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Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Beginning Responsibility: Being a Good Sport (Rifftrax Shorts)


Rifftrax Year:  2011
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

This latest installment of the Beginning Responsibility series sees a pair of pouty brats throwing a temper tantrum during a Checkers game.  A narrator then lists various lessons they've learned about sportsmanship and how to properly conduct oneself during a situation.

The short holds decent lesson at heart which it targets at children.  If I were to list something that drove me nuts about it it's that all the children throwing fits grates on my nerves.  Though I'm not quite the right target audience so my complaint is moot.  Could children learn from this?  Probably.  Though it's also likely the bad sports would likely be pouting in the corner about how they have to watch this stupid film in the first place.

The riffing does offer a swell counterweight to the short's more obnoxious elements.  I had a good chuckle early on in which Kevin wishes it was a series on "Ending Responsibility" instead, and then the guys list off various potential titles.  A group of bratty kids throw rocks at a lamppost resulting Kevin to quip "Electricity was new to Woody's town.  The boys feared and hated it."  And of course there are plenty of jabs about how being a bad sport just might have been the correct path all along.

And Dungeons & Dragons gags.  Because of course there are.

It's almost easy for me to look at Being a Good Sport and say the laughs fade into the background among whiny children we're forced to watch, but that wouldn't be a good sport of me to say this short is without merit.  The commentary is actually pretty strong and laughter echos over the pissing and moaning we're enduring.  Because of that I'll give it a pass, though those with short patience might want to tread lightly.

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