Loqueesha

Every once in a while a trailer for something so ludicrously bad comes by to cause controversy in gaining the public's attention. 2019 hasn't been such a huge stellar year for movies up until this point with some anticipated feature being disappointments and other studio projects feeling very standard/phoned in. When pondering back on the weaker films I've taken on this year thus far, I felt that I needed to be fair to those like Dark Phoenix as there must have been others that probably tried less and accomplished less. This brings us to Loqueesha, an indie comedy written, produced, directed by the lead actor Jeremy Saville. The premise shown in the marketing caused big controversy for its shock humor and Saville attempted to have it screened at a few film festivals but it was pulled from them. As a result, it was moved over to Amazon Prime Video where those members can watch it for free. I have seen a few terrible movies that invoke bad stereotypes and racist jokes so with it only having a short runtime, I felt I could handle it alright. After watching it, however, it was not only the most excruciating viewing experience I've been through but one of the worst things I've ever seen.

Note: Normally I don't spoil anything about a movie if I feel that it deserves to be experienced. However, this is a case where it's so horrible that I need to reveal the plot details to steer anyone even further away from watching this abomination.

What's it about? The story follows a down on his luck white bartender who decides to impersonate a black woman to get a radio host job after being rejected (yes seriously). There are opportunities that can be taken with exploring such a story to make such a risky subject thought provoking (filmmakers like Ari Aster come to mind). However, that would need to take actual effort and careful thinking to make it work. It's a narcissistic offensive narrative that's too busy praising its main protagonist as god's blessing with his advice that it doesn't consider any potential that could have been touched.

How bad is it (plot spoilers)? When he initially fails to get the position since they were looking for a  female in a minority group, he goes into his scheme of getting the radio host job by doing a racist impersonation. From there the rules of humanity are thrown out the window by giving him a black friend who's somehow okay with this and helps him as a production assistant. While this script gives the old "I'm doing this to get money to support son getting into a better school" motif, they are barely featured at all and is focused on his shenanigans that he gets away with in the end. It gets even worse when he hires a black woman to act as the public figure for appearances and characterizes her with the terrible racial stereotypes just to make him look better in the end (by then, she even says "You're a better black woman than me").

The screenplay gives him a bland romantic interest of the same racial background he's mimicking and this suffers from not only from the lack of chemistry but also his antics getting in the way of the bond but somehow he wins her heart in the end. It tries to pad out the runtime by having our protagonist quit the show, but the woman he hired takes over and does a bad job giving  for the ratings. By then though after she attempts to blackmail him, he goes to the company bosses and confesses what he's done. He issues an ultimatum to have the listeners vote to either have him quit or do segments as himself or as the persona: those results let him have his way as both himself and the persona. While all of this is done in a little over 90 minutes, the cringe factor made this the most difficult watching I've ever suffered through.

How's the acting? The performances are some of the most phoned in bad types that would occur with the lackluster directing. They would have worked enough for a project that would be so bad it’s good but it can’t even accomplish that. Almost everyone is suffering from what they have been given to work just to make Jeremy Saville look better by comparison. Considering how much of this is in Saville's control, it's even more of a manufactured narcissistic performance than the pain endured last year from Melissa McCarthy's Life of the Party. The way he gives a portrayal that feels smug and cringe-inducing from his deliveries as his persona "Loqueesha" and his regular self is baffling to view. The biggest offense of this is where he's "battling" that part of himself as it pops up while he's getting physically comfortable with his romantic interest and when he's pulled over by a police officer immediately afterwards in 2 back to back scenes.

Overall Consensus: Loqueesha is a disaster of a comedy with a story that barely tries to rise above its premise with dismal acting, a dreadful script, offensive shock humor that's misused, and a smug attitude that's cringeworthy. 1/2 (yes half a star out of 5) Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes R

Reasons to watch it: Not applicable.

Reasons to avoid it: You don't want to find one of the most despicable poorly made features of the decade. If anything I just mentioned in the story above offends you.