January 6th, 2021, was a bleak day in our country’s history for any number of reasons, but it was not without its obvious, glaring warning signs, or so argues “This Place Rules,” a bracingly funny mix of man-on-the-street gonzo journalism and punk political critique born from the entirely singular brain of “Channel 5“/”All Gas No Brakes” mastermind Andrew Callaghan (the film has been jointly produced by A24, Jonah Hill’s Strong Baby Productions, and Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim’s Abso Lutely Productions). Callaghan, despite his in-your-face interviewing style, is an amusingly unruffled on-camera presence, distinguished by his signature oversize suits, mop of curly hair, and droll Everyman demeanor. The 25-year-old seized the attention spans of many during the 2020 lockdown, achieving viral fame by hitting the road in an RV and stumbling upon bizarre subcultural gatherings that ran the gamut from NRA conferences to Phish concerts and beyond. Many of the folks that Callaghan chooses to interview are characters, to put it politely; he often provides minimal prompting in order to coax these strange individuals – almost all of whom have shunned the demands of mainstream society, in one way or another – into sharing their stories with him.
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“This Place Rules” sees Callaghan at his most expansive and uncompromising. The film is, on the surface, about the days of dissent and disarray that led up to the storming of the United States Capitol building on January 6. Evaluated on a more macro scale, “This Place Rules” is about a country that has lost touch with a core, unifying sense of collective decency, if it ever had one to begin with. Throughout the film, Callaghan throws himself into the ugly fray of a furious, roiling American melting pot, speaking to citizens who have essentially chosen to drop out of life in favor of subscribing to a self-created alternate reality. He confronts children whose parents have pulled them out of school and indoctrinated them to believe that Joe Biden is a child molester. He speaks to leftist protesters who cannot bring themselves to define what “socialism” actually means. Late in the proceedings, Callaghan sits down with a Trump-loving white rapper named Forgiato Blow, who actually has a single titled “Let’s Go Brandon.” One of the film’s more insidious talking heads is a QAnon-obsessed militant currently living off the grid: unsurprisingly, the man is myopically obsessed with dismantling the “cabal” of pedophiles that allegedly run both Washington and Hollywood, but Callaghan, in a gesture that’s bound to spark discussion, reserves the most shocking trump card in “This Place Rules” for a bombshell revelation that causes us to see his subject in an even more unsparing and incriminatory light.
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Callaghan is a defining voice in comedic journalism during an era where it is easier than ever to feel that America has ruptured into two warring political camps. His trademark brand of provocation manages to pierce through the noise of the self-perpetuating media echo chambers every last one of us subscribes to, and as a result, “This Place Rules” feels genuinely, thrillingly unprocessed. It’s coarse, confrontational, and, in spite of how disturbing much of it is, impossible to deny. The film’s thesis, if that is the appropriate word, revolves around cultural polarization, and how America has lapsed into an era plagued by rampant, widely disseminated misinformation. In an epoch such as this, both political comedy and political journalism face an uphill battle: a challenge that “This Place Rules” is more than happy to accept.
Fans of “Channel 5” and “All Gas No Brakes” will find themselves already on the wavelength of something like “This Place Rules,” while mileage will vary for those who aren’t hip to Callaghan’s shtick. It would be easy (too easy, really) to look at this parade of misery and evaluate what Callaghan is doing as some Gen Z-friendly riff on the tacky sideshow stylings favored by Jerry Springer and his ilk. Alas, there is a sneaky, insistent rage at play here that only underlines the movie’s urgency. By interviewing the lost, misinformed Americans who are routinely mocked on either side of the aisle by the unapologetically partisan likes of Fox News and CNN, Callaghan seems to be holding a mirror up to the unholy mess we’ve made of our country and saying, “Like it or not, this is who we are.” “This Place Rules” is telling you it’s okay to laugh at foreskin-obsessed antisemites and Alex Jones tousling another grown man’s hair, at least in this context, but it’s also a work born out of anger, righteousness, and compassion.
Callaghan clearly believes that the violently opposed demographics his film profiles have been pitted against each other by powerful third parties who stand to profit off their division. Not only is he not wrong, but “This Place Rules” itself feels like the most unflinchingly honest account of the strange, terrible place our country is at than anything that’s come down the pipeline in years. It’s scathing enough to make contemporary liberal-leaning satires seem as though they’re pulling their punches, and it renders the political “comedy” of something like “Saturday Night Live” as downright prehistoric. “This Place Rules” is a cracked funhouse mirror of conspiracy brain rot and uniquely American surreality. We very much doubt you’ll see another documentary like it anytime soon. [A]
“This Place Rules” is currently streaming on HBOMax.