The thing about “Bottle Rocket,” Wes Anderson’s charmingly easygoing debut feature about stupid criminals that somehow came out 20 years ago (dear god), is that no one in it said, you know, “You farted right into my butthole! Like a fart transplant!” It’s so easy to make a comedy that doesn’t have lines like that, much less lines prompted by two people in position to actually make that physical transaction.
With pants on. But still.
Surprise, though. “Masterminds,” the aforementioned culprit of occasionally very bad judgment that, like “Bottle Rocket,” costars Owen Wilson, ultimately balances out into something resembling good-natured silliness. It’s unexpected coming from Jared Hess, a filmmaker whose best-known work (“Napoleon Dynamite,” “Nacho Libre,” both awful) delights in laughing condescendingly at its characters instead of with them. His latest does it too, but a lot less.
Reiterating his ability to put sweetness into a goofball, Zach Galifianakis stars as David, who, with a beard, bangs and shoulder-length hair, has a personal style that for whatever reason reminded me of this:
David dreams of something or someone enhancing his repetitive job as an armored car driver, even fantasizing about getting robbed. Then his thoughts turn toward Kelly (Kristen Wiig), a colleague who, not long after getting fired semi-on purpose, agrees to help Steve (Wilson) and manipulate David’s affections to the tune of a truck full of stolen cash. The poor guy’s hesitant until his crush remembers the power of fingers walking along the skin of the smitten. Also, she says stuff about them rubbing coconut juices on each other and her washing pantyhose with her mouth, which, fortunately for this awkward dirty talker, he’s into as well.
Obviously, cue a zany plan that keeps popping seams and foolish people who usually either screw up or get lucky. Sometimes it really seems based on a true story; other times, uh, David attempts to disguise himself by wearing a long blonde wig and snake eyes, along with boots, a white tank top, a gold necklace and sweatpants that happen to be stuffed with money. If that sounds absurd yet hilarious, it is. If it doesn’t, this probably is not for you.
Oh, the cast also contains three-quarters of the “Ghostbusters,” with Kate McKinnon as David’s fiancé and Leslie Jones as an FBI agent. Which brings us to the anticipated meanness. It’s always important to recognize at whom a joke is aimed in a movie like this — is it the stupid person saying it, or the person they’re talking about? When it comes to calling Jones’ character a man or saying she looks like a WNBA player (could be a compliment in the right context, which this is not), or the presentation of McKinnon’s character’s poses during the worst engagement photo shoot ever, Hess is just reverting to pointing and laughing. Also not funny: a $100 bill covered in ass hair (come on), pooping in a pool and eating a dead tarantula. (I do admit that I’m never in favor of anything involving tarantulas. It’s also relevant to mention that Devin Ratray, who played tarantula-owning Buzz McCallister in “Home Alone,” has a small role in “Masterminds.”)
Those are the spikes in this mixed, momentum-challenged bag. The candy is the sincere decency that emerges between David and Kelly and the way the cast (particularly Jason Sudeikis as a hitman) makes the nonsense likable. “I’m starting to feel like a corn dog at a hot dog party,” David notes at one point. Something everyone’s felt, just never, ever in those words.
B-.
