Release: September 1, 2015
Film: The Smurfs
Tagline: The Black Nerd joins the Nostalgia Critic to take on one Smurfed up movie.
This review provides examples of:
- Accidental Kidnapping: The Critic accidentally locked up Andre for months in his closet before he could feature in his TMNT 2014 review with the Angry Video Game Nerd. As cheerful as he is, Andre is obviously demanding compensation by forcing the Critic to co-review Smurfs.
- Apparently this isn't the first time the critic has kidnapped a black guy, as Malcolm reveals.
- Actor Allusion: Invoked by the Critic three times:
- Following John Oliver's brief appearance as Vanity Smurf, the Critic thinks this means that Oliver will do a report over how the movie is ruining America.
- At the start of the real-world scenes featuring Patrick, he wonders if the movie turned into an episode of How I Met Your Mother, obviously alluding to his actor Neil Patrick Harris's role there as Barney Stinson. He also wonders if the entire film is an extension of his Adam Westing version's drug-induced hallucination in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.
- There are two jokes involving Hank Azaria as Gargamel and his work on The Simpsons. The Critic compares Gargamel to a bald Moe Szyslak from an unfunny version of the Simpsons, which Andre clarifies as the current state of the Simpsons. Later, when Gargamel gets tased, the Critic compares Gargamel's noises to Professor Frink getting jerked off.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Andre laughs at one joke. However, it leads to As the Good Book Says... below.
- As the Good Book Says...: After Andre snickers at the scene where Grouchy deems his fellow Smurfs' song annoying, the Critic scolds him that every time someone laughs at a joke in the movie God kills a kitten, while showing a made-up Bible verse he claims is only found in the hardcover version:Revelations 22:8: "If thou shalt watcheth the Smurfs movie and laugheth, then I shall smite a kitten with every Smurf hating part of my being... and there is a LOT of Smurf hating parts of my being. Now, let's move on to why I've seemed so bipolar lately; I've been under a lot of stress. I mean TONS!"
- Brain Bleach: Every time something deeply unsettling is shown on the film, the Critic pulls up a Neuralyzer to wipe his and Andre's memories.
- Brandishment Bluff: Andre threatens to call the police and charge the Critic with kidnapping (which he is technically guilty of) unless he acquiesces into co-reviewing the Smurfs movie. Twice the Critic responds by trying to grab his smartphone.
- Brick Joke: After realizing that the movie is a romantic comedy that just happens to have Smurfs, the Critic compares that to having a Holocaust movie that suddenly decides it needs Fraggles. A fake poster for such a movie, titled "Mokey's Choice", is shown, with the Black Nerd noting that it's coming out next week. At the end of the Pet Rock movie trailer that closes out the episode, it's revealed to be coming out on the same weekend as Mokey's Choice, to the Critic and the Black Nerd's grief.
- Call-Back: Andre was supposed to be involved in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) review together with The Angry Video Game Nerd six months ago, but was accidentally locked into the closet by the Critic while the latter is on the phone debating on how he should be billed in the review.
- The Cameo
- While the Critic and Andre discuss how the Smurfs can procreate, The Cinema Snob shows up with his DVD of Smurfs porn, much to their horror.
- Honest Trailers' Jon Bailey also appears at the end to advertise the Critic's Pet Rock idea.
- Crossover: With Andre the Black Nerd.
- Cutaway Gag: Lampshaded where, following a bit showing Andre continuing to do his videos while trapped in the Critic's storage closet, Peter Griffin appears and says, "You think that's bad? How about the time—?"Critic: (shoving Peter aside)' Okay, enough of the cutaways!
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: For the climax, where the other Smurfs show up on Gargamel, Andre points out that the imagery of angry people chanting, holding weapons and wearing white pointy hats does evoke the imagery of Klansmen.
- Executive Meddling/What Could Have Been: Discussed In-Universe by Andre at the beginning, who brings up the rumor about how Paramount was originally supposed to adapt the film into a comedic epic in the vein of The Lord of the Rings and The Princess Bride (which the Critic deems not so bad an idea) until Sony Pictures bought the rights and decided to use it to attempt to cash in on the financial success of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
- In Name Only: What Andre considers the movie to be to the Smurfs franchise.
- Merchandise-Driven: Andre attributes the film's financial success (despite poor critical reception) to its vast merchandising and clever marketing scheme.
- Offhand Backhand:
- Tamara gets punched in the face by the Critic, apparently as a reflex, when she suggests once again that they'd review the latest Fantastic Four movie.
- And then Malcolm gets one when his reaction to Andre calling the police for the Critic kidnapping a black guy — again — is "It's true!"
- Product Placement: As much as the Critic wants to poke fun at the abuse of this trope in the film, he admits it would have been better had the Blue Man Group played the Smurfs instead.
- Shout-Out:
- For every incomprehensible scene in the film, twice was Jennifer Lopez's "Who gives a shit?" line from Out of Sight inserted.
- After Grace claims the Smurfs came to her and Patrick's lives for a purpose (in truth, it was by accident), Kermit the Frog's "100% wrong" line from The Great Muppet Caper is shown.
- Squick: The Critic and Andre's In-Universe reaction to Gargamel pissing in a bucket in the middle of a high-end restaurant.
- Take That!:
- Director Raja Gosnell'snote name is inscribed on a crowned piece of glittery turd, and is described by the Critic as the cinematic equivalent of child syphilis.
- When the Critic notes that Gargamel's motive is to capture the Smurfs to extract their essence and make himself rich, Andre assumes he's talking about Sony Pictures instead.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: The Critic takes censure at how some of the Smurfs are named after their dominant personality traits, comparing it to someone naming their daughter "Prostitute".
Onions, bleah!
