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I recall first observing the Insane Clown Posse merchandise appearing during the last years of junior high and the initial years of high school. Initially, I believed they were just another underwhelming novelty act. So, I thought of two rappers in clown face paint who would eventually fade from popularity like a spring rain shower. More than a decade later, while putting “Big Money Rustlas” into my DVD player, I realized that I owe ICP a certain degree of gratitude. To my surprise, the first ten minutes on the DVD, even before the title menu, are filled with advertising for all the products and services ICP endorse or have used in their wrestling association. Their brand name proves to be much more powerful than their music. For the duo, it’s a complete win.
Big Money Rustlas attempts to make a parody of the Wild West era, and within the story, there are elements borrowed from the simplest of the Zane Grey-based movies. In one of the scenes, we see Violent J as Big Daddy Chips, the businessman, blackmailer, and general loser who has taken the small town of Mud Bug captive. Very shortly after this, Shaggy 2 Dope, who plays the only one able to save the town, Sugar Wolf, enters his birthplace, looking to free it from the clutches of Big Daddy Chips. However the restoration of order is not an easy process, so Big Daddy does not lose that easily. He sends out a list of assassins, each one progressively more skilled than the last, to kill Sugar Wolf and return the town to its previous level of controlled chaos.
After a hitman blasts off a hole in Wolf’s shooting hand, he is removed back to the drawing board to work on his shooting skills. This is where his friend Dirty Sanchez who lives in Mud Bug trains him. There is a twist in the plot and a showdown like it’s expected, and the ending doesn’t really add up. I suppose it would have been too much for these men who once rapped saying they do not understand the functions of magnets and so it is understandable why I would have expected something ridiculously competent from them, but rather ‘Big Money Rustlas’ is filled with misstrings. From the perspective of a filmmaker, the one that sends this movie down the wrong path and the one that has the most blunders from the first frame is the audio, and that is the worst blunder. Most of the dialogue and sound effects are so blatantly dubbed during post-production, that the entire movie reeks of sorry, we can fix it in post. Students in their first year of film, television, and radio production are taught never to adopt this kind of attitude.
My favourite professors of television production once remarked, ‘While you could polish a turd, it is still a turd.’ This is a crucial lesson that director Paul Andresen (no, not Paul WS Anderson) should have taken into consideration. Moreover, the soundtrack for Big Money Rustlas is very disappointing and leaves much to be desired. The film was sorely lacking creativity, and having ICP & a few of their musical friends compose some additional pieces for the score would have added an exciting twist to the movie. With so many musicians being a part of this film, it was an excellent chance for ICP to perform a few new songs. Remember how Elvis set records with his movie singles? There’s no way you could forget. Additionally, the production team would have had a lot of decisions to make if they followed through with the idea of a western set to a heavy metal/horrorcore/rap metal soundtrack. At the very least, it would have made things more interesting for Andresen and the editing team.
Unfortunately, the only licensed music tracks on the film are the optional opening and ending themes. It would be counterproductive to note that the script composition was poor, and anyone who looks for the same excellence achieved by “The Outlaw Josie Wales” in “Big Money Rustlas” is wanting and silly. However, there are issues to worry about. Jamie Madrox and Monoxide of Twiztid are unbelievably horrid as Violent J’s two lead goons. I get it that their type is the annoying, incompetent imbeciles who dote on J’s Big Daddy, but his lack of timing and dialogue understanding is so off the charts that one does question whether he was scripted at all. Maybe he was told to just improvise on cue.
Jason Mewes phones it in as Dope’s sidekick and Ron Jeremy comes as Dope’s dad. There are a few eye-raising cameos like “Hey, there’s Dustin Diamond,” and “Wow, Tom Sizemore really does need money.” The scariest cameo of all is Scott Hall (Razor Ramon or whatever) as a seemingly listless drunk who works for the sign that keeps track of the town’s frequently altered population. His presence is spine-chilling because there’s a fair chance that might not be too far from his actual life. The jokes, if those gags can be called that, are of a little lower brow than one would expect, and believe me, that’s saying something. Borderline to the lowest common denominator, the gags draw most of their material from profanity and are reminiscent of junior high locker room bravado, bullying and bullshit.
There are some sight gags that amuse, but for every one of them that drew a couple of snickers, there was a joke horse’s ass longshot. For some reason, there was zero audience nudity. It probably would have done a world of good to the film if there was some amount of it present. Big Money Rustlas is a film that comes across as an overlong an inside joke that does not seem to be meant for a very rich clientele. I can easily bet that the Juggalos across the Country will cheer their superiors with a lot of shouting, thumping their chest in pride, and popping in and out of a state of zombie-like compliance. But, the average movie-going public in this world will most likely hate this film, or even more likely, totally forget it exists. I guess Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope will benefit in the end, Whoop, whoop, for sure.
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