Publications
Partners
What it's about:
Boetie (played by Leon Schuster) has a nasty run-in with cop Beast (Kennether Nkosi) while on the hunt for rhino poachers. Some years later they clash once again, this time at the wedding of the daughter of the Minister of Tourism (Alfred Ntombela). Their violent display gives calculating TV producer Kelsey (Tanit Phoenix) the idea to cast Boetie and Beast in a reality show which forces them to get along as they trek on foot from KZN to Gauteng – only neither of them know they're on TV.
What we thought:
I am well aware that attempting any type of critical assessment of a Leon Schuster is a minefield. And I realise that what is to follow below is just, like, my opinion, man. Schuster movies themselves don't particularly aspire to any of the stuff critics usually look out for in other movies.
But then, a Schuster production is not ever just another movie. It comes on the back of a massively lucrative and lengthy career for the South African funnyman who has subjected himself to all kinds of humiliations and won legions of fans in the process. There is a Schuster formula, and he'll be damned if he's going to mess with it.
Mad Buddies follows two years on from the box-office smash hit Shucks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa, which cashed in on the 2010 Soccer World Cup frenzy, and featured some scripted bits interspersed with ludicrous candid camera set ups, Schuster's real claim to fame throughout the 80s and 90s.
Mad Buddies is a fully scripted vehicle that attempts to capture the best of both worlds by setting up a scenario in which the white, Afrikaans Boetie and the black, angry Beast are thrown together in a Truman Show-style reality series they are clueless about, even as the whole country is drawn into their on-the-road battles.
What happens on the road has no chance of staying on the road as Boetie and Beast repeatedly come to blows over food, money, shelter and everything else under the sun. As their journey is flighted live on TV screens in the bars and bedrooms of South Africa, a kind of frenzy takes over the nation as ordinary people of every kind become invested in their public hostilities.
At the same time, Minister of Tourism Mr Mda (played by long-time Schuster sidekick Ntombela), who has orchestrated the entire farce as a means to win favour with the president (yes, there is a skinny-looking Zuma stand-in), is continually outraged by the lack of reconciliation unfolding on live TV and finds himself walking into doors and falling into pools of water at every turn. You almost start to feel sorry for him as the body blows come thick and fast.
In fact, Mad Buddies works on the presumption that there is no scene that cannot be enhanced by a poop joke, a penis inference, an awkward pratfall, a dig at homosexuals and large people, and the word "poephol" peppering the colourful and uniquely South African dialogue. It's just 90 minutes of Schuster and director Gray Hofmeyr shooting at easy targets.
If you've ever watched a Schuster film, you will be well versed on what to expect. But there's just no getting around how especially random the action of Mad Buddies is. Many of the skits fall flat due to lack of sufficient set-up. We should be caring about Boetie and Beast's fate because they lost toes, jobs and a promising Springbok career as a result of each other's ignorance, not because they can't find a toilet.
It goes without saying as well that the humour of Mad Buddies is of the most foolish and repulsive kind. Perhaps we've seen too many Schuster films over the decades, or Adam Sandler/Judd Apatow/fratboy American comedies, but there are only so many times a bowel movement or a rake in the face is going to raise breathless guffaws. South Africa might be one of the last outposts where this is going to ensure another multi-million rand haul for Schuster and his cohorts.
Mad Buddies does have its heart in the right place and offers a promising, if trite, story about two diverse, ordinary guys finding common ground in a world where what makes them different is what identifies them. Schuster and Nkosi give it all they've got and prove why they are two of South Africa's most likeable actors. They have a rapport that truly does speak to the nation, only it's been packaged so haphazardly all focus is lost in a whirl of nonsense bickering and, yes, more poop jokes.
And then there is a hopelessly distracting cameo from Mr Cell C himself, Trevor Noah, who for some reason finds himself in a small dorpie tavern, a human billboard there to halt the film every few minutes to plug his company. It's a few short scenes that would have served better on the cutting room floor. Wouldn't it have been more fun to bring back Rob van Vuuren, who was such a delightful presence in Shucks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa?
Tanit Phoenix at least brings some eye candy to the sorry state of the rest of the film, with a bit of a thankless role as the sexy producer who uses herself as an incentive for Boetie and Beast to make it to the finish line as friends.
For the audience it's an experience that feels almost as long and painful as it is for our gruesome twosome. Of course, none of that will matter to Schuster's legions of fans who know what to expect and will happily throw their money at his latest release, no matter how sloppy it is. The Schuster formula works because of its willing audience. But when will they start to expect more? Perhaps Schuster is better off hiding cameras away in discreet locations and seeing what unfolds?
Though I can identify the ONE scene in Mad Buddies that made me laugh: An aggravated Schuster yelling "You kakked in the car!" after Nkosi did just that. What can I say, it's all in the delivery.
