A critical and box office flop (it grossed less than $5 million during its theatrical release) LET'S GO TO PRISON, based on the book "You Are Going to Prison" by Jim Hogshire, is one of three strong comedies from 2006 that were completely dumped by their distributors (the two being Fox releases, the Adam Sandler produced GRANDMA'S BOY, and Mike Judge's IDIOCRACY, also starring Dax Shepard). Put out during the competitive Thanksgiving season in just over 1,000 theaters with virtually no advertising, there was no chance of the film surviving longer than two weeks in theaters. Not that's it's the most marketable picture. It's not light enough to be a straight forward comedy, though it's not that dark. Darker than most comedies, but compared to Very Bad Things, it's nothing. Although the tone is never quite perfect, the film is nonetheless hilarious throughout most of its insanely brief running time. Dax Shepard, Will Arnett, Chi McBride, Bob Odenkirk, and David Koechner are all very funny in their roles and appear to be having a good time with their parts. Odenkirk, obviously working with a low-budget and limited resources, directs admirably even when it is obvious even wasn't given complete creative freedom. The ending definitely seems like something that was changed. It seemed much of the movie was changed, probably due to studio tampering so it's not nearly as good as it could have been, but it's still worth renting on video. Fans of "Mr. Show" and "Arrested Development" should especially enjoy it. 8/10
Review of Let's Go to Prison
