Recap / The Nostalgia Critic S 9 E 7

Release: April 5, 2016

Film: The Adventures of Pluto Nash

Tagline: One of comedy's biggest bombs, but does it even deserve THAT much attention?

This review contains examples of:

• Actor Allusion: Invoked with lines being dubbed into Anthony (Jay Mohr) during the scene where Pluto rescues him from being poisoned by thugs, claiming he wants his career killed after having starred in the equally bad Mafia!.
• Actually Pretty Funny: The Critic admits he finds the part in the fight scene where Rex Crater punches the mirror and then gets punched by Pluto hilarious.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Invoked by the Critic, who claims that Pluto's desire to change both his act and name could be applied to the entire film itself.
• Call-Back:
  • After the Alternate Character Interpretation quip above, the Critic claims Pluto can rename himself into something as sensible as "Jupiter Jones". invoked
  • The booming "The Future!" line (with orchestral flourish on the background) from the After Earth review is played up on any of the film's more ridiculous sci-fi elements.
  • The scene where Bruno is recharged with a clamp on a terminal looks pretty phallic, but the Critic decides that making an original dick joke is too much for so half-assed a film as Pluto Nash, so he instead reuses his David Bowie dick jokes from the Labyrinth review and comes up with "Dick Magic Dick".
• The Cameo:
  • While claiming that there are better videos to watch than him reviewing Pluto Nash, the Critic points to The Cinema Snob's fake episode for "Naked Kirk Cameron Saves Naked Mike Myers on Naked Christmas" (complete with a Shaun Millington title card), with the Snob himself appearing to claim that the twist is that it's actually "Naked Kwanzaa".
  • Channel Awesome reviewer Nash Bozard of What the Fuck Is Wrong with You? (whose first name is also Pluto's surname) is briefly shown next to a picture of the dwarf planet Pluto, claiming that even the Critic's "half-assed" review is trying harder than the film itself.
  • Angry Joe shows up midway through the review (though his face is hidden) as one of the accountants who drag themselves out and kill themselves every time the name "Pluto Nash" is uttered (so Malcolm prophesies). Then he is shown in full at the very end, preparing for the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice review.
• I Need a Freaking Drink / Drowning My Sorrows: Critic remarks that Eddie Murphy movies don't stop drinking binges, but start them.
• Fantastic Aesop: The Critic invoked this when he tried to recap the film's moral in the end.
  Critic: If a clone of you wants to turn your bar into a casino, don't let him.
• Follow the Leader: Invoked. The Critic is annoyed at the Cyberpunk City Noir setting of the film, noting how most sci-fi films featuring cities are basically ripping off Blade Runner, putting up other examples such as Super Mario Bros. (1993), Judge Dredd, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Total Recall (1990), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Cloud Atlas and Demolition Man.
  • Though The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy shot is a planet building factory, which just adds another error to Doug's roster of movie errors.
• Foreshadowing: The Critic (and later Angry Joe) are shown carrying Batman and Superman costumes.
• Hollywood Homely: In-universe, The Critic finds the jokes mocking the appearance of Dawson's character to be absurd considering that the actress herself is already quite attractive.
• My God, You Are Serious!: The review begins with the Critic browsing on his smartphone while asking the audience just how much they want to see him review the film.
• Pulled from Your Day Off: Malcolm and Tamara are supposed to take a day-off until the Critic was forced to call them in to suit up for sketches after realizing that there are people who are actually watching his review.
• Ripped from the Headlines: Upon seeing that the lunar currency is now named after Hillary Rodham Clinton (who, by the time the review was released, is campaigning for Democratic presidential candidacy opposite Bernard Sanders), the Critic cannot decide whether that joke was clever or dated, so he challenges the audience to a multiple-choice joke, in which, after November 8 (election day), they choose either options A (Hilary felt the "Bern"), B (Hilary won by buying off Hollywood), or C (Donald Trump became the Adolf Hitler of America). He also has the same confusion upon seeing Pluto, Dina and Bruno drive past a "Trump Realty" billboard.
• Running Gag: Every time an all-too-obvious joke is played out in the film, the Critic throws that scene in a trash bin below him and then spits on it.
• Shout-Out:
  • Cuts of various characters calling out Pluto Nash's name is immediately followed by a cut of Mickey Mouse calling for Pluto (his pet dog).
  • Bruno's accent is compared to that of the Thermians.
• Spiteful Spit: The Critic with every directionless scene he throws in the trash.
• Stylistic Suck: The Critic claims that the episode was deliberately designed to be as half-assed as possible (e.g., only a few sketches from Malcolm and Tamara) to reflect just how equally half-assed the film is.
• Take a Third Option: After Pluto turns Anthony's bar into a dance club, NC asks if the dancing looks an 18 and under club or a Mormon rave. The third option is Ironic Space Mutiny Party.
• Take That!:
  • The Critic describes Pluto Nash as the most expensive yet laziest comedic bomb since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bomb diagram during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
  • Malcolm and Tamara claim to play the part of gods of filmmakers with the passion of Kevin Costner (that is, in a half-assed way).
  • The Critic compares the deceptive premise of Pluto Nash to Mars Needs Moms.
  • The Critic jokes that the scene where Michael is shown on a video recording shoving off a reporter off the courtroom stairs is an actual footage of his actor Alec Baldwin's real-life spats.
  • The spacecar chase scene is deemed as dull as a pod race from The Phantom Menace.
• Take That, Audience!: Bummed out over having their day-off canceled, Malcolm and Tamara chew out the audience for forcing them to participate in the review.
  Malcolm: Thanks a lot, dickholes.
  Tamara: You can take your love of Eddie Murphy and shove it up your ass!
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: In-Universe, the Critic praises Rosario Dawson (Dina) as the only star who actually tried to act in such a bomb as Pluto Nash.
• Visual Pun: When the Critic describes that he's phoning in his review of the film to reflect how equally phoned-in the film was, the next cut shows the review literally being played on the Critic's smartphone.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: The Critic takes offense at the main character's name "Pluto Nash", deeming it unintentionally hilarious in a setting that takes itself too seriously. At one point he compares it to "Jupiter Jones", and upon hearing "Rex Carter" he also wonders if the film also stole names from Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa.

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