Although we think of Founding Fathers in terms of elder statesmen, many of them were, as Todd Andrlik in Slate 2013 pointed out, younger than 40 in 1776. Many of them, including several, were Founding Teenagers or Twentysomethings. This led to a story in which the Founding Fathers are brothers, where the rallying cry for big battle is George Washington playing Free Bird with an electric guitar and the plot centers on the miraculous redemptive powers that beer has. Even the movie opens with them all playing beer pong and talking to each other. Thomas Jefferson: Dartmouth is a place where you can actually use paddles. Ben Franklin says it all: Tom, nobody cares what you do at Dartmouth!AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter discovering Martha had been kidnapped by Washington, Washington rushes into a room and yells Alarum! Alarum! Alarum!This is the most charitable interpretation of America I can give: The Motion Picture. It's a movie about ragtag heroes led in part by George Washington (voiced surprisingly by Channing Tatum). They fight the British, who they call the fun cops. Although I like the use of anachronisms in historically themed entertainment, sometimes you do it to make a point about viewers' expectations or the transhistorical nature memory. But this is not the case. Washington (Will Forte) is best friends. He is later assassinated by Benedict Arnold (Andy Samberg), a Blue Man Group-style play that features a werewolf. Arnold kills Lincoln Booth-style and jumps up on the stage shouting, Sic sempermy dick! The gang of heroes then robs a ship. The ship is the Titanic. The Titanic. Sam Adams (Jason Mantzoukas), talks about the power and importance of positive thinking.AdvertisementYou can catch a glimpse of how this type of historical mashup can be both funny and instructive in small moments. Washington looks at the quilt that has been placed over Lincoln's coffin and says, "He made this quilt for Trishelle last May Day when she was ill with dengue fever." It was laid upon her, and she recovered. Now she will not heal. An absurd line so full of anachronisms and errors, and capturing something of the structure and feeling of that period, it turns the corner into cleverness. The post-coital exchange between Washington (Judy Greer) when she said, Gross, you were an infant? and he quickly replied, No! It was a humorous reference to how people felt about others without parents in that time period. After discovering Martha had been kidnapped by Washington, Washington ran into a room and yelled Alarum! Alarum! Alarum!AdvertisementAdvertisementThose moments of clarity, however, are rare and far between. The politics of this movie are supposed to be awake when it comes to issues of race and different (I think?). But they end up in a mess. Three of the six core conspirators against the British (Washington Adams, Paul Revere, and Killer Mike, as voiced by Bobby Moynihan), are white men. They are also depicted at the beginning of this movie as various shades of racist. The three other co-conspirators are not white: Thomas Edison (Olivia Munn), is a Chinese American woman, Blacksmith (Killer Mike), is a Blackman; Geronimo [Raoul Max Trujillo] is Native, although the others cannot remember which tribe. (For the record, Apache. This mishmash has a lot of oddities. Why not bend Edison's race and gender to choose a real-life Asian American woman or man? Instead of making fun of the character's occupation, why not choose Frederick Douglass? He is becoming more widely recognized. In the end, Black Smith turns out to be John Henry Smith. He wields an enormous hammer. It's strange to see this mythical character become a historical figure when everyone else in central Squad is historical. Samberg's Benedict Arnold, a queer-coded, closeted villain with a British accent, is an example of a British, mincing villain. They attempt to get Benedict to talk to them but they fail. The movie's humor is based on the lisping caricature.AdvertisementAdvertisementSubscribe to the Slate Culture newsletter and receive the best movies, TV, books, music, etc. directly to your inbox. Signing you up was not possible due to an error Please try again. To use this form, please enable jаvascript. Email address: I would like to receive updates on Slate special offers. You agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms by signing up. Thank you for signing up! You can cancel your subscription at any time.This kind of buying-off is common. Geronimo and Blacksmith spend time complaining about their white comrades in a stripclub. This is the definition of privilege. It is an inspiring scene. Adams asks Adams, "Why settle for 20 friends when you can have a million?"AdvertisementBecause of the movie's roughness, there was some backlash (Founders swear a lot, there are exposed breasts, and Abe Lincoln farts a lot when he dies). This is not America's problem: The Motion Pictures problems. These problems are very similar to America's problems: The Country. When the movie can enjoy ingenuity, scrappiness and camaraderie, it is at its best. You feel the Were coming closer! You feel like you are beating the Big Bad! You can only do that for so long. If you want to make people equal, then there must be consequences. Washington holds a Mission Accomplished rally at the end of the battle, just after it is over. But, the crowd shouts: What about your slaves! Washington then looks at the camera and says: Oh, God, we're gonna fuck that up, aren't we?
