Saturday, September 8, 2018

Willy Whistle (Rifftrax Shorts)


Rifftrax Year:  2014
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

What to do when you need to cross the street without a police officer or a crossing guard?
"That's when you need to hallucinate a talking whistle!"

Willy Whistle is here to teach kids about the safety rules when crossing the street.  This includes magically conjuring cars out of thin air and making children wear purple and yellow latex gloves for some reason.  It takes six full fucking minutes for him to explain the mechanics of turning one's head back and forth to check both ways.  Then repeat.  Over.  And over.  And...over...

One can't accuse Willy Whistle of not teaching its lesson though he only has one lesson to teach, making this seem a bit like a waste of production money.  But I guess if only one child didn't get hit by a car thanks to Willy's existence then it was worth it.

As a Rifftrax Willy Whistle isn't very long, which means hopefully it's packed with laughs to make up for the fact that there might be something more prolific for the same cost.  Willy Whistle is inconsistent in that regard, often bouncing back and forth between a fair laugh and a safe gag that you would expect the guys to make (and have made in other shorts many times before).  But if our riffers hit their target sometimes they can knock one out of the park...

"Now stick Willy in your mouth and give him a long hard blow!"

The question becomes do I recommend Willy Whistle based on its best moments?  I'm going to say yes.  Some of the riffs can't be missed and the short certainly isn't unwatchable.  It's not a laugh riot though, and there comes a point where one wishes our riffers might work on some new material.

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