Men and Chicken

2015 dark comedy

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Following the death of their mother, a pair of estranged brothers decide to investigate dad's whereabouts. They discover a lot of family secrets along the way.

This might be the first movie I've ever watched as a result of thinking the movie's title was awful. Men and Chicken? That just doesn't sound right. Shouldn't both be plural? Men and Chickens? The Danish title looks more like Men and Hens to me although I don't know any other language but English because I'm American.

Any plot synopsis of this one that doesn't involve any spoilers is going to make it sound pretty conventional, but this is not a conventional movie at all. The characters are eccentric; the plot twists are dark and, well, twisted; and the way this movies from Point A to Point B is downright wacky. I saw a description in a review that said this was a mix of The Three Stooges and the Island of Dr. Moreau. I wanted to find where I read that and credit the source, but that's apparently a combination that's been used by multiple reviewers. It's an apt description because there's some very silly Stooges-esque slapstick violence, complete with thonking and pinging cartoonish sound effects, and there's a science fiction element that does feel Moreau-esque.

If this movie didn't have me at the singing saw during the opening credits, the quirk of one character that involves masturbation would have gotten me. The first time we see that character, played by Mads Mikkelsen actually, he is on what turns out to be one of the funniest movie dates I've seen in a long time.

I know nothing about the director, Anders Thomas Jensen, but I love the aesthetic and sense of humor and creativity in this movie enough to check out his other work. Maybe he'll end up being my favorite personal discovery of 2018.