THE BEACH BUM review

Now in cinemas is Harmony Korine's follow up to Spring Breakers, the Matthew McConaughey starring stoner comedy, The Beach Bum.

McConaughey stars as Moon Dog, a one time respected writer who know lives his days in Florida with wife Minnie (Isla Fisher) and hanging out with his best friend Lingerie (Snoop Dogg). When events take a tragic turn, Moondog hits the road looking for inspiration for his next novel, meeting up with friends and like minded miscreants along the way.

McConaughey is no stranger to playing people under the influence of drugs. Never mind the naked bongo playing of his personal life that became the talk of the tabloids, he played one of the all time classic stoner characters as Wooderson in Dazed and Confused. That character was a cool guy who found common ground with those a few years younger than him through recreational drug use, exuding that natural McConaughey charm with his now ubiquitous catchphrase "alright, alright, alright". Here McConaughey plays Moondog, a character that can only be seen as a de-evolution of Wooderson, waxing lyrical and pontificating like James Franco's Alien in Spring Breakers. That's fine, and Wooderson is a hard act to top, but whereas that character seemed wholly believable, Moondog can only exist in this bizarre world that Korine has created, full of obnoxious, entitled people with no regard for how their choices are effecting those around them. As an uncredited Jonah Hill states, "d'ya know what I like most about being rich? You can be horrible to people and they just have to take it".

Korine has clear designs for The Beach Bum to be some sort of stoner odyssey as Moondog wanders around with his typewriter hoping to find stories to include in his next book like some sort of whacked out Kerouac, and so McConaughey has many short, sweet and seemingly improvised interactions with a variety of larger than life characters played by a roster of famous faces with mixed comedic results. Martin Lawrence's Captain Wack struggles to land the (admittedly wayward) tone of the film, resulting in a ship's captain who doesn't know the difference between a shark and a dolphin, whereas Zack Efron's stripey bearded, Christian rock loving arsonist Flicker leaves an impression as unforgettable as his fashion choices. The most memorable of the supporting cast is Lingerie, a ladies loving rapper and stoner played by Snoop Dogg. Yes, I know he's hardly stretching himself with this role, but he's a welcome grounded presence among some of the more ridiculous posturing in the film.

Shot fast and loose by Benoit Debie, Korine's (and Gasper Noe's) regular cinematographer; it's a vibrant, colourful, almost psychedelic film that never looks less than beautiful. It's perhaps a credit to McConaughey that he feels comfortable enough in his career to start making bold choices again, and although Moondog shows some sort of direction in life and depth towards the finale with his credo that "this life gig's a rodeo, and I'm going to suck the nectar out of it and fuck it raw dog until the wheels come off", most of his actions in the course of the film make him appear to be a largely unlikeable clown with a complete disregard for anyone else. It never appears that Korine wants us to dislike his fantastical characters, that I would worry aren't too much of an exaggeration of people he's encountered in his own life. One thing's for certain; by the end of the film you'll be sick of hearing people say the name Moondog.

The main fault with The Beach Bum is that it aims to be an aspirational, if juvenile, experience, but instead comes over like a fever dream of relentless misogyny, debauchery and abuse of privilege that even the cast of Jackass would say had gone a bit overboard. The party soon turns into one you wouldn't want to see through to the end, even if Moondog has promised you some of his best drugs once the sun has set. Fans of Korine's previous film may find moments to savour amongst all the madness, but on the McConaughey scale, this one is just "alright".

Verdict
2/5