Hacky 'Shack

There really is no movie so funny that a beer ad trying to capitalize on its recognizability can't completely drain it of anything resembling humor.

I say this sort of thing a lot when it comes to ads, but here I go again: I defy you to explain to me how any of this is funny. It is supposed to be funny, surely. You don't ape the aesthetic and directly pull lines from a classic comedy because you are not trying to be funny. But realistically, you probably do it because you don't know how to be funny without just referencing something funny and hoping that's enough. And it very much is not. Maybe some of these lines play funnier in the longer, online-only version of this ad with a little more context. But you knew you were making this to be cut down into 60 seconds. (In any event, I'm hard-pressed to understand what the "jokes" are here other than expecting me to laugh at the repetition of a line I've heard before - with that in mind, these were the best lines they could pull?)

Brian Cox in the Ted Knight part is fairly inspired casting, but otherwise I don't really know why anyone in this ad is in it other than "they were available." This is Serena Williams' second alcohol-promoting appearance of the 2023 Super Bowl and I guess all the talking in the Remy Martin ad gave her laryngitis because she inexplicably has zero lines in this one despite being the ostensible main character. Either way I don't know why it's her as opposed to literally anyone else. Why is Tony Romo playing Carl? I guess all the athletes here are also big golfers. Sure, why not. (Michael O'Keefe, Danny Noonan from the original movie, also makes a cameo as the "Be the ball" guy and if you knew that before reading it in a YouTube comment that puts you one ahead of me. To be fair to me, Michael O'Keefe is 67 years old.)

For good measure, the ad closes with the slogan "It's only worth it if you enjoy it" which is so vapid and devoid of meaning it could be appended to almost any commercial. What exactly is "it?" Golf? Michelob Ultra? Life? Deep stuff, man.

If you're curious, here is the full three-minute version which, I must say, adds virtually nothing except for: (a) a second shot of Michael O'Keefe in which he is much easier to recognize, (b) a couple pointless shots of the gopher that I'm amazed did not make it into the TV version, and (c) an unconnected coda with Tony Romo doing the Bill Murray "it's a Cinderella story" bit. I don't know who told Tony Romo that his Carl Spackler impression is hysterically funny but they need to be shot. (Also, astoundingly, Serena Williams still does not get even a single word of dialogue in the full version. And no, none of the lines are funnier with small bits of additional context. If anything it feels like they were being needlessly padded out to get to three minutes! Which doesn't even make sense!)