[7]

I think Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy, Red State) is a much more interesting filmmaker now that he’s making horror films. Tusk is a controversial move for the director — it’s too silly for die-hard horror fans, but too off-putting to be a comedy. Justin Long stars as a podcaster who travels to remote Canada to interview a strange but alluring old sea dog, played by the always-entertaining Michael Parks. Parks turns out to be completely whackadoodle, drugging and surgically modifying Long’s character so that he eventually becomes a human walrus, an animal for whom Parks’ character has very special affection. It’s a weird fricking movie that feels a lot like a mad experiment, and I enjoy that freshness.

The transformation isn’t the climax of the story, though — and that’s my most significant qualm with the movie. Smith’s script puts the full transformation at about the mid-point, then forces us to switch gears and begin identifying with the characters who are searching for Long. Unfortunately, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez, and Johnny Depp struggle to carry the movie at that point — especially after all the wonderful back-and-forth that Parks and Long have throughout the first hour. Depp in particular is way over-the-top here, single-handedly skewing the tone of the film more into the absurd than I prefer. I mean, we just saw a poor guy get turned into a walrus. By that point, you’re either with the movie, or you’ve shut it off. It’s not enough to derail the experiment, but Johnny Depp being weird at that point feels like a mis-step.

Still, I applaud the audacity and the willingness on Smith’s part to just throw all fuck to the wind and make this bizarre, sad, sick, little movie.