Postal (2007)

Director:

Uwe Boll

Writers:

Uwe Boll (writer)
Bryan C. Knight (writer)

Release Date:

23 May 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Some comedies go too far... others start there.

Plot:

In the ironically named city of Paradise, a recently laid-off loser (Ward) teams up with his cult-leading uncle (Foley) to steal a peculiar bounty of riches from their local amusement park; somehow, the recently arrived Taliban have a similar focus, but a far more sinister intent.

Plot Keywords:

Going Postal | Defecation Scene | Negative Asian Stereotype | Female Full Frontal Nudity | Arabic Stereotype

Cast

Zack Ward	...	Postal Dude
Dave Foley	...	Uncle Dave
Chris Coppola	...	Richard
Jackie Tohn	...	Faith
J.K. Simmons	...	Candidate Wells
Ralf Moeller	...	Officer John
Verne Troyer	...	Himself / Voice of Krotchy
Chris Spencer	...	Officer Greg
Larry Thomas	...	Osama bin Laden
Michael Paré	...	Panhandler
Erick Avari	...	Habib
Lindsay Hollister	...	Recorder
Brent Mendenhall	...	George W. Bush
Rick Hoffman	...	Blither
Michael Benyaer	...	Mohammed

Also Known As:

Postal: Der Film (Germany)
Postal: The Movie (USA) (alternative transliteration)

MPAA:

Rated R for extremely crude humor throughout, including strong sexuality, graphic nudity, violence, and for pervasive language and some drug use.

Runtime:

109 min | 130 min (approx.) (Director's Cut) | USA:116 min

Country:

USA | Canada | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Canada:18A | USA:R | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Cloverdale, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Running With Scissors

Trivia:

The cat animatronic used for the cat-silencer cost $45.000 to be made, but was just shown for two seconds in the entire movie.

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Osama Bin Ladin: I'm Osama bin Laden and I'm an alcoholic.
George W. Bush: I'm George W. Bush and I'm also an alcoholic.
Osama Bin Ladin: Come see my story.

Movie Connections:

References Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Soundtrack:

Peace, love and harmony

Uwe Boll returns to his roots

If we forget for a minute that this film was directed by Uwe Boll, the discussion of this film would be very different. It's hard not to remember other video games he's responsible for bringing to the screen ("Alone in the Dark," "Bloodrayne") that really really sucked.

Boll has said he looked inward to write about his own frustration with the world for this. And it's very different. It doesn't compare to his other films at all - is closer to "Kentucky Fried Movie" than to "Alien Vs. Predator." It's a comedy, presumably his first intentional one since his debut film 15 years ago, and it goes to a place he hasn't shown us before.

It's based on the spirit of the game "Postal" already politically incorrect, cartoony, out of control, and not really serious (not even as "Vice City"). In a post 9/11 world, how do you make a film about an urban terrorist who's just "p--ssed off" without addressing terrorism, racism, and everything else that are hot buttons in the world...that create the madness that might make someone go...well, you know.

Boll has channeled the politically incorrect attitude and turned it on its ear. He doesn't mind making everyone look the fool, do things they shouldn't for the wrong reasons, kill the wrong people, overreact, act out clichés, etc. Everything and everyone is fair game in this film, and we must remember that - it's a FILM. It's fake, folks. Everyone in it takes themselves too seriously and thinks killing someone solves their problems. They're crazy, wrong, and in this film, they're laughable. Having fun yet? This is really a kitchen-sink movie. Every possible joke, high and low, sexual or sociological, is jammed in, with varying degrees of success. A lot of it's quite funny, some is stupid and offensive (but weirdly, in a good-natured way. It's not mean-spirited at all.) Ultimately it's a lot of fun. I agree that's it's too long towards the end, if only because Boll didn't have the resources to make the final shootout as epic as it should have been, and it begins to feel cramped.

The portrayal of Osama bin Laden (by "soup Nazi" Larry Thomas) is inspired. Zack Ward and Dave Foley are both great and very comfortable in their roles. Uwe himself has a great no-punches-pulled cameo along with the original maker of the game "Postal" at one point.

I wonder if this will ever translate to a wide release or if it will remain something we see on DVD (unrated, we can only hope) and laugh over. It is up to us to support any film that gets to the uncomfortable part of our world.

And amazingly, Uwe Boll wrote and directed it. Good job. Not the best film in the world, but one to remember. I don't think Paul W.S. Anderson or Eli Roth (to pick other famous "hacks") could possibly have pulled something this off. Boll is off the worst-director-ever list after this.

Let's hope after "Bloodrayne 2" he does something else more personal.