Boetie (played by Leon Schuster) has a nasty run-in with cop Beast (Kennether Nkosi) while on the hunt for rhino poachers. Some years later they clash once again, this time at the wedding of the daughter of the Minister of Tourism (Alfred Ntombela). Their violent display gives calculating TV producer Kelsey (Tanit Phoenix) the idea to cast Boetie and Beast in a reality show which forces them to get along as they trek on foot from KZN to Gauteng – only neither of them know they're on TV.
What we thought:
I am well aware that attempting any type of critical assessment of a Leon Schuster is a minefield. And I realise that what is to follow below is just, like, my opinion, man. Schuster movies themselves don't particularly aspire to any of the stuff critics usually look out for in other movies.
But then, a Schuster production is not ever just another movie. It comes on the back of a massively lucrative and lengthy career for the South African funnyman who has subjected himself to all kinds of humiliations and won legions of fans in the process. There is a Schuster formula, and he'll be damned if he's going to mess with it.
Mad Buddies follows two years on from the box-office smash hit Shucks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa, which cashed in on the 2010 Soccer World Cup frenzy, and featured some scripted bits interspersed with ludicrous candid camera set ups, Schuster's real claim to fame throughout the 80s and 90s.
Mad Buddies is a fully scripted vehicle that attempts to capture the best of both worlds by setting up a scenario in which the white, Afrikaans Boetie and the black, angry Beast are thrown together in a Truman Show-style reality series they are clueless about, even as the whole country is drawn into their on-the-road battles.
What happens on the road has no chance of staying on the road as Boetie and Beast repeatedly come to blows over food, money, shelter and everything else under the sun. As their journey is flighted live on TV screens in the bars and bedrooms of South Africa, a kind of frenzy takes over the nation as ordinary people of every kind become invested in their public hostilities.
At the same time, Minister of Tourism Mr Mda (played by long-time Schuster sidekick Ntombela), who has orchestrated the entire farce as a means to win favour with the president (yes, there is a skinny-looking Zuma stand-in), is continually outraged by the lack of reconciliation unfolding on live TV and finds himself walking into doors and falling into pools of water at every turn. You almost start to feel sorry for him as the body blows come thick and fast.
In fact, Mad Buddies works on the presumption that there is no scene that cannot be enhanced by a poop joke, a penis inference, an awkward pratfall, a dig at homosexuals and large people, and the word "poephol" peppering the colourful and uniquely South African dialogue. It's just 90 minutes of Schuster and director Gray Hofmeyr shooting at easy targets.
If you've ever watched a Schuster film, you will be well versed on what to expect. But there's just no getting around how especially random the action of Mad Buddies is. Many of the skits fall flat due to lack of sufficient set-up. We should be caring about Boetie and Beast's fate because they lost toes, jobs and a promising Springbok career as a result of each other's ignorance, not because they can't find a toilet.
It goes without saying as well that the humour of Mad Buddies is of the most foolish and repulsive kind. Perhaps we've seen too many Schuster films over the decades, or Adam Sandler/Judd Apatow/fratboy American comedies, but there are only so many times a bowel movement or a rake in the face is going to raise breathless guffaws. South Africa might be one of the last outposts where this is going to ensure another multi-million rand haul for Schuster and his cohorts.
Mad Buddies does have its heart in the right place and offers a promising, if trite, story about two diverse, ordinary guys finding common ground in a world where what makes them different is what identifies them. Schuster and Nkosi give it all they've got and prove why they are two of South Africa's most likeable actors. They have a rapport that truly does speak to the nation, only it's been packaged so haphazardly all focus is lost in a whirl of nonsense bickering and, yes, more poop jokes.
And then there is a hopelessly distracting cameo from Mr Cell C himself, Trevor Noah, who for some reason finds himself in a small dorpie tavern, a human billboard there to halt the film every few minutes to plug his company. It's a few short scenes that would have served better on the cutting room floor. Wouldn't it have been more fun to bring back Rob van Vuuren, who was such a delightful presence in Shucks Tshabalala's Survival Guide to South Africa?
Tanit Phoenix at least brings some eye candy to the sorry state of the rest of the film, with a bit of a thankless role as the sexy producer who uses herself as an incentive for Boetie and Beast to make it to the finish line as friends.
For the audience it's an experience that feels almost as long and painful as it is for our gruesome twosome. Of course, none of that will matter to Schuster's legions of fans who know what to expect and will happily throw their money at his latest release, no matter how sloppy it is. The Schuster formula works because of its willing audience. But when will they start to expect more? Perhaps Schuster is better off hiding cameras away in discreet locations and seeing what unfolds?
Though I can identify the ONE scene in Mad Buddies that made me laugh: An aggravated Schuster yelling "You kakked in the car!" after Nkosi did just that. What can I say, it's all in the delivery.
