The best dumb comedies are smarter than they look.
The 2004 cult hit “Napoleon Dynamite” proved it, although not as much as its cult following suggests.
Far better? The deliriously dumb 2016 black comedy “The Greasy Strangler.”
The sub-genre requires pinpoint comic timing and brains behind the gags. Your mileage will still vary, of course.
That’s why “Agua Donkeys” stands tall next to those films … or most modern comedies. The film, assembled from the little-seen 2020 Quibi series of the same name, is irrepressibly stupid on the surface.
There’s a method to the comic madness, something that quickly becomes clear. By the end, you might want to rewatch it all over again.
Best buddies MP and Jer (MP Cunningham, Jer Jackson) long to do more with their lives than clean pools. Their gig at Agua Donkeys pays the bills, but they hunger for something more.
Like a romance with their comely co-worker, Jackie (Baby Darrington). Yes, there are two of them and only one of her.
What’s your point?
All they need is a plan to woo her, like jumping from a local building into the swimming pool below. It can’t miss! Assuming they don’t.
Plot descriptions hardly capture the silliness afoot. Our heroes are blissfully ignorant of both their actions and the consequences to them. Their flustered boss Rod (Luke Jackson) tries to run a reputable business, but the man-children keep getting in the way.
This isn’t dumb for dumb’s sake. The reaction shots are routinely priceless, and there’s an honesty to the approach that makes the humor land. Cunningham and Jackson, who co-wrote “Agua Donkeys,” aren’t willing to dismiss these dimwits as cruel or unworthy of our affection.
They just don’t know any better.
EDITORIAL NOTE: This critic is a contributor to The Blaze.
Sly jokes abound, as do turns of phrase that might just catch on should enough people see the film (“buttery!”). And you’ll never look at jeans the same way again.
Why does it all work? It clocks in well under 90 minutes, so there’s nothing that could be trimmed away. Cunningham and Jackson have an endearing quality that’s hard to fake.
You also get the sense of the cleaning company being a true, Mom ‘n Pop operation that could rise or fall based on one big client.
We’re also treated to sublime supporting characters. Take an ex-con who regales the leads with his jailhouse cruelty. It’s brutally dry comedy.
So goes “Agua Donkeys,” a film destined for either cult status or a revival of sorts.
HiT or Miss: “Agua Donkeys” is dumb to the core, but it’s smart enough to make the most of its dopey antiheroes.