Where I Watched It: Netflix

English Audio Description: Yes

Movie review speed round. The Machine is a film based on a stand up routine by Burt Crysher, where he discusses a trip to Russia, and how he got involved with the Russian mob and earned the nickname The Machine. Obviously, he plays a version of himself, who in the longer version of this joke has revenge sought against him for being The machine.

It’s two hours long.

His joke is fine as a stand-up routine, which is why he’s here, but take any joke and try and make an entire film out of it, and the joke feels stretched far too much. Luckily, he cast Mark Hamill to play his father, and Hamill is delightful here. I absolutely loved him, and he stole the whole movie for me. I’d love to see what Burt can do in a film where he’s not playing himself based on a joke he wrote that made him famous, but that may never happen. Just like last year’s underwhelming Easter Sunday from joe Coi, these comedians just aren’t proving to be funny in features.

The audio description surprisingly has a lot to do as the film is more action oriented than you might expect. I don’t have a problem with the audio description, but turning this into a two hour affair was an unfortunate call. 90 minutes is already a stretch. But, see it for Hamill. Oddly, not the reason anyone thought people would want to see this movie.

Final Grade: C+