It was an afternoon just like any other when The Lonely Island made a surprise announcement: they would be dropping a “visual poem” on Netflix that same evening. The internet went wild with anticipation, as did I. Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer have come to complete reinvent their corner of the comedy world since Saturday Night Live helped expose them to a national audience in 2006, and a secret Lonely Island project that we didn’t even have to wait very long for was something I didn’t realize I wanted until I found out it was coming.
That secret project is The Unofficial Bash Brothers Experience. This visual poem (which is essentially just a visual album) tells the unofficial story of “The Bash Brothers” Mark McGwire (Schaffer) and Jose Canseco (Samberg), and their rise and fall as friends and baseball heroes thanks to a steroid scandal that would cast a shadow over their illustrious careers. It’s a story so specific that I can’t help but admire the level of research and dedication that went into crafting a story that almost has nothing to actually do with Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco but is overwhelmingly in line with The Lonely Island’s sensibilities.
At only a half hour long, the special moves at a clip; which works best when enjoying it in one uninterrupted viewing. Songs weave in and out quickly and end almost as soon as they start, which is sometimes a bummer when you wish the song was at least a minute longer (“IHOP Parking Lot” featuring Maya Rudolph and HAIM, one of the most delightful and funniest moments in the entire thing, is a great example of a song that should have lasted longer).
There are eleven songs in total, each one covering biographical elements of McGwire and Canseco’s careers and relationships, like “Jose & Mark” which introduces them, “Let’s Bash” which explains why they’re known as The Bash Brothers, “Oakland Nights” which covers their struggles with dating, “Focus on the Game” which paints them as sympathetic figures trying to reconcile their crumbling personal lives with their rising stars. Some of these songs are better than others, even though all of them are an 8-10 out of 10, and it’s hard to say anything about the soundtrack other than it is perfectly and unapologetically Lonely Island, for better and for worse.
I say “and for worse” because the song “Oakland Nights” is very traditionally Lonely Island – which is to say that it doesn’t really give us anything new, and if they weren’t framing it around McGwire and Canseco’s failed attempts to connect with women, it could exist anywhere else in the Lonely Island canon. Sia dropping in on the track is a pleasant surprise though, as is Sterling K Brown being used as a Sia stand-in, although something about his cameo loses all its luster almost immediately. Maybe it’s because he really truly isn’t doing a great job lip-syncing – a complaint that may be more of a personal grievance than anything.
And as a fun bit of Lonely Island trivia, the opening verse on the song “Focused AF” has actually been used in a previous Lonely Island song called “Cocaine” that predates their time on SNL. The song is about a hardcore band called The Party Andersons who love to sing about doing cocaine and is worth a listen if only for the extremely clever Bobby Flay reference.
But even “Oakland Nights” belongs up there with Incredibad as some of the best material The Lonely Island has put out. If you watched the whole thing and don’t agree with what I’m saying, I highly recommend listening to the songs on Spotify, because I guarantee you’ll catch things you didn’t while watching, and some of these lyrics are so good that it’s a shame how distracting the visuals were at points. It all moves fast in whatever the auditory version of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it is.
In addition to having stars like HAIM and Sia on the soundtrack, there are some really fun cameos in and out, like Sterling K Brown’s aforementioned Sia role, or Jenny Slate as one of the women McGwire and Canseco attempt to woo. You might be asking at this point in the review, “Where is Jorma?” And my answer is: just you wait. His appearance in the end credits might just be one of my favorite parts of the entire thing, and it’s a shame his little song didn’t get included on the soundtrack.
Overall, The Unofficial Bash Brothers Experience is The Lonely Island doing what they do best, and if you’re a fan, you’re not going to be disappointed. The boys are back in full form, and whatever they do next I have a lot more confidence going into than I would if they had never released this.
Overal Rating: 9 out of 10
The Lonely Island Presents: The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience is currently streaming on Netflix.
