Over the last while, I've posted a "form letter" review in several Neurotically Yours movies to express my opinion of the series as a whole. A user named MaxtotheMax has requested that I state my opinion of Foamy in the Newgrounds BBS, since I'm not actually "reviewing the movie" and it belongs here in a public forum rather than a space for critical analysis. The "critical analysis" of the Foamy movies that I've seen have just been 10/10 reviews that beg Foamy to "never change" or 0/10 reviews that call for Foamy's death, so the actual judgment of Foamy's films are quite irrelevant (and abusive, according to the rules. :p). I maintain that I'd rather post them as movie reviews so that it can be seen on the front lines, where the problems are at their worst and things can be changed, but I'll post one of the reviews here at his request:
You all either vote ten on it because your preteen angst results in a knee-jerk delusion to think this movie is genius because it has a character bellyaching about things you'd like to bellyache about but don't have the audience or arrogance to do so, or you vote zero on it because it's seen as a monotonous drone repeated ad-nauseum for the benefit of the aforementioned bleating mascara-drenched sheep that think it's perfect because they love anything that hates everything. I fear the creator has either made like he has an obligation to appeal to this rabbling mass, or he understands that no effort is expected of him, just make Foamy say mean things.
Another return of Foamy's spastic rants, Jonathan Ian Mathers calls upon his reliable Mary Sue to spout his uninformed, curse-riddled misanthropy. If he stood in the middle of road and carried on about killing babies, he'd be committed, but since now he's a squirrel on the web, he's cheered for infanticide fantasies that don't express anything, because it's Foamy. For eight years, these movies have been all the same, a note held indefinitely in a song that was loud and rebellious, and caused a great scream from the rabble. The song was alright at the beginning, but many of us are getting bored of that note, and wish that the guy would get onto the next verse. It's called insightful and expressive, but it's simply pointing and laughing. You all see him as a voice for counterculture, mocking the preppies and bolstering your hip rage and contempt, but when you see a disclaimer asking you to not be offended, you should see that illwillpress has abandoned that ideal to get those preppies to buy t-shirts.
Decent creative work needs content, not just attitude. Well-made movies deserving of high praise like Brackenwood and Ola Bergner are forced to share the limelight with this exhaustive, minimalist fluff, it makes me shudder for the creative direction of Newgrounds. I don't object to limited animation, but i object fiercely to limited idea. Invader Zim was a cartoon with similarly misanthropic subject matter, but it at least had a clever, expansive idea that it could build off of and play with; this is one character doing one thing that can't be built on. You people praise these movies for their spontaneity and quick wit, but you can train anyone to do anything by impulse if he does it exactly the same way for nearly a decade. Look up Ivan Pavlov if you don't believe me.
Calling various things in society and media "bullshit" is not sharp improv; its simple-minded rage. Any one of you talks like this in your head in your daily life, and you think that if it comes out of your mouth, suddenly you're an artist? Putting some kind of imaginative spin on it is where true creativity lies; illwillpress has skipped that step for a quick Daily First.
What else is funny is if I were to make a movie like this, with an angry character of some fantastic feature (ie making him an alien or an animal), a small supporting cast to egg him on, and if I put some kind of twist on it like, say, they all live on the moon or one of them is an assassin for hire, something that can actually formulate some interesting drama to voice my beliefs in a way that would stand out, you'd all say I'm ripping off Foamy, poorly at that. illwillpress has so successfully hijacked your tastes that he could make a movie where Foamy waves his testicles in your face for ten minutes and it would still seem brilliant because it had that preloader on it.
But I'm an optimist. Though these movies will continue to garner blind praise from people with a shallow contempt for the norm, I like to think doing this for so long is rotting Jonathan Ian Mathers from the inside. He once had a good idea that consumed him. Eventually, he might try for ambition and really see the joy of exerting himself (more so than just making semen jokes), if he's not a pandering shill just out to stuff shelves at Hot Topic.
As for this movie, read what I wrote. It's a review of NY as a whole, I hope you at least dignify my efforts by thinking about it.
