''National Lampoon's Gold Diggers'' (also known as ''National Lampoon's Lady Killers'') is a 2003 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film written and directed by Gary Preisler. It features two friends (

Will Friedle Will Friedle (; born August 11, 1976) is an American actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as List of Boy Meets World characters#Eric Matthews, Eric Matthews in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC sitcom ''Boy Meets World'' (19 ...

and Chris Owen) who marry two elderly sisters (

Louise Lasser Louise Lasser (born April 11, 1939) is an American actress, television writer, and performing arts teacher and director. She is known for her portrayal of the title character on the soap opera satire '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'', for which sh ...

and

Renée Taylor Renée Adorée Taylor (née Wexler; born March 19, 1933) is an American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director. Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay for the film '' Lovers and Other Strangers ...

) so they can inherit their fortunes when they die.

Plot

Two dimwitted friends try to get rich through small crimes, including an unsuccessful attempt to mug two elderly women. They agree to get married, the women scheme to kill them off and collect on a life insurance policy, the men think the elderly women will die and leave them a big inheritance.

Cast

Reception

Box office

The film was considered a dismal failure, with a theatrical run of only 1 week, and earning less than $400,000 as opening weekend receipts (less than $400 per theater).

Critical response

The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, with 43 reviews, the film has a rare approval rating of 0%meaning no favorable reviews whatsoeverreceiving an average rating of 2.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "It aspires to Farrelly-level offensiveness, but the PG-13 rating and a dearth of decent gags renders Gold Diggers tame, toothless, and dull." The film was included on the site's Worst of the Worst list of movies of the decade (2000–09). According to film review website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which compiles and averages critics' review scores, the film is the 11th worst reviewed film of all time. It also holds a score of 6 out 100 based on reviews from 14 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Janice Page of the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' panned the film, and wrote: "Put it this way: National Lampoon's Gold Diggers makes " The Anna Nicole Show" look sophisticated. Page continued "Not only is there nothing thoughtful or interesting about this latest ultra-crass contribution to the Lampoon shelf, there's not even anything very funny." Luke Sader of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called it "Cheap-looking, broad and ultimately unnecessary comedy." Justin Chang of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' described it as "By turns pointless and pointlessly mean-spirited."

Home media

An unrated DVD was released in 2005. ''National Lampoon's Gold Diggers'' brought in $1.29 million during its first week on the rental market.

References

External links

* * * 2003 films 2003 black comedy films 2003 directorial debut films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films American black comedy films English-language black comedy films Gold Diggers {{2000s-US-film-stub