Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, the stars of the later years of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” completely eviscerated Paul Verhouven’s 1997 film “Starship Troopers,” making the RiffTrax live show one of their best shows yet.
For those unfamiliar with RiffTrax or its precursor Mystery Science Theater 3000, a cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson, the concept can seem pretty strange.
It’s like watching a DVD with the optional commentary on, only instead of the director or a star of the film talking about how hard a scene was to shoot or how much they like the lighting of the shot, you get three comedians making wisecracks about the movie.
Jokes are made about goofy dialogue, poorly done special effects, bad acting or anything else that catches the commentators’ eye.
It’s like watching a cheesy movie with your friends, only everything they say is pure comedic gold.
Those familiar with MST3K will feel right at home with RiffTrax. It’s basically the same thing except they don’t use puppets or do little skits between segments of the movie any more.
As for “Starship Troopers,” the movie itself is a divisive film. Many people either love it as a dumb action movie and over-the-top satire of fascism and war movie clichés or hate it for being nothing like the book of the same name. Regardless of a person’s perception, it proves to be excellent joke fodder and RiffTrax’s commentary is gut-bustlingly funny from start to finish.
These three guys have been doing this for more than 20 years and have turned making fun of movies into an art form. Their work is not to be missed.
RiffTrax is planning another live show on Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. EST. It features George Romero’s 1968 film, “Night of the Living Dead,” and will be aired in select movie theaters throughout the Ann Arbor area. It’s essentially watching somebody else watch a movie, and the end result is absolutely hilarious.
For more information on the live show or to see other hilarious commentary to films, like Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, go to RiffTrax.com/live.
