Directed by Ari Sandel. (14A) 100 min. Opens Feb 8.
In this labour-of-love tour documentary, Vince Vaughn displays far more courage than the average movie star. It’s not because he goes on a bus trip across America to do 30 shows in 30 nights with four of his stand-up buddies. No, it’s because he lets audiences see how truly horrendous he looks with a hangover.
But once he’s had his first smoke of the day, he’s back to his usual garrulous self. Whether doing some impromptu live shtick with Jon Favreau and Dwight Yoakam or playing peacemaker during the crises and squabbles that break out backstage, he makes for an excellent host in Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show, a raucous highlight reel from the tour that took place in September of 2005. Though the crowds were certainly attracted by his celebrity, Vaughn’s eager to downplay his own star power in order to emphasize the real objectives of the project. The first is to showcase four very talented (if increasingly exhausted) comics: Ahmed Ahmed (see interview page 20), Bret Ernst, Sebastian Maniscalo and John Caparulo. The second is to encourage audiences to come out to see stand-ups again — that is, stand-ups other than Dane Cook — and understand the value of what these guys do.
The resulting film is a worthy addition to the slim canon of docs on the craft of comedy. In other words, file it next to The Aristocrats, the 2002 Jerry Seinfeld profile Comedian and the Comedians of Comedy documentary. Or if filing anything sounds like too much damn work to you, just be ready to laugh your ass off.