LET'S GO TO PRISON

US, 2006, 86 minutes, Colour.
Dax Shepard, Will Arnett, Chi Mc Bride, David Koechner, Dylan Baker, Michael Shannon.
Directed by Bob Odenkirk.

The director of Let’s Go to Prison is Bob Odenkirk, writer, comedian, performer in Breaking Bad and director of various episodes for television series.

This film is often quite funny, a parody of life in prison.

Dax Shepard (Hit and Run) is John, a perennial criminal, reminiscing about his life as a boy and his being sentenced, as an adolescent, as a young man, and all by the same judge. John promises revenge on the judge when he gets out of prison, phones up to find that the judge has died three days earlier. Frustrated, he turns his attention to the son of the judge.

The son, Nelson, is played by Will Arnett, a wealthy priggish person, determined to get his own way, not suffering fools or anyone very gladly. After a public function, when he has an asthma attack, he races to the pharmacist and causes havoc as he tries to find his medication. The owner of the shop is angry, is attacked – and the whole thing filmed. He goes to court, is abandoned by the board of his company who want to get rid of him, and is sentenced to jail. John, who has attended the proceedings, sees his opportunity, indulges in criminal action, persuades the judge to send him to the same jail and the authorities of the prison to give him back his old clothes and that he be in the same cell as Nelson of the judge where he can quietly and gradually wreak his revenge, misleading Nelson who thinks that John is on his side and is most grateful.

A lot of the scenes are familiar from prison films, David Koechner leading the corrupt guards, violent and betting on fights. Dylan Baker is the warden of the jail, full of tough talk to the prisoners coming in, supervising – and yet betting on the outcome of the final fight. Michael Shannon, before he became quite so well-known, is the leader of a group of prisoners, dominant and getting his own way, whom Nelson confronts but becomes the target for death. In an irony, when Nelson has got some boat cleaner to inject himself to die because he cannot take anything any more, Shannon decides that this is a good hit, injects himself and dies. Which means that Nelson becomes the head of the prisoners, the white supremacists getting behind his back for protection, others afraid of him. Nelson puts on a tough act, puts on a rather camp musical show in the prison, and, more at ease, enjoys his new authority, finding great self-confidence.

In the meantime, John has tried every opportunity to humiliate Nelson and to bring him down, without Nelson realising what was happening. Which is quite frustrating for John, especially when Nelson emerges as the boss.

There is a gay subtext when a large African- American, Barry, is infatuated with Nelson. There are amusing, if momentarily risque, episodes when, ultimately, Nelson is in love with Barry (Chi McBride).

The film builds up to a confrontation between John and Nelson with bets taken, everybody looking on, but both stabbing each other with syringes. They are both pronounced dead – and we see the funeral scene at the cemetery.

Before he dies, Nelson has arranged to adopt Barry and so thwart the ambitions of the board of his company, with Barry inheriting everything. But the plan is even more complex, with Barry arriving to dig up the coffin and, three days later, Nelson emerging safe and sound, all with the help of the prisoner pharmacist who has provided a potion to keep him in coma for three days. And, as if that is not enough, we see a flashback where John and Nelson have made a pact so that John does not die either and is it exhumed alive.

Happy ending for Nelson, Barry – and John, literally, going along for the ride.