Ass Backwards

Ass Backwards

The movie “Ass Backwards” gets its title from the very first scene where it shows two women squatting side by side peeing on the street in broad daylight. It only gets better slightly.

Starring as well as writing alongside their longtime UCB comedy partner Casey Wilson, June Diane Raphael shines as Kate, a low-rent New York City scam artist with a heart of gold.

Together, they create many laugh out loud moments that you can’t help but love them for, even though you’re not supposed to like them very much at all.

That said, Nelson’s episodic-style feature does have some great moments. The girls wake up in a Women’s Commune after taking drugs and drinking what Chloe calls “the blood of lesbian goddesses.” (“Lesbo goddesses,” for short.) It’s here that they get a front row seat to Lillian (Lindsay Sloane), the commune leader who has apparently been living off the grid since 1992 but somehow still knows all about “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

“Ass Backwards” is funny and ridiculous and may not make total sense much like Kate and Chloe themselves but that’s just part of its charm.

Kate, Chloe, Raphael, and Wilson owe a great deal to “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion,” the still-funny 1997 comedy that was dumb but also sweet, and gave license for air-headed female characters to be stupid and shallow with one another. But while pushing the humor in brash, crass directions is obviously a favorite move of Raphael and Wilson’s (as evidenced by that opening shot), their characters are clearly innately decent; they care about each other in ways that are truly touching.

But at least “Ass Backwards” is an improvement on the script they co-wrote for “Bride Wars.” In that ugly example of longtime female friends tearing each other apart for broad laughs, there is nothing wrong with the world except these two terrible women who don’t deserve happiness right down to its unconvincing resolution.

Even when Kate and Chloe’s cheery, colorful exterior starts to crack under the weight of disappointment and disillusionment (and I do mean crack), it’s clear they still love each other; they’ll shop another day. Their friendship as well as their collaborative efforts can only get better from here.

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