Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Tour de Pharmacy is very dumb. And when people say, “But good dumb?” the only response is, “No, great dumb.” It’s a silly sports premise paired with a particular type of jokes, the kind that make you involuntarily laugh, that make this under 40-minute spoof very much worth the watch.
The fact that the runtime is under an hour works to everyone’s advantage, as it forces them to pack in a lot of comedy and still leaves you wanting more. Similar to 2015’s fake tennis documentary expose, 7 Days in Hell, writer Murray Miller, director Jake Szymanski, and producer/star Andy Samberg have joined forces once again to give a chuckle to those both oblivious and obsessed with sports. In fact, can we get a guarantee that this team will come together and make one of these films every calendar year, please?
The hardest part of that just might be the schedule coordinating, because the list of celebrity cameos runs longer than a CVS receipt. Tour de Pharmacy chronicles a 1982 bike race that earned its name due to the crazy amount of drugs the participants were ingesting for the competition. The film focuses on 5 dudes: Samberg’s Marty Haas, Freddie Highmore as the deceptive Adrian Baton, John Cena flexing his comedy muscles once again (to success!) and donning a blonde wig as Gustav Ditters, Daveed Diggs in a role that makes a bit more sense for him than his recent cameo in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Orlando Bloom in the comedic role we never knew we always wanted to see him in. Some fun casting is employed when it comes to the older counterpart for each of these characters, who look back on all the shenanigans in interviews for the doc.
Oh, but the interview that matters most is that of a former cycler agreeing to participate only on the condition that his identity is disguised. The trailer gives a peek at this performance from Lance Armstrong, which is the strongest and most rewarding joke Tour de Pharmacy has to offer. The rest of the jokes are mostly of the dick and drug variety, with nods to race and sexuality that somehow manage to be smart yet winking throughout.
Nathan Fielder and Maya Rudolph are as comedically consistent as we can always count on them to be, and Mike Tyson, J.J. Abrams, Will Forte, and Kevin Bacon are just a few of the names that pop up for fun moments. James Marsden proves he’s an HBO company man, trading in his stern Westworld face for a goofy run here that only proves he’s pretty much good at everything.
If you show up to Tour de Pharmacy expecting anything more than a silly cycling comedy with several flashes of genitalia, you might be a wee bit disappointed. This one might not boost your IQ, but it will boost your mood, and is a ride very much worth taking.
