The comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy has made a name for themselves through hilarious sketches on Saturday Night Live over the past couple of years, surprising even themselves with accomplishments like getting Taylor Swift to participate in the famed “Three Sad Virgins” video. Now, like many before them, they are turning their SNL schtick into a movie with Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain. The comedy can be streamed now with a Peacock subscription, so let’s see if the critics think this is worth the watch.
Please Don’t Destroy comprises Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy, and the comedy group stars in the movie as best friends whose lives have started to take them in different directions before a treasure hunt forces them to address their issues while fighting some bizarre outside forces. In CinemaBlend’s review of Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, Nick Venable calls the movie the funniest SNL offering since Wayne’s World. He rates it 4 out of 5 stars, writing:
I can safely say Foggy Mountain provides more laughs per capita than anything else I've experienced in 2023. To the point where its runtime, a relatively brief 90+ minutes, seems longer than it is, purely because my face legitimately felt sore from the smile never leaving my face.
Belen Edwards of Mashable agrees with the above review that the writers playing exaggeratedly uncool versions of themselves works to their advantage, especially when compared to SNL comedies of the past that center around quirky characters that work better in short spurts. The movie will leave you giggling for most of its runtime, but it’s not immune to the pitfalls of developing sketches into features. Edwards continues:
The Treasure of Foggy Mountain works best when it allows itself time to breathe between all its crazy hijinks. The latter half of the movie is stronger than the first, as Martin, John, and Ben reckon with what this treasure hunt has done to them and their friendship. (Is the treasure really more important than the friends they made along the way?) These scenes mark crucial development for the three characters and also let the trio sink into more dramatic work — a nice change from their heightened, sketchier roles. From there, the film is able to jump into its gonzo third act with heightened emotional stakes that make even the dumbest of gags hit harder.
Josh Spiegel of SlashFilm gives The Treasure of Foggy Mountain 6 out of 10, calling it a hit-or-miss affair, with its clever and funny portions slightly edging out its shortcomings. The story takes a backseat to the Please Don’t Destroy team playing off of each other, which is to be expected from such a movie. In the critic’s words:
The plot, as is often the case with sketch-comedy films like Hot Rod, is beside the point once the setup gets out of the way. Each of the three leads' subplots lends itself to some humor, whether it's in John and Ben riffing on how out-of-place Martin looks when preparing to get baptized or in the film's narrator (John Goodman, because why not) describing a childhood trauma of John's. There are (naturally) good bits here, though the slapdash nature of the film, directed by Paul Briganti, sometimes seems as much like a comic choice as a necessity of a presumably low budget.
Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com rates the new Please Don’t Destroy comedy 2.5 stars out of 4, acknowledging the same issue as noted by other critics, but expressing hope that Please Don’t Destroy could continue to thrive in the feature space. Tallerico writes:
There’s a hysterical short film in here—something longer than their SNL sketches to be sure, but not quite feature-length. However, enough jokes connected with my funny bone to lead me to believe that they could one day make their Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, one of the funnier movies to come from any SNL vet. This one is more forgettable than it could have been but also nowhere near the disaster that often comes when members of Lorne Michaels' troupe are allowed out during the day.
Michael Frank of The Film Stage grades the movie a C+, noting that the recurring jokes don’t work, actors like John Goodman, Conan O’Brien and Bowen Yang are thrown into supporting roles seemingly just for name value, and the set pieces are terrible. To be sure, the critic says this is not a great comedy, but the trio’s chemistry and charm are on display regardless. Frank continues:
The Treasure of Foggy Mountain still showcases their collective talent. The jokes land with some consistency through the first hour, and performances––while lacking any dramatic chops––all contain warmth and charm. Even if the laughs might be cheap, they’re laughs all the same. Seeing this in a packed theater with a willing audience elevated the comedy to likely undeserving heights, yet I can’t deny there’s fun to be had: the trio has tremendous chemistry, clearly enjoying making this film together, and part of that charm comes through in the final product.
The critics seem to agree Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain falls somewhere in the middle of Saturday Night Live’s sketches-turned-movies. There are laughs to be had, but the momentum of the undeniably talented trio can’t sustain for a full 90 minutes. If you want to give the movie a shot, it is available to stream now on Peacock. Also be sure to check out our 2023 movie release calendar to see what else is coming through the end of the year.
