Starring: Tony D. Czech, Douglas Sidney, and KariAnn Christense
Directed By: Elliot Diviney
Rated: R
Running Time: 94 minutes
Music Video Distributors
Our Score: 2 out of 5 stars
Imagine a Troma movie without any of the fun gratuitous nudity and violence. That’s “American Rescue Squad” in a nutshell. The creators behind this low budget flick have the know-how to realize what kind of movie they’re making. I just hate to think that a movie missing two components, as simple as naked people and gore, is what brings down this movie, but it does.
“American Rescue Squad” is a politically incorrect “Avengers”. Two superheroes, by the names of Personal Responsibility and Common Sense, have been away from the scene, but come out of retirement after a group of villains kidnap the Taxpayer. These villains are made up of the Freeloader, the Bible Thumper, and they’re all led by Congressman Dick Pansy. And just like any knowledgeable comedy movie that touches upon politics, it’s an equal opportunity offender.
There’s nothing too outlandishly offensive that should cause you to turn off the movie. There are jokes for both blue and red states, but luckily it never really grandstands and preaches a solid message. You can take what you want, but in an unbiased comedy like this, you would be wasting your time trying to read between the lines because there is nothing. None of the jokes are particularly clever, but silly for the sake of being silly. If you don’t have a rod up your butt, you should be able to chuckle every once and a while.
While it’s not about to join the ranks of “Airplane!” or “The Toxic Avenger”, it’s decent for what it is. It reminds me a bit of “Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead” because of how it adds nonsensical musical numbers for our stereotypes to sing. And as you could surmise, the songs are equally crude and vulgar. “American Rescue Squad” has a charm that only comes from shoestring budget movies with passable acting.
But I just can’t quite enjoy it because as I stated earlier, no blood or naked people. I know when it comes to excessive nudity and violence, I’m generally condemning other movies for doing that, but when it comes to Troma, that’s what makes them so enjoyable. It’s supposed to be silly and over-the-top, but “American Rescue Squad” doesn’t have that and when you don’t have squirting red syrup and bare breasted women or male genitalia to keep your dirty mind occupied, you start to really think about the flaws of a movie that’s created in the same vein. I don’t know if what’s more terrifying. That that’s how my own moral compass is guided in some pop culture or that that’s my big slam against a movie that could have been better.