'Postal' may be Boll's best effort, but that's not saying much

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"Postal" should be returned to sender.German writer-director Uwe Boll has made a career of video-game adaptations that are detested by fans and critics alike and flop at the box office. With "Postal," Boll produces what may be his best effort with an anything-and-then-some-goes satire in which the only sound louder than the laughter emanating from the audience is the groans.Of course, the distinction of being Boll's best film is hardly a compliment in the grand scheme of things, sort of like being the wealthiest homeless person.The slap-happy, too-busy, offensive-and-proud-of-it flick starts off with an attempt at making fun of the 9/11 terrorist hijackings and goes down from there. Boll makes some valid points about media hypocrisy and the ridiculousness of a violence-obsessed culture, but too many of his jokes are too witless or immature to register.Based on the video-game series, made by the Tucson, Ariz., company Running With Scissors, the film is set in a dusty, trailer-park-riddled Arizona town. Zack Ward plays the put-upon protagonist, the Dude, who's on the verge of losing his mind and going off on a kill-crazy rampage. He struggles to find work, his wife cheats on him and he tends to have to wait in line behind annoying people.The Dude goes along with a fund-raising plan by his uncle (Dave Foley), leader of a hippie cult, to steal a truck of rare and popular genitalia-shaped dolls from Nazis, unwittingly aiding a terrorist scheme by Muslim extremists to infect the United States with the bird flu. The convoluted plotting crosses the line from "just crazy enough to work" to "just crazy."There are some bright spots: the dirty old men who sit on a patio and comment vulgarly on all the absurdity, the self-effacing performance of Verne "Mini-Me" Troyer and the contrivance that imagines George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden are secretly best friends.Too many jokes fall with a thud, and there's an amateurish quality to the look and transitions. The excessive violence and jokes at the expense of 9/11 victims are brazen and repulsive, and the movie runs a few laps behind the game in the social-satire department. A telling scene has Running With Scissors CEO Vince Desiderio playing himself, attacking Boll for ruining his video game. There's more truth to the moment than Boll intended.2 stars out of 4Rated: R for extremely crude humor throughout, including strong sexuality, graphic nudity, violence, and for pervasive language and some drug use.Family call: Not for kids or the easily offended.Running time: 92 minutes.(Contact Phil Villarreal at Pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)