‘Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure Of Foggy Mountain’ Review – Hilarious Viral Trio Bring Their Brand Of Absurdity To The Big Screen

For the past three seasons, the three sad virgins behind Please Don’t Destroy (PDD) – John Higgins, Ben Marshall, and Martin Herlihy – have been delighting late night audiences with their hilariously absurd, sharply edited digital shorts as part of Saturday Night Live. Even those who have long since rejected modern seasons of the late night comedy institution laud the trio’s clever sketches, each one an extension of the videos that made them go viral on TikTok during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Now, following in a long tradition of popular SNL characters and comedians, the boys are headed to the big screen (or, in this case, Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service) by way of producer Judd Apatow.

Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain is another successful extension of PDD’s brand of silly comedy, this time expanded into feature length. Unlike many other attempts at bringing SNL sketches to the film world, Foggy Mountain feels like it came straight from the same creative voices in every capacity. Anybody looking for a heightened cinematic experience may be disappointed; this film is clearly meant to be a comedic showcase for the team and their imagination but little else. However, for fans of the trio’s sketch work, and even those just looking for a consistently entertaining comedy, they will be thoroughly pleased with Foggy Mountain. At a blissful hour and a half runtime, this short but sweet romp will satisfy those looking for fun, though it certainly leaves room for growth in future entries.

The story is intentionally thin (and narrated by a self-aware John Goodman, just for good measure): John, Ben, and Martin, each playing a slightly more inept version of themselves, are best friends living in a quaint suburban town. While Ben strives to take over his father’s (Conan O’Brien in top form) fishing goods store and Martin prepares for an adult baptism with support from his girlfriend, Amy (Nichole Sakura), John feels stagnant and afraid his only two friends will move on without him. One night, after discovering that an old compass may be the key to discovering a long-lost treasure on local landmark Foggy Mountain, John convinces Ben and Martin to go looking for it in hopes it will bring them riches. Along the way, they encounter two conniving park rangers (Megan Stalter and X Mayo), a cheeky hawk, and even an off-the-grid forest cult (led by Bowen Yang’s character), all of whom bring about wacky hijinks.

Foggy Mountain looks surprisingly solid for a made-for-streaming movie, filled with many scenes shot on location in North Carolina and the surrounding area. During the few moments in which the film extends its budget, mostly in moments of CGI involving the aforementioned bird of prey and other strong visual effects choices, you can tell the filmmakers wanted the film to feel somewhat larger-than-life compared to the team’s work on SNL. In some ways, they achieve this. However, the film is at its strongest when it most directly mooches off of the team’s bread-and-butter shooting style: basic camera coverage with the slightest jiggling of handheld and editing that cuts on and around the performances with incredible precision. Each time the film stops to give us an extended moment of tangential riffing straight out of a clip from the PDD YouTube channel, it’s comedy gold. Highlights range from an impromptu musical number when they encounter the treasure to an extended gag involving a taser.

Higgins, Marshall, and Herlihy are each fantastic here, fully embodying their heightened personas on SNL while committing to the gang’s chaotic chemistry. Higgins is especially wonderful, if only because his scenes with Megan Stalter’s Lisa, a Foggy Mountain park ranger and a fellow quiet nerd, are some of the funniest of the film. The two immediately hit it off with hilariously self-aware romantic tropes, yet the two’s genuine chemistry makes the subplot incredibly charming. Other stand-outs in the supporting cast include Conan O’Brien as Ben’s aggressive, overly masculine father, Nichole Sakura’s earnestly sweet Amy, and SNL fan-favorite Bowen Yang as the cult’s sassy leader, hot off of his hilarious turn in Dicks: The Musical earlier this year. You can tell everyone who worked on this film is having great fun doing it.

Of course, going off of the basic tenets of cinema, Foggy Mountain has little else to offer. Its themes of friendship and maturing, while resonant, don’t hit harder than any other film in the genre. The story and mystery behind the film’s treasure, a golden bust of Marie Antoinette, is mostly played for laughs – granted it is some of the biggest laughs in the film. The film’s cinematography and production design, though solid for a film of this budget, do not evoke much beyond the frames beyond some ‘80s adventure nostalgia. If, for whatever reason, you are not a fan of PDD and their approach, the film will have little for you to grab onto. However, it’s hard to imagine audiences won’t immediately be busting a gut at the team’s impeccable comedic timing. Amidst all the wingsuit flying and throat punching is, simply, a hilarious film, one that leaves the door open for a potentially fun series of adventures down the line.

Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain is now streaming exclusively on Peacock.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vO4AKM_KGg]