“Buddy” Demented Kids Show Broke Satire

There’s nothing quite like viewing a premiere on a festival midnight slate. Even before the title card is revealed, the audience is electrified and full with laughter, cheers, and yells. “Buddy” benefits enormously from this kind of rowdy crowd, the energy fuelling its overall delight and at times taking up some slack for what the film lacks altogether. It’s a whole lot of concepts that chose insane execution over fleshed out conclusions, leaving a bit of a mixed bag that rests on the laurels of a pumped crowd and massive vibes check. To be honest, if you can watch it in the intended format with the correct people and mindset, then it’s okay. I don’t know how it may play outside of the festival bubble, but inside the secluded snow topped mountains, the crowd ate it up.

Casper Kelly continues to stay true to his Adult Swim roots by extending his Adult Swim episodic work (“Too Many Cooks,” “Stroker & Hoop”) into a feature-length film with “Buddy,” which feels like it was taken directly from Cartoon Network at two in the morning. That’s actually complimentary, as that’s a pretty great way to spend a late night on the near crash out from too many libations. It’s premise is simple yet effective: a 90s kids TV show (think homicidal “Barney” or nightmare fuel “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse“) starring a charming magical unicorn named Buddy who sings and offers lessons to the surrounding kids.

When a child on the show unexpectedly disappears after declining to attend the dance party, the show swiftly devolves into a murderous situation. Some of the other kids begin to wonder why he vanished, and they quickly come to the conclusion that the playful Buddy isn’t who he seems to be and that they are confined within the show. They set out to flee in the hopes of reaching Diamond City, but the farther they travel, the risk increases and the distinction between reality and television becomes increasingly hazy.

The production design and puppetry is superb, practically everything in “Buddy” done practical and in camera. Kelly is enjoying himself just as much as he is with his stacked ensemble and crazy ideas, filling every shot with outlandish set pieces and fully functional puppets that appear purposely bad. That cast includes Cristin Miloti, Topher Grace, Keegan Micheal-Key, Michael Shannon, and Patton Oswald, all of whom are turned up to 11 and completed committed to the concept.

The voices of Michael-Key, Shannon, and Oswald are really good; they are almost unidentifiable until you look at the credits to find out who did what. The breathtaking design of “Buddy” serves as a sobering reminder of what we lose when we try to digitize everything and is evidence that nothing compares to the physical impacts and artistic creations of real artists. You are continuously reminded that you are inside of a television program, and that precise detail quite literally draws you in to the insanity and constantly takes you on a fantastic, chaotic ride.

“Buddy” knows when to turn the dial to insane levels that will please audiences. It’s gory, entertaining, and hilarious. I don’t know that it all works – there’s a whole lot of ideas here and only few are filled out in a satisfactory ways – but “Buddy” get’s more and more fun the crazier and stranger it gets. In the last five minutes, it accomplishes more thematic messaging and world building than most horror movies do in two or more hours.

I wish it had been given a little more time to complete those concepts and give them a little more coherence. Still, the message is obvious and cartoonish violence is unending, and isn’t that why we come to the cinema? “Buddy” delivers a sarcastic sledgehammer to the blandness of kids television and digs deep into millennial childhood memories, turning those pleasant singing episodes into straight out horrors.

I truly have no idea who in the world is going to buy “Buddy” and how the hell any studio can sell it even though it has broad appeal. It’s too brilliant and too large of a cast for something like Shudder, yet it’s not quite appropriate for A24 or Neon. Whoever does wind up scooping it out of Sundance, one thing is definitely certain for “Buddy” to achieve success: it HAS to be seen in theaters with the biggest crowd you can possible locate.

Something this wild and this off the wall needs the collective energy of a game crowd ready to check in with their vibes, and “Buddy” simply cannot work viewing it at home, alone on the couch, second screening it in the background. There are proper and incorrect ways to watch movies, and “Buddy” deserves your entire attention on a huge screen with a group of people sharing the experience.

Case in point, “Buddy” is a blast. A wild, go for broke venture that makes the most of all of its strange concepts and push the bounds filmmaking. When it finds its audience, ‘Buddy” is a treat. Now anybody wants a hug?