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Tracy_says
Reviews
INRI (2009)
There's politically incorrect, and there's INRI
Watching this short film, I was reminded of the scene in Brian DePalma's SCARFACE when Tony Montana is drunk and yelling in a crowded restaurant: "You need people like me, so you can point your (blanking) fingers and say 'there goes the bad guy!'"
Perhaps Christians need people like Emerson Bixby, the veritable poster-child for sacrilege who conceived INRI, as a warning to atheists everywhere.
A manic cross between Lenny Bruce and Robin Williams, Bixby doesn't care where or how far he goes to get a laugh. In this case; probably straight to Hell. I'll avoid details, suffice to say INRI goes above and beyond the realm of unacceptable humor, pushing the envelope from "oh, no, you didn't" to "how dare you!". Nothing is sacred; not Jesus, not the Virgin Mary, not even God, himself. INRI is a quintessential train-wreck of bad-taste, and I found myself more outraged with each passing moment, every line of dialogue delving further and further into blasphemous muck.
Having said this, I laughed throughout. Despite the fact that INRI is brazenly contemptible by any moral standard, despite the fact that I was shocked, offended, and downright insulted, I could not stop laughing from start to finish. I'm still seething because INRI is so mercilessly offensive to my beliefs. When I began typing, I clicked on one, the lowest rating possible. I wanted to give it a minus ten. And yet, I'm still laughing. And I can't wait to watch it again. And I can't wait for my husband to see it. So in the spirit of fairness, I have to judge INRI objectively. And objectively, it's laugh-out-loud comic genius.
Understand, I believe in God, and I believe all the kudos and all the praise in the world won't be much comfort to Bixby on Judgement Day. As a Christian, I believe INRI is perhaps the most vile and objectionable film ever to come from Hollywood. However, as a person who enjoys to laugh, I have nothing to complain about.