Tour de Pharmacy (2017) Reviews

• Utterly hilarious!

  npvarley2017-07-30

  Well, these kinds of mockumentaries can be a bit hit and miss. Suffice it to say that this one is simply brilliant. I was laughing out loud the whole way through. The cast is stellar and they have a riot. Who knew Cena could do comedy so well? Orlando Bloom was hilarious and I didn't recognise him at first! Tyson really have poke fun at himself, too. The running gag, involving a certain well-known cyclist is really well done, too. I think HBO may have struck a rich seam here. There are all kinds of sports stories that could be hilarious mockumentaries if they let Andy Sambergh loose on them. Really, watch this!

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• Absolutely hilarious

  wildturkeywill2017-07-08

  It's like 30 for 30 meets Saturday night live. Outstanding cast with a very funny cameo from Lance Armstrong. It has a lot of full frontal nudity and crude jokes so if that's not your thing maybe you won't like it. I wish it were longer but every bit of the run time is full of laughs. If you enjoyed 7 days in hell then you'll love this also.

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• A Must-Watch

  peterlewyspreston2017-07-10

  This is the funniest movie I have seen all year. Though I am not a fan of mockumentaries, this one had me constantly laughing out loud. The jokes hit and they just kept coming. The absurdity was so hilarious because in a way it wasn't so far away from reality. The cast was spectacular funny, and Lance Armstrong playing himself was the cherry on top. I can only recommend "Tour de Pharmacy". Well done HBO!

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• Not insightful by any means, but funny occasionally

  Horst_In_Translation2017-07-12

  "Tour de Pharmacy" is a 39-minute live action movie that premiered only a couple days ago, so it is obviously from this year (2017). The cast includes many many big names and even if most of them only have a scene or too, it is somewhat refreshing to see all these famous faces. I will not give a total list, bit let me just say I liked Rashad, Hamm, Bacon, Forte, Goldblum and some others. I do not like Samberg, Rudolph and Bloom (even if he is better than usual). Oh yeah, and Mike Tyson was pretty hilarious explaining to us how he entered the world of boxing with a memorable connection to cycling. Still if you really want to watch something informative about the subject of substance abuse in the professional sport of cycling, then this is not the one to watch. Let me tell you this as somebody who really has a strong interest in the sport of cycling. It is only worth seeing for some of the comedic stuff, even if obviously not all of it is working. Director is Jake Szymanski and writer is Murray Miller and these two already collaborated on a similar mockumentary not too long ago with the focus on tennis back then. I would say that this one here is by no means as good as the one on tennis, which was actually one of the best films under 45 minutes of its respective year. This one probably is not, but it still offers some fairly funny sequences and writing. I think it gets better the longer it goes and overall I give it a thumbs-up. Go check it out, especially for the scenes with lance Armstrong that stayed incredibly entertaining until the very end and never got repetitive, even if it somewhat was the same joke over and over again. I honestly would like to see him in acting.

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• Hilarious and goofy, Tour de Pharmacy is a brilliant parody of the cycling world.

  hunter-friesen2017-10-22

  Tour de Pharmacy is a hilarious and goofy cycling mockumentary that makes fun of the usual tropes you would find in the real world of professional cycling. While only being 41 minutes long, this television film from the team behind the tennis comedy 7 Days in Hell has enough laughs and hilarious moments that could fill a full feature-length film. There are five main cyclers that we follow throughout the race. Each character is over the top and has their own quirks and personal motivations. Andy Samberg plays Marty, a white boy representing Africa, even though he's only African because his American family owns a blood diamond mine. Orlando Bloom plays the high pitched and flamboyant Juju Pepe. John Cena is the steroid-infused Austrian, Gustav Ditters. Daveed Diggs plays Slim Robinson, the nephew of Jackie Robinson who only races to be recognized as the first black cyclist. Finally, Freddie Highmore plays the woman Adrian Baton who dresses as a man in order to compete in the race. These core characters carry the film from start to finish, dishing up several laughs each minute. The story takes place during the 1982 Tour de France where doping and steroids have taken control of the sport. After one day of racing, every cyclist except the main five is banned from the race. For the next several stages we solely follow the proclaimed "Fab Five" as they battle each other for the title. An onslaught of funny gags and scenarios occur that make the competition feel like an episode of the old cartoon Wacky Races. The mockumentary style of the film is comedic gold and makes every laugh even funnier. The film is staged as a sports documentary that would commonly be shown on ESPN. There's archival footage of the race intercut with interviews with cycling experts and older versions of the racers as they tell their sides of the story of what happened at the race. Director Jake Szymanski gives his cast all the power to carry the film and it pays off extremely well. The laughs are because of the characters that we learn to love for their unusual personalities. Szymanski's previous television film 7 Days in Hell shares several similarities with this one and he takes what worked in that film and uses it here. He also creates an authentic looking documentary by shooting the race scenes with VCR cameras so it looks like it actually took place in 1982. Each core actor is great in their absurd and almost idiotic characters. There's also an endless parade of cameos and bit parts from celebrities such as Maya Rudolph, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Bacon, Danny Glover, Dolph Lundgren, J.J. Abrams, and even Lance Armstrong (poking fun at his own use of steroids). They all serve as interview subjects for the documentary and add to the comedy. The biggest laughs come from Rudolph as a "cycling expert" and Goldblum as older Marty. Tour de Pharmacy is a hilarious and silly film that never takes its subject matter seriously and just wants to have fun. The short run time and goofy characters create a brilliant popcorn flick that will have you laughing all the way through.

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