Shia LaBeouf frustrates me. On the one hand, I think he’s a very talented actor. On the other, he’s a plagiarist with a plagiarist’s obnoxious “everyone steals because art” lack of understanding of what appropriation and repurposing really are. But, with a major movie out this year, Fury, Beef’s been on an apology tour, and it is working on me. I want to forgive, if not forget, his asinine behavior over the last year. But nothing he’s done has made me like him as much as this delightfully bizarre, hilariously weird song by Rob Cantor, and its accompanying modern dance interpretation.
If it was JUST the song, it would be enough. The song is amazing. The song is perfect. The staging and modern dance, the kid with the chubby cheeks saying, “Quiet, quiet”—all of it is utter, complete perfection. The song is comedy gold. It’s beyond comedy gold. I’ve watched it five times already and I can’t stop laughing. Seriously, I am crying over here, and my ribs hurt. This is satire and meta-comedy rolled into one. This is Beyond Comedy. I’d put this up against More Cowbell, Between Two Ferns, or anything from Monty Python. This is ridiculous. This is sublime.
But what makes it so, so perfect isn’t the song itself, or the performance, though those things are tremendous in their own right. No, it’s the ending. It’s Shia sitting there, alone, in his tux and clapping with burning intensity. And then the way he just sits down and looks around, as if remembering himself. It’s amazing. Watch and know true joy.
