Holiday from Rules? (RiffTrax Shorts)

RiffTrax Year:  2022

Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

"Perhaps you would like to learn what it would be like to live in a world where there are no rules."

"How would we do that?"

"Go to Reddit!"

A group of children are pouting that they have to follow rules and that's no fun.  So a narrator is here to teach the a lesson It's a Wonderful Life style where he shows them what life would be like without rules.  He transports them to an island away from rules where they can do what they want.  Soon the kids find it's hard to live life without rules.  That is before turning into a tribe of savages screaming "KILL THE PIG!  DRINK HIS BLOOD!"

I think we all went through that point as a child where we just didn't want to do what our parents said, always blaming "the rules."  Some kids even based their entire teenage personality on breaking the rules because "You just don't get me, mom!"  Holiday from Rules serves something as a double purpose in that it shows not just how rules are important for safety but how rules shape things that kids enjoy like games.  Predictably the short devolves into a bunch of kids screaming at each other for stupid reasons, which can get a bit grating.  If I wanted that, I'd watch Fox News.

"Isn't there any game we can play where we don't have to follow any rules?"

"Russian Roulette springs to mind."

This short is practically child's play, as it's so loud and obnoxious with a really silly premise where all rules are off.  That doesn't stop them from following a few rules of their own, because a bunch of kids on an island seems to indicate Lord of the Flies references should be on the table, and of course they are.  The one real challenge to this short is that it can get grating as it gets more shrill, but the good news is that the laughs are constant enough to overcome that.  This Holiday from Rules is a holiday worth taking.

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