Formula 51
Elmo McElroy (Samuel L. Jackson) has transcended any need for firearms by mastering explosives and crippling laxatives that incapacitate his adversaries. Be they inept skinheads or fat druglords, no one can withstand Elmo's awesome chemical prowess. And that's the way it should be because he's Samuel L. Jackson, damnit.
Formula 51 is the story of Elmo McElroy's emancipation from the drug racket. On the day of his college graduation he is busted for possessing marijuana, for impersonating Chong poorly, for DUI, and for the wrongful deaths of California Condors strangled by his oversized afro. Tragically, these criminal charges render him ineligible for employment as a pharmacist. Elmo is forced to use his pharmacology degree to make illegal designer drugs like ecstasy instead of making an honest living as a pharmacist by distributing ridilin to kids and getting grandma her morphine fix. Thirty years after his fateful graduation day, Elmo (who now braids his hair) blows up his boss, The Lizard (Meat Loaf), and flies to England to peddle the formula for his super drug, POS51, all the while wearing a kilt. Unfortunately, The Lizard survives the explosion and sends an assassin Dakota (Emily Mortimer) after Elmo. A Liverpool hood named Felix (Robert Carlyle) teams up with Elmo to help make a deal for the super drug. Rival forces vie for the master chemist and his formula, and by the end of the film Elmo once again dons an afro before getting naked.
Yes, Formula 51 really is that wild. There is foul language of both American and English varieties, a slew of ridiculous characters, and even up-kilt humor.
Some critics have naively identified this movie as a terrible combination of Pulp Fiction and Snatch. This is a superficial conclusion. Though Formula 51 shares locales, subject matter, and even actors with these two movies, it lacks the seriousness of either. This movie is a farce, plain and simple. It is fun to watch, but is not a gripping drama. Formula 51 is not in any way a serious movie. If you didn't gleam that from my synopsis, or from Elmo's glib rhetoric like "Rest in peace, motherf---er", then you obviously lack a central nervous system. However, those of us who are competent to be tried in a court of law understand that this movie was made solely to entertain, and that not every movie must be deep or meaningful.
Formula 51 is entertainment, not art, and that's not a bad thing. It would be horrible if it tried to be art, but it thankfully refrains from doing so. Instead, this movie focuses on style and on showcasing that baddest of motherf---ers: Samuel L. Jackson. In what other movie can you witness this great actor declare, "Get ready to kiss the sun and taste the muthaf---in' rainbow?" Isn't it worth forgoing depth in a film just to watch Elmo beat skinheads with a golf club? It was for me.
If there is an underlying theme in Formula 51, it is one of freedom from oppression. Many crime bosses are killed in the course of the movie, thereby freeing those indebted to them. Hitmen, prostitutes, and underworld chemists alike labor for the profit of their crime bosses in exchange for protection from other racketeers and thugs. Formula 51 shows what happens when they operate as free agents away from their former masters, and the dangers of doing so.
This film succeeds in entertaining audiences with flair, but does not attempt anything more. Because Formula 51 is a fun flick but not a cinematic achievement, I give it one Happy, Dead, Fat Comedian:
(Minimum Rating: 3 Sad, Dead, Fat, Comedians. Maximum Rating: 3 Happy, Dead, Fat Comedians.)
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