Broken Lizard is back and taking us to France for their next adventure in Quasi. Quasi serves as a completely new take on the Quasimodo story and follows local hunchback Quasi Modo (Steve Lemme). Quasi and his best friend (or just hut mate if you ask them) Duchamp (Kevin Heffernan) work in the local torture chamber. The two of them live in France under King Guy’s (Jay Chandrasekhar) rule. King Guy has just killed his former wife and married Queen Catherine (Adrianne Palicki). The Queen is English and marrying her will provide an alliance between England and France, increasing Guy’s power.
The Pope, Pope Cornelius (Paul Soter), is in town to attend the Queen’s coronation. As luck will have it, Quasi finds himself in between the Pope and King when he wins the opportunity for a confessional with the Pope. King Guy wants Quasi to kill the Pope, while the Pope wants Quasi to kill the King. All Quasi wants is oysters. He relies on his closest friends Duchamp and Michel (Erik Stolhanske) to try and figure a way out of this sticky situation.
Similar in vain to all their past films, Quasi is written by the entire Broken Lizards troupe. This go around has Heffernan in the director’s chair. Broken Lizard films typically see Chandrasekhar direct, with The Slammin’ Salmon being the only other Broken Lizard film that Heffernan directed. The comedy troupe has been performing together since 1989 with Quasi being their 7th feature length film. That type of history cannot be faked or replicated, and it shows on screen. Everyone seems to be really enjoying themselves throughout the movie.
Along with Heffernan directing, Quasi does feature certain unique elements for a Broken Lizard’s production. The film allows all members of the troupe to play multiple characters during the entire movie. There have been times when certain members played multiple roles. Most notably when Herrernan portrayed Landfill and his identical twin brother Gil in Beerfest. Yet this is the first time when all five members are responsible for dual roles in one movie – and for characters to be more than just one offs.
On top of that, this is the first period piece we’ve seen from Broken Lizard. Setting the film in centuries old France allowed the comedy troupe to take comedic liberties and jokes in new directions. It was a unique and refreshing change and allowed them to showcase different aspects of their comedy. Broken Lizard haven’t been able to replicate the comedic success they achieved with Super Troopers and Beerfest. While Quasi still doesn’t reach those levels, it is a step in the right direction. All in all, for those that are fans of Broken Lizard and their type of humor, there is enough here to warrant an enjoyable watch. However, Quasi is not for everyone, and many may find the film too ridiculous to enjoy.
Not coincidentally, Quasi is available to watch on Hulu starting today.
