Around the time “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” was set to come out, it seemed like the whole country was caught up in Star Wars fever. It seems strange to say especially now if you didn’t grow up during the time, but it was like Star Wars brought people together in a way never before seen. Everyone wanted to show their love and excitement for the new prequel and a lot of comedians did so by releasing loving parodies of the original trilogy. One such filmmaker, Steve Oedekerk, did so with a short film entitled “Thumb Wars” (also known as “Thumb Wars: The Phantom Cuticle”). The short film aired on UPN a day before the release of the Star Wars prequel and I fell in love with it.
I discovered this little gem by accident one day while flipping through the tv channels when I was a teenager. This was a 20-30 minute special which spoofed the first Star Wars movie. This film was family friendly and features somewhat juvenile humor. The film literally features thumbs with faces scanned onto them as parody versions of the original Star Wars characters. The short film is dumb humor but it’s the type of humor I adore.
“Thumb Wars” paved the way for other spoofs featuring thumbs. It was also the predecessor to the comedic film “Kung Pow! Enter the Fist”. The work of Oedekerk tends to get panned by critics but it also tends to develop cult followings. Even these ‘thumb universe’ short films have a loyal following. Comedy is very subjective, so it remains one of the hardest subject matters to do a fair review of. I mean, there are times I have to be in the mood to watch a comedy even if it’s one I love.
I tend to gravitate towards abstract humor and comedy that appears dumb, but actually has more wit to it than it seems to on the surface. That is why Mel Brooks has always been one of my favorite comedy writers. He was a master at writing silly dialogue that actually had a lot of thought and references to literature and history put into it.
Now, “Thumb Wars” isn’t on the level of a “History of the World: Part I” but it is silly and irrelevant and you know what, I am okay with that because it made me laugh. “Thumb Wars” was made for a whole family to enjoy so the humor needed to be accessible to everyone.
I am going to give this short film a grade, which I was on the fence about at first. I figured maybe I couldn’t give the movie a ‘fair’ grade because it's impossible to grade a comedy fairly. Then I thought about it and realized that all films are subjectively good or bad. I have already put myself out there as a judge of cinema (aka cinema snob). Look, even though I know this film is beyond silly, it still makes me laugh. So maybe my grade will be unfair to some, but this short deserves a little more love so I am going to give it some.
Grade: B+
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