Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie [Blu-Ray]

Anyone familiar with the work of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, particularly their Adult Swim show, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, might have an idea of what to expect from their first feature-length film. But newcomers won't be at a disadvantage, as Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie doesn't have any particular audience in mind. On television, Heidecker and Wareheim create a surreal mix of sketches, fake commercials and behind-the-scenes clips, a post-modern hybrid of pretend VHS leftovers. The idea of the 11-minute episodes ballooning to a feature-length film with any sort of budget is a contradictory development, notching up the audaciousness of the duo's humour but potentially sacrificing its potency in the process. After Tim and Eric (Heidecker and Wareheim, as themselves) waste a billion dollars making a two-minute film, the angry studio heads order them to pay back the money. Tim and Eric flee to a decrepit shopping mall, taking over the job of salvaging it and, they assume, positioning themselves to quickly earn back the billion dollars they need. It's a promising set-up that allows for Heidecker and Wareheim to riff on blockbuster clichés ― an epic score punctuates nothing particularly epic, like Zach Galifinakis falling into a swimming pool ― and also carryover the fake commercials from their TV show. All of which make for a great movie trailer but isn't enough to fill 94 minutes. At times, the film is caught between the subversive humour it wants to explore further and keeping things restrained for new audiences. Mostly, Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie feels a little lifeless and far from the kinetic fun of Awesome Show, Great Job!. The cameo appearances punctuate the film with moments of inspiration it's otherwise missing. Will Ferrell's appearance in particular could be its own short film and is, thankfully, an extended scene on the Blu-Ray release. In addition to deleted and extended scenes, other special features include a dry, straightforward commentary with Heidecker and Wareheim and, alternatively, a making-of where the duo gets silly again. It's an appropriately uneven grab bag of a release for an underwhelming movie.