WebVideo Smosh Review
When I was younger I did enjoy watching Smosh videos and I did enjoy watching the behind the scenes, gaming channel and the second channel but I lost interest when I grew up. The introduction of the Smosh squad didn't really help.
I didn't have a grudge against them, it just wasn't for me and when I watched Antony's announcement video. Everything clicked into place because this was no longer Antony's channel, it turned into a kids TV show with younger token characters and fan service. For example, Mari had a show where she would talk about fan-work on the Smosh website, but she was replaced by a pair of younger women who wear pyjama shorts and dance on stage.
The brand also had a sponsorship with the members shamelessly promoting content, naming shows after trends and even calling one of their shows "Cell Outs". It's hard to explain, watch the "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared" video on Film theory then you'll have a better understanding of my point. I might just be projecting a bit. The Smosh workers do look like they are friends and I might have become bitter with age.
If I had to recommend their videos, I suggest watching their older sketch's before they expanded with the squad but then again, everything is great and easy in hindsight.
WebVideo Not funny at all, but at least entertaining
Smosh saves itself from the pits of YouTube trash for having a genuine fanbase not built up with ridiculous thumbnail girls YouTube is infamous for, being technically impressive, and maybe making me laugh once or twice.
Otherwise, it's exactly the kind of crap that I hate YouTube for.
WebVideo Quality and cleverness of jokes vary per video, but usually their videos aren't funny enough
I feel Smosh has made lots of decent videos, but since 2010 or 2011 their videos have declined in quality. Smosh is starting to emphasize Quantity over Quality of their videos I suspect this is because the more videos they upload, the more ad revenue they can generate regardless of if that video went through careful processing and review. They do make decent videos like "Teens in the Wild" and "Sexting Gone Wrong" and "Breaking the Habit" and "Gamer Gets Trolled!"
I don't really think Ian and Anthony are good actors, they spend most of the time on-screen acting like children and it seems that they have a hard time trying not to laugh when pretending to be angry or serious.
Their Food Battle videos make no sense whatsoever, I don't find them funny at all - all they do is try to use foods as everyday tools such as shovels, windshield wipers, toothbrushes and video games. I mean, is that supposed to be funny?
I think their "If ____ were Real!" videos can be funny, but they overuse the same joke often by saying that because of all the technological innovation we're seeing today, movies from the 20th century would be a lot different than they were if they were made today.
Some videos that I think are just plain lazy and were only made just to keep up with the promise of a new video every Friday include "Driving Me Crazy" and "Stop Copying Me" and "Sleeping Pill Disaster" and "Badass New Power Rangers". Also the "Motion Gaming Sucks" video was just a mediocre remake of "First Shooters Suck" What improvement did "First Shooters Suck" need? If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
I also think Smosh should stop capitalizing the names of all their videos, it's pretty childish and unnecessary to make all your video names come out in capital letters like LONGEST STARING CONTEST EVER or SMOSH FOUND DEAD or I'M NOT RACIST!!! as if shouting those things always make it funnier.
Remember "Charlie the Guinea Pig"? He was just a guinea pig with a human mouth pasted over his real mouth, and it didn't look realistic. Smosh could also use some polish on their computer animation skills and digital video editing skills - but perhaps you shouldn't blame them because Smosh isn't exactly a financially thriving empire like Disney Company that can make impressive CGI so I'll overlook Smosh on their roughly done computer-graphics.
Thanks for reading my review - especially if you've read all of it. Feel free to reply to my review, in fact I hope I get replies for my review about Smosh!