Poop Talk

An almost astonishingly one-note documentary, Poop Talk boasts an assortment of familiar (and not-so-familiar) comedians talking about and relating stories of excrement in all its forms – with the film featuring appearances by, among others, Pete Holmes, Rob Corddry, Nikki Glaser, and Eric Stonestreet. It’s clear almost immediately that director Aaron N. Feldman is going for a vibe similar to that of 2005’s The Aristocrats, as Poop Talk relentlessly jumps from sound bite to sound bite from its various subjects, all of whom have been filmed in bland, nondescript locations. It’s clear, then, that the movie, also like The Aristocrats, suffers from a hit-and-miss feel that only grows more predominant as time progresses, although, to be fair, the movie does feature a small handful of admittedly compelling, laugh-out-loud funny anecdotes (including Kumail Nanjiani’s story of his youthful belief that he’ll stop pooping if he eats just the right amount of food). Feldman’s ongoing efforts at padding-out Poop Talk‘s 68 minute running time ensures that the movie is rife with unfunny, uninteresting segues, to be sure, and there’s little doubt that certain subjects simply have nothing of value to contribute to the conversation. (This is especially true of virtually all of Nick Swardson’s comments.) By the time Feldman begins eliciting his participants’ thoughts on toilets, Poop Talk‘s place as a passable short that’s been clumsily expanded to feature length has been confirmed – with the film best suited and destined to a life as clips on YouTube. (It would actually benefit from such a truncated presentation, undoubtedly.)

** out of ****