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Movies / On DVD / Let's Go to Prison
Let's Go to Prison

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Let's Go to Prison (2006)

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Reviews Counted:13

Fresh:1

Rotten:12

Average Rating:3.1/10

Consensus: Let's Go to Prison is guilty on all counts of cliched setups, base humor, and failure to ellicit laughs.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, sexual content, some violence and drug material.

Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:Nov 17, 2006 Wide

Box Office: $4,613,815

Synopsis: When asked about prison movies, the film buff instantly calls to mind epochal pictures such as Cool Hand Luke, The Count of Monte Cristo and Birdman of Alcatraz — or perhaps classics in the making... When asked about prison movies, the film buff instantly calls to mind epochal pictures such as Cool Hand Luke, The Count of Monte Cristo and Birdman of Alcatraz — or perhaps classics in the making like The Shawshank Redemption, In the Name of the Father and The Green Mile. These important works of art have two things in common: 1) they explore the fears and triumphs of unjustly arrested men railing against a cruel system and 2) they serve as a cornerstone of American dramatic cinema. Well...Let's Go To Prison shares one of those tenets. Frankly, we felt obligated to contribute to this genre of filmmaking with our own take on the core issues that inmates routinely face in 2006. While overcrowding and recidivism are topical and vital issues to address, so are other unique themes. In this film, we just happen to have the soap dropping that Steve McQueen never discovered and toilet wine that Dustin Hoffman failed to manufacture in Papillon. Based upon a non fiction book about how to stay out of jail (and/or survive it once you know you're headed upriver), Let's Go To Prison is an uncompromising, no-holdsbarred revenge comedy helmed by BOB ODENKIRK, the director who brought sketchcomedy fans Mr. Show With Bob and David. And he's about to give us everything that's been missing from the typical prison movie in his fresh, probing look at our penal system—rife with plenty of sweet, cloistered, man love. Felon John Lyshitski (DAX SHEPARD, Punk'd, Employee of the Month, Without a Paddle) has figured out the best way to get revenge on the now-dead judge who sent him to jail: "help" the official's obnoxious son, Nelson Biederman the IVth (WILL ARNETT, Arrested Development, RV, Blades of Glory), try to survive the clink. John strikes gold when Nelson is wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to the same penitentiary he used to call home. He gleefully sells pot to undercover cops and gets sent back to become Nelson's cellmate, ensuring that his new buddy gets the full treatment common in American penitentiaries. Let the games begin. Lesson #1: The joint's a scary place, so you better make friends fast. Right away, Nelson offends the wrong cons and is sold—by John—to Barry (CHI McBRIDE, The Nine, The Terminal, Undercover Brother) for prison snuggling. But the moment that revenge starts tasting sweet, Nelson becomes Big Man in the Big House and turns the tables on John...changing the rules of his insane game. November 17, 2006 is the day to shower with thugs, sip toilet wine and sharpen your shivs as the locked-up are set up in Carsey-Werner Films' inaugural title and Strike Entertainment's latest production: Let's Go To Prison, a Universal Pictures release. --© Universal Pictures [More]

Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Dax Shepard, Will Arnett, Chi McBride

Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Dax Shepard, Will Arnett, Chi McBride, Paul Young, Dylan Baker, Michael Shannon, David Koechner

Producer: Marc Abraham, Matt Berenson
Studio: Universal Pictures

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Release:

Mar 6, 2007

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Reviews for Let's Go to Prison

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1 - 13 (sorted by date)
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Shepard's character periodically rattles off damning statistics about America's booming prison industry, but most of the gags are of the don't-drop-the-soap variety.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
07/28/09
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's hard to get laughs out of stuff that devolved into parody 10 or 20 years ago.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
11/23/06
Gregory Kirschling
Gregory Kirschling
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Arnett underplays to the point where he seems as shellshocked as his character, while Shepard seems to have forgotten that the film is supposed to be a comedy.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
11/20/06
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
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Because the movie can't bring itself to take that leap into full-on absurdity, the characters and comic opportunities stay confined to their cells.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
11/20/06
Michael Ordoña
Michael Ordoña
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Let's Go to Prison feels like an overextended sketch-comedy idea insufficiently filled out by subsidiary characters (few significantly figure) or standout setpieces.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
11/20/06
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie's too dryly detached to even enjoy its own tastelessness: jokes constantly fall with the dull clatter of cutlery on the mess-hall floor, and the relentless abuse meted out to the hapless Biederman backfires by dint of sheer ritual repetition.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
11/20/06
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This really isn't a comedy. It's more of a woolly spoof, stretched out to criminal lengths.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
11/20/06
David Hiltbrand
David Hiltbrand
Philadelphia Inquirer
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Let's Go to Prison is a sly, very funny comedy that stays admirably deadpan every time you think its about to veer into gross-out territory.

comment 1 Comment
11/20/06
Neil Genzlinger
Neil Genzlinger
New York Times
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The writers of this movie should be sentenced to a comedy chain gang peeling bananas and making cream pies.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
11/20/06
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Arnett has seven movies coming out within the next year. It seems safe, or at least optimistic, to assume that this is not going to be his high point. But he does make a consistently amusing Felix to Shepard's frustrated Oscar.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
11/20/06
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
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The main crime in this movie is that the whole thing feels lazy -- it's as if they filmed the first draft of a script that still needed some trimming and sharpening.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
11/20/06
Jennie Punter
Jennie Punter
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's an interestingly ugly social comedy to be made about jail, but Let's Go to Prison isn't it.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
11/20/06
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The elements of dark comedy, prison system satire, and juvenile gross-out gags eventually blend like the slop ladled out for inmates at feeding time.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
11/17/06
John Monaghan
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press
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