Questionably Content

Operation: Endgame (2010)


Directed by: Fouad Mikati

Starring: Joe Anderson, Rob Corddry, Ellen Barkin, Odette Yustman
Other Actors of Note: Brandon T. Jackson, Ving Rhaimes, Emille de Ravin, Zach Galifianakis, Beth Grant, Bob Odenkirk, Jeffrey Tambor

Plot: A battle ensues among groups of government spy teams in an underground facility after their boss is assassinated. Taken from www.imdb.com

I love it when a comedy pushes itself to be something more. Sure you can drop as many f bombs and be as gross-out and sexual as you like, but when a comedy is truly at its greatest is when it steps across a line into something else, something darker.

"Tropic Thunder" did this, "Punch Drunk Love" did this, and "Employee of the Month" (the one with Matt Dillon, not the one with Dane Cook) did this (though it overstepped its bounds and finished off with a shitty ending that ruined the entire movie.)

So naturally when I hear about a black comedy that's like a cross between "Battle Royale" and "Mean Guns" (Remember "Mean Guns?" Of course you don't you silly bastard, it was terrible!) that promised to be all manner of violent and gory, I immediately signed up.

The set-up is simple: Our hero Fool (Played by "The Crazies'" Joe Anderson) has just landed a job aboard Omega Team in a secret underground facility in Washington, DC. The group he's joined deal with assassinations, cover-ups, and all manner of sneaky underground spy shit.

After meeting with his contact High Priestess (Maggie Q) and new boss Chariot (Rob Corddry) -they're all codenamed after tarot cards- he's brought down into the underground facility where he meets with his old flame Temperance (Odette Yustman). Soon, team leader Devil (Jeffrey Tambor) is killed, but not before setting off a program called Endgame that will delete all files in the space of one hour before filling the entire underground complex with napalm.

Now the spies are caught downstairs, with Team Alpha ordered to kill Team Omega, and the mysterious Hermit (Zach Galifianakis) knowing the only way out.


There are a lot of interesting characters in this movie, but Joe Anderson's protagonist "Fool" is not one of them. Fool is about as dry and uninteresting as protagonists seem to come. This movie seems to be the inverse of Anderson's role in "The Crazies" where his screen presence stole just about every scene he was in. As a hero, Fool isn't much and as such I didn't really care that much whether he lived or died.

Odette Yustman's Temperance is another weak point of the film. She's some sort of femme fatale that goes around and sleeps with world leaders and dictators to leak information from them. She's also not the least bit likeable and I couldn't give less of a fuck about her former relationship with Fool.

Rob Corddry saves this move, and I say this with absolute sincerity. I'm not a big fan of Rob Corddry. He was pretty good on the Daily Show but everything since then has been utter shit. In fact there is no reason why this character should have worked, because Chariot seems like a carbon copy of Corddry's character from "Harold and Kumar Go to Guantanimo Bay" at first glance, but he is. Chariot is a foul-mouthed drunken asshole that seems to either brood or yell the entire movie, he always seems to be mad, and doesn't have the least bit of respect for anyone. But Chariot is charmingly hilarious, walking around sipping whiskey out of a bottle shaped like a Baretta, and when the action starts he kicks a whole lot of ass. However, what really makes Corddry the best part of this movie is that he really acts. There's a lot of Chariot under the surface about how he's not happy with the life he lives and cares a great deal about the agents he has control over. I never in my life dreamed that Rob Corddry could have given a performance like this and I dare say that I hope to see more of him in the future.

Ellen Barkin plays some horrible cougar named Empress that leads Alpha Team. She's pretty much the bitchiest bitch you ever did meet and the disturbing amount of collagen in her lips services to make the svelte body in the red dress she possesses that much more confusing to my libido. She's effectively the "bad guy" of the movie though she doesn't really seem to be worse than any of the rest of alpha team.

Brandon T. Jackson (Alpa Chino from "Tropic Thunder") and Emille de Ravin (Claire from "Lost) play a hyper conservative black man and a psychotic Jesus freak; respectively "Tower" and "Heirophant" of Team Alpha. Both are batshit crazy and a little bit creepy and give decent performances that are at least slightly more memorable than the rest.

Ving Rhaimes is given a one-joke character named Judgement. Judgement's entire purpose in the movie is to make bad puns using the words "Judgement" or "Judge." He's in the movie until he stops being funny (see: immediately) and then dies. Hooray.

Zach Galifianakis plays Hermit. Easily the weirdest character in this or any other movie I've ever seen. Hermit used to do assassinations until he got diabetes, now he wanders around the complex in a hazmat suit and gas mask for reasons never really explained. This character does rely a bit on Galifianakis' brand name weirdness, but that doesn't take away from the character and he was doing these roles since long before he got famous.

Oh, Bob Odenkirk is in this. His comedic abilities are absolutely wasted on his character but he does a very good job.


Technically, this movie looks great and the special effects all look top shelf despite this being a semi-indie movie. The characters (except Fool and Temperance) are all interesting and well fleshed out.

The plot remains solid, keeping things funny throughout without taking away from the more serious aspects of them film. For this alone, the director should be honored. It's no easy task keeping a balance like that.

The movie is inter-cut with scenes of Barack Obama's inauguration speech, sort of as a way of showing why the spies are being phased out and their base and files being destroyed. It's a great story of the old regime covering up the dirty works that the new regime would not approve of.

I'm told that the original script, titled "Rogue's Gallery" was much more comedic and had a different ending. I think the ending to this, which I wont ruin, is a bit of a let down. However, the ending isn't a deal breaker like it the ending of "Employee of the Month"


It's not a perfect movie, some actors are wasted, other actors have too much screen time, there's a few plot holes, and the ending leaves something to be desired. But if you're looking for a good gory, funny, dark, serious comedy and a damn fine movie for a first time director, this movie is for you.

I give "Operation: Endgame" a 4 out of 5.