Hell Baby

Cast of Characters:

Jack Watson - Rob Corddry

Vanessa Watson - Leslie Bibb

F'Resnel - Keegan-Michael Key

Marjorie - Riki Lindhome

Mickey - Rob Huebel

Ron - Paul Scheer

Father Sebastian - Robert Ben Garant

Father Padrigo - Thomas Lennon

Dr. Michael Marshall - Michael Ian Black

Cable Guy - Kumail Nanjiani

Rental Car Guy - Dave Holmes

Director - Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon

Screenplay - Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon

Rated R for bloody violence, graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use

      Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb and Keegan-Michael Key star in the horror spoof brought to you from the creators of Reno 911!, Hell Baby.

      Jack (Rob Corddry) and Vanessa Watson (Leslie Bibb) are a happily married couple expecting their first child. Upon moving into their new rundown New Orleans starter home, they soon realize that something wicked this way comes. Their neighbor F'Resnel (Keegan-Michael Key), who happens to be living in their crawl space, informs them that this house has been the scene of multiple murders and has been given many dreadfully fitting nicknames by the locals.

      Things taken an even bigger turn for the worse when Vanessa begins exhibiting odd behaviors such as smoking, drinking paint thinner and communicating with a creepy Rottweiler that makes itself at home in their yard. Her sister Marjorie (Riki Lindhome) performing a house cleansing only makes things worse. When it's decided that Vanessa, in fact, doesn't need a doctor but a priest, the Vatican sends Fathers Sebastian (Robert Ben Garant) and Padrigo (Thomas Lennon) to fight the 6 lb. 6oz. evil lurking inside her belly.

      Oh, September! Like January, you rear your ugly head at us and prove when it comes to taking out the garbage for film, you two go all out. While at first there are a few laughs, courtesy of Corddry and Bibb, as the movie progresses, the story gets worse and worse, adding more characters and jokes that overstay their welcome. It suffers from what I like to refer to as "Family Guy-itis" Family Guy-itis is essentially a joke that should only last about five seconds, and to be honest, isn't really that funny to begin with and yet they beat that dead horse for what feels like forever. One so called joke in particular involving reactions to food (oh, yeah, that's hysterical) gets resurrected at least two more times just so they can beat that horse dead again and again. It's not funny the first time, so why do you insist on going back to it as if I'm gonna come around and go, "Okay, now I get it." when I'm actually thinking, "Okay, I get it! Move on!". Keegan-Michael Key, who has created some decent laughs on the Comedy Central show Key & Peele, really has no purpose in this movie other than being the guy that just shows up unexpectedly to startle Corddry. Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer (from FX's The League) are in the same boat as two cops that should only show up for the investigation scenes, but somehow squeeze their way into more jokes that go nowhere from the moment they start. Finally, we have Garant and Lennon as the two priests. It's certainly not the exaggerated accents that wear on your nerves, it's the repetitive way they go about their little bits ("So gross..." "So gross..." "So very gross..." "Yes, so very gross...") that do. Overall, Hell Baby comes off as a story I would've written back in junior/senior high where I cram in as many juvenile and long-winded jokes that amount to nothing for the story, but my friends and I find them absolutely hysterical... No one else does, but hey, at least I'm getting a laugh, right?

      There's certainly a target audience for this. If Scary Movie V can somehow drum up $77 million in box office revenue ($57 million more than their budget), I'd like to think this can do the same. That's not to say Hell Baby is all that better. Both Garant and Lennon achieved success on Comedy Central with their effective COPS parody Reno 911!. It's unfortunate that, aside from the box office success of the Night At the Museum films, their film career (Taxi, Herbie: Fully Loaded, The Pacifier, Let's Go to Prison, and Balls of Fury) hasn't been anywhere near as successful and this film certainly won't help alleviate that misfortune. I give Hell Baby a D- (½★).