowledges the whistling marching music that was playing earlier in the movie as "philharmonic bullshit" and tells the "home penguin" to change it. The music changes to a song with a soft rock sound and while Marcus seems to like the song, he can't walk to it. The music then changes to a rap song and Marcus jams to it immediately.
- Lemony Narrator: Samuel L. Jackson fills this role in the movie.
- Love at First Sight: Carl has this reaction when he first meets Melissa.
- Medium Awareness: It's implied that all of the cast knows they're in this documentary. The "nutless" penguin even argues with the narrator.
- Melancholy Musical Number: The movie has two of these; one pertaining to Carl and Melissa longing to find "the one" before they meet each other, and the other pertaining to Carl contemplating forgiving Jimmy for unknowingly having sex with Melissa while she and Carl were asleep.
- Menagerie of Misery: Carl mentions having a nightmare about being trapped in some kind of enclosure and being ridiculed by humans.
- Oh, the Humanity!: One of the walruses scratching their asses utters this phrase.
- The Owl-Knowing One: Steve the Snowy Owl.
- Scary Black Man: Marcus, although he's mostly just messing with Carl and Jimmy.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Marcus decides to move ahead of the path after Jimmy slaps an anxious Carl.
- Self-Defeating Prophecy: Juan Sanchez makes it to the top of the mountain, only to be snatched away by a seagull.
- Sex Montage: When Jimmy says everybody in the world is having sex except for Carl and him, a montage of other animals getting it on briefly plays out.Sydney: I have GOT to find out who their event planner is.
- Shout-Out:
- Jimmy says “I see dead people,” when Carl suggests moving to Palm Springs.
- Juan Sanchez says the Antarctic skunk weed he found will help him find the Treasure of Sierra Madre.
- When Jimmy argues with the narrator, the latter says, “you can't handle the truth, Ruth!”
- The second time we see the global warming penguin, he name drops An Inconvenient Truth.
- Marcus name drops Brokeback Mountain.
- A walrus asks Carl and Jimmy is they know The Da Vinci Code.
- Carl name drops Eyes Wide Shut.
- When Juan Sanchez makes it to the top of the mountain, he says, “I'm the king of the world!”
- The third and final time we see the global warming penguin, he's near a demolished Statue of Liberty.
- The Shrink: Steve the Snowy Owl, known for charging insane amounts for short sessions.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Juan Sanchez thinks he will be famous if he climbs to the top of a mountain.
- Sound Off: This occurs twice in the film, first with the male penguins and second with the female penguins.
- Stock Footage: The movie consists of stock footage from nature documentaries with various celebrities providing voices for the penguins.
- The Stoner: Juan Sanchez states that he smokes skunk weed.
- Travel Montage: After a group of seals threaten the male penguins into taking a detour from their usual path, a montage of the penguins slipping and falling as they tread through ice and rocks plays out with surf music playing in the background. The montage ends with the male penguins getting washed away by a wave.
- Toilet Humour: The film frequently makes these type of jokes.
- Yellow Snow: One of the gags of the film.
- Your Cheating Heart: One of Carl’s exes, Amanda, cheated on Carl.Amanda: I have something to tell you, Carl. I cheated on you.Carl: How? We've been standing right next to each other for two months.Amanda: While you were sleeping, Vittorio came over and…we made love.Carl: But I was standing right here.Amanda: That's why it's over, Carl. You didn't even wake up.
