‘What Is Art?’ Review – Over-The-Top, Gross Out, Tasteless And Funny

What is art? A question that has been pondered and discussed for literally all of mankind’s existence. It’s a tough question to be sure, and one that is at the very heart of this comedy directed and written by Kid Cactus. For those unfamiliar, Kid Cactus is a comedy troupe that has been making YouTube content since 2016. When asked about their origins, Arlo of Kid Cactus had this to say:

“Kid Cactus were officially founded in 2016, but prior to that three of us have been working together since high school. We raised the money for What Is Art on Kickstarter in 2017. At the time it started out as just a fundraiser for more YouTube videos, but it ended up morphing into the project it became.”

What is Art? is a sketch comedy anthology that probes the very nature of the titular question. It does this in a variety of ways, including: a fake reality dating show, a noir-style detective looking to make friends outside of his imaginary ones, Internet pranksters and more. Maybe an LSD inspired infomercial is more your speed?  You get all of this and more in this balls-to-the-wall outing. What is Art?  is a rather ambitious project, and watching it, you get a sense that no ideas were too weird, and there is a kind of freedom in that. It also consistently engages the audience, as you never know what insanity lies right around the corner. Clearly, this was a labor of love, which is evident from excellent animation by Vladimir Gubin, Daniele Dimitrov and Hamidreza Hamzehpour.

Setting the tone is the first segment entitled The Mattchelor, a spoof on The Bachelor, in which a house full of Matt’s compete for the affection of Matt. This is a hilarious spin on the dating show format, a genre that is becoming more outrageous and spoof-like. While this was funny, it feels like more comedy and more craziness could have been mined from the premise. Still, the absurdity of a Matt-based dating show lands well.

Best Served Cold is a hard-boiled noir story, which deals with a Sam Spade type trying to plan a dinner party in order to make friends. Meanwhile, while things go sideways, he has his friends to count on. By friends, I mean the show Friends. Like the previous segment, this parody relies on the viewers being aware of the noir-tropes and the funny juxtaposition in this self-serious Sam Spade type having deep broody monologued narration about throwing a dinner party. What seems to be a common pattern, however, is this goes on just a tad bit too long.

Numbnutz is the next segment and involves a hidden prank-style show. It’s a not-thinly-veiled parody of Impractical Jokers. Again, this is a very funny premise, and the show it’s satirizing is spot on. The wry-dark sense of humor in this is also extremely well executed. For example, the dead-mom joke lands, sure, but it also ties into the narrative. This segment is probably the most graphic, and the shock value aspect is utilized the best here. If there is a complaint here, it would be that they could have leaned harder to lampoon the prank-genre.

The crown jewel of this entire movie, outside of Numbnutz, is the next segment From the Makers Of. Things go from weird to scary during the recording of an infomercial. This is reminiscent of the most bizarre Adult Swim fake infomercials, such as Casper Kelly’s Too Many Cooks. It takes a painfully mundane and all too familiar concept and warps it into high concept, legit unnerving places. All of the actors really nail that level of cheese that these hosts have yet twist it in delightfully wicked ways. Nightmare fuel and uncomfortable laughs abound. 

The Forgotten of Kuranaga Shizuka is fun in concept, yet it feels like a weaker entry. Again, the parody is spot on, and the shot compositions and costumes feel authentic to an old samurai film. Yet, while it’s funny in concept it just didn’t have enough substance in terms of clever jokes. But hey, it has nut punches, so that’s something. 

The final segment First Steps is sadly the weakest. While most of the segments at least start from a strong concept, this one frankly doesn’t. This feels like it sounded good on paper, but it’s not actually funny in execution. The smart satire sprinkled throughout the rest of the film is missing here. It’s baffling what this segment is trying to say. 

Paraphrasing slightly from the film, “Art is passion and love,” and though some of this film doesn’t quite connect, damned if it doesn’t have passion and love poured into it. Over-the-top, gross out, tasteless and funny, What is Art? should not be missed.

What Is Art? is currently available On Demand courtesy of Cranked Up Films. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXAtphj3ytk]