Retrospective Film Review

Freddy Got Fingered (2001) • 20 Years Later

An unemployed cartoonist moves back in with his parents, spreading a rumour his younger brother is being sexually abused by his dad after they demand he leaves.

Tom Green finds that if he doesn’t reference his 2001 film during his stand-up comedy, he’s inevitably heckled with quotes. All references that bewilder Generation Z, who have no idea who Tom Green is, although they may have heard about Freddy Got Fingered’s reputation. And some people still obsess over the ‘Bad Movie Holy Grail’ that Tom Green wrote, directed, and starred in at the turn of the millennium. A culture detached from the early-2000s naturally ask ‘how did this get made?’, but for those who enjoy Adult Swim’s Eric Andre and Tim and Eric today, Tom Green was the grandfather to every 21st-century ‘alt comedy’ star.

The Tom Green Show (1994–96) began on public access television as a variety series with music, sketches, and a live audience. In 1996 he sold a pilot to The Comedy Network and, after two years there, his show moved to MTV in…