Bigfoot Famous (2021) Film Review | Movie-Blogger.com

Bigfoot Famous isn’t a hard film to identify in its first ten minutes. It’s pure slapstick comedy that constantly ends with a joke with a punchline, a quirky character saying something funny or stereotypes making their first appearance. It’s a film whose script depends solely on the viewer’s intention of staying within the comedy style it proposes. In my case, I wasn’t very into it.

And then a change.

The film’s direction heads towards something that’s more serious in nature than what it actually digs into. The trend of virtual dependence we’re very adamant to criticize, and then we actually keep celebrating. The validation of our own stupidity. The acknowledgement of an individual’s importance due to followers. This is where Bigfoot Famous isn’t a bad film. Sadly, it’s a virtue that’s overshadowed by a comedy element that’s far too heavy to ignore.

In Bigfoot Famous, influencers would do anything to get their views up. One of them is Coley, a girl who was once viewed by millions and now she barely gets to hundreds. Alongside her is Jericho, her boyfriend who’s actually just a sidekick she will embarrass any time she needs to. 

Coley finds in Bigfoot her next big opportunity to shine. She decides they need to get to the forest to find Bigfoot and make the monster part of her endeavor. She heads to the woods and she takes a couple of experts with them. Things don’t go well, as the adventures of Coley get shaken by death, improvisation and… love?

A few too many punchlines may be excessive for the viewer that’s into more conventional scripting and a grounded comedy style. This is one big sketch stretched towards a fairly long running time. Bigfoot Famous works at all times in its spectrum of idiotic characters following a direction that’s remarkably enforced by the directors. In some cases, they don’t even leave the room. They’re just doing their thing over and over. 

Is this bad? Not really. The film isn’t afraid to admit its focus on momentary enjoyment and nothing else. The plot following the hunt for Bigfoot (or Sasquatch as one of them insists on calling the legend), isn’t very relevant. What’s more important is Coley finding herself during a tragedy that’s unexpected and yet doesn’t cause her to stop. When the film heads over to a romantic story line, it gets a bit boring. 

However, the constant winks at social media are there to distract us and make us look in the right direction. It isn’t a secret that the film aims to make a critique about a reality that’s far too common to look away from. Mixed together with the plot are several videos of influencers trying to make something of Coley and Jericho’s adventures and each of them represents a member of that world. It’s funny SNL style, but there’s a fine line of truth in that characteristic that I just couldn’t stop from bringing to the table. There are people like this, and we “like” them every day and they get famous over it. Unbelievable.

All of this takes us to Bigfoot Famous and its tonally different third act. A very violent one. When Bigfoot Famous gets all too serious it’s actually too late. It’s ultimately too funny and derisive. But it is exactly how a story like that should have ended. Among pools of blood and a dreamlike state that in the last moments of your life makes you do the least important thing of your life: Grabbing your phone to see how your online presence has grown.

Founder of Screentology. Member of the OFCS. RT Certified Critic

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