Senseless

Directed by Penelope Spheeris, Senseless follows a college student (Marlon Wayans’ Darryl Witherspoon) as he experiences heightened senses after agreeing to an experimental treatment. It’s promising subject matter that’s slowly-but-surely squandered by Spheeris, as the filmmaker, armed with Greg Erb and Craig Mazin’s screenplay, delivers a sluggish, woefully unfunny misfire that contains, at its core, a thoroughly unappealing star performance – with Wayans’ offering up an aggressively over-the-top (and relentlessly grating) turn that heightens the picture’s unwatchable atmosphere. And while the movie admittedly does feature appealing work from eclectic periphery players like Rip Torn, Brad Dourif, and David Spade, Senseless is, by and large, a laugh-free disaster that surely would’ve benefited from a more charismatic, low-key leading man.

*1/2 out of ****