Dicks: The Musical: Movie Review

Cast: Joshua Sharp, Aaron Jackson, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Megan Thee Stallion, Bowen Yang
Director: Larry Charles

A24's foray into the musical genre and collaboration with Borat's incendiary director Larry Charles should provide clues as to what to expect from a film that's supposedly here for a good time, not a long time.

Yet Dicks: The Musical aims low, hits those targets and then seems to mine lower into areas which weren't yielding particularly fruitful returns anyway. Even the film's more surreal edges feel like they're a little too deliberate and prepared, robbing the film of any spontaneity.

The story of two self-obsessed businessmen, Craig and Trevor (Sharp and Jackson respectively) who discover they're long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric, divorced parents, Dicks: The Musical has a thin premise that's stretched about as far as it could be anyway, despite the committed performances of all.

But the film's penchant for peppy musical numbers that mix on the vulgar with the downright crass offer very limited returns as the film tries harder and harder without any real return.

Not canny enough to be a spoof of musicals and their grotesquely simple storylines and resolutions, Dicks: The Musical tries to one-up itself in absurd stakes and surreal edges. Yet, despite its push for eccentricities, it just feels like it's trying too much to provoke, that each following shock feels calculated and ultimately derisive.

Granted, there's a message here of acceptance masked under a barrage of shocking button-pressing, but Dicks: The Musical feels like it runs out of steam before it's really got much to say.

Many of the songs are less than memorable, and Mullally and Lane prove to be the most game in terms of personal debasement for their art; but Dicks: The Musical is mainly a flaccid attempt to shock that's not really coherent enough to live on forever. 

It could stand out amongst its crowd, but sadly, it's a limp movie that long outstays its welcome - unless you're a fan of musicals and weak gags.