You're Welcome Will Ferrell

    Recently released on DVD is Will Ferrell's Broadway show, You're Welcome America A Final Night With George W. Bush.  With a runtime of just under an hour and a half, the HBO-produced movie gets a little boring after awhile.  Note: If you get the movie from Netflix, the runtime is listed as two hours.  This is (thankfully) wrong.  The entire show was amusing, but not once did it elicit an out loud laugh.  Not a single one.

     Will Ferrell played George W. Bush on Saturday Night Live and various online sites.  He did so successfully, and often with hilarious results.  The problem here is that the character is stretched far too long.  However, one would think that there would be some gems, but none emerge.  It is more or less a historical walk through of Bush's life, concentrating on the presidency, laced with inane tangents, some true, some less so.  There are actual quotes thrown in.  Sometimes a TRUE flashes on the screen behind him, unneccessarily.  The graphics behind the actor play like a power point presentation, mostly factual and supporting, not a joke.  The one notable exception is the picture of someone's penis, shown three times.  Don't know who's, and don't care to.  The show tries to break things up by having a Secret Service agent (played by Ferrell's brother) dance while Will changes costumes, but even that falls a little flat.

     If you liked the character on SNL, prepare to be disappointed.  Perhaps live, with the robust theater energy, and the novelty of a clever, witty idea, this played well.  Watched at home on the DVD player, it doesn't.  It wasn't terrible.  I sat through the entire thing.  There was just nothing about it that stands out, nor any examples I can point to to recommend the movie.

     As 'Bush' says at the end, "I know you're not going to thank me...", I assume Will Ferrell means as well.  The "You're welcome" is said to himself, certainly not from the viewer.