Entertainment
Raunchy, R-Rated Comedy Is A Hilariously Misguided Revenge Story
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Whether you love or hate Tim Heidecker’s creative choices, you have to give him props for going all in on the bit no matter how absurd. From his long-running collaboration with Eric Wareheim on shows like Tom Goes to the Mayor, Beef House, and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! to his catastrophic YouTube cooking series Tim’s Kitchen Tips, Heidecker thrives on anti-comedy. That approach is pushed to its most extreme in his intentionally terrible stand-up special An Evening with Tim Heidecker.
2019’s Mister America takes a slightly different approach, leaning fully into mockumentary filmmaking as a fictionalized version of Heidecker decides to run for District Attorney of San Bernardino County. This is despite the fact that he has no legal experience outside of being tried for (mass) murder, and that he is not even a San Bernardino resident. The motivation for this entire stunt is simple. Revenge. That is really all you need to know going into Mister America, because it is just as stupid as it sounds, but it still works as a sharp piece of political satire.
A Platform Propped Up By Petty Vengeance
Tim Heidecker’s entire reason for existing in Mister America is to exact revenge against District Attorney and prosecutor Vincent Rosetti (Don Pecchia). Prior to his decision to run for office, Heidecker was dead to rights after being accused of killing 18 people and hospitalizing dozens more with defective vape pens he distributed at a music festival. After Toni Newman’s (Terri Parks) vote of “not guilty,” the case was thrown out as a mistrial due to a hung jury. Heidecker responds by running against Rosetti and hiring Newman as his campaign manager.
Living out of a hotel that doubles as his campaign headquarters, Heidecker plots his revenge by printing posters calling Rosetti a rat, making appearances at local businesses to gin up publicity, and going door to door to collect enough signatures to get his name on the ballot. When he is not actively engaging in politics, Heidecker spends most of his time puffing on a THC vape pen and drinking what most people would consider to be a reckless amount of alcohol.
Heidecker, who once hosted a movie review show called On Cinema at the Cinema, is publicly outed as a fraud by his former co-host Gregg Turkington (playing himself). Turkington frequently deploys obscure movie references to criticize Heidecker in ways that words alone cannot convey. Heidecker books conference rooms at his hotel to host debates with his opponents, none of whom ever show up. He drunkenly dictates angry emails to Toni, who barely knows how to use a laptop, before passing out in his own filth and forgetting what he was furious about in the first place.
A Unique Confidence In Incompetence
Mister America is not what I would call laugh-out-loud funny, but I was smirking for almost its entire runtime. Tim Heidecker is the only comedian I can think of who can play things completely straight while radiating confidence despite his total lack of competence. This fictionalized version of himself becomes a walking, talking embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Everyone is laughing behind his back, but he barrels forward with a psychotic level of dedication and drive that only someone like Eric Cartman could convincingly pull off.
Even as Heidecker stumbles into catastrophe at every turn in Mister America, the film still lands on a point that feels uncomfortably relevant. As stupid, inexperienced, and openly aggressive as he is in a campaign that no one initially takes seriously, if he had the right team behind him to clean up his image, he would probably have a legitimate shot at becoming District Attorney. This is true even though he is directly responsible for destroying countless families with his previous business ventures.
As of this writing, you can stream Mister America for free on Tubi.
Entertainment
Meta AI can now animate your Facebook profile picture
Facebook is rolling out a new, Meta AI-powered feature that will allow users to animate their profile pictures.
Was the online public necessarily clamoring for Facebook profile pictures that waved via AI? Well…not really. But it’s here nonetheless.
Users will have access to preset animations that will turn a photo into an AI-powered, GIF-like moving profile picture. Wrote Facebook in a press release:
Mashable Trend Report
“You can now animate your profile picture, turning a still photo into a playful animation in seconds. Choose from preset animations — like natural, party hat, confetti, wave, and heart — to bring your profile picture to life depending on how you’re feeling. We’ll add more animation options throughout the year so you can celebrate and express yourself during seasonal moments and special events.
For the best results, we recommend using a photo that features a single person facing the camera with their face clearly visible, and not holding other objects. You can select photos to animate directly from your camera roll or choose photos you’ve already uploaded to Facebook. Once a photo is animated, you can share it to your Feed and view it on your profile.”
How the animation process looks.
Credit: Meta
Is it the coolest thing to animate your profile picture to make it look like you’re making a heart with your hands? Not really. But honestly, I can imagine a kooky aunt or uncle loving it. And kooky aunts and uncles love Facebook as much as they love AI photos and images.
Facebook also announced it had added a “restyle” feature that uses AI to touch-up or change photos in Stories. So, a normal photo with a friend, for instance, could be reimagined to look like an illustration. The restyle feature has preset options and can also reimagine a photo based on a text prompt.
Entertainment
Bumble quietly removes option for men to message first in Mexico and Australia
The dating app Bumble has been known for “women making the first move” (messaging first) in straight matches since its 2014 launch. Now the company is reversing a more recent change to let men message first — but only in a couple of areas.
Last week, Bumble announced that it’s removing the Opening Moves feature in Mexico and Australia. The feature has been removed automatically for those users.
Opening Moves was introduced in 2024 as a way for men to send the first message to women and was advertised as a way to lessen exhaustion with dating apps. The company’s former CEO Lidiane Jones led the charge after taking over from founder and first CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, who shortly thereafter returned to the CEO role after Jones held the position for only a year.
Mashable Trend Report
While the reputation of dating apps overall has been slipping in recent years due to burnout and bad actors, Bumble has been especially hit financially. The company laid off 30 percent of its workforce last year, and its stock price has fallen 95 percent from its IPO as of this writing.
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Bumble seems to be returning to its original ethos even amid legal challenges. The Observer reported Bumble introduced Opening Moves following lawsuits and legal threats in California, claiming that the app discriminated against men, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Observer states that the company is starting to remove Opening Moves in Australia and Mexico due to lower legal risks in those markets.
“At Bumble, we regularly test and innovate our features to foster healthy, respectful connections while staying true to our women-first mission and prioritizing member safety,” a Bumble spokesperson told Mashable. “Supporting our community as they go from match to message is a key part of that work. As with all testing, we evaluate our learnings before considering a wider rollout, ensuring any changes continue to meet our community’s needs and deliver a positive experience for our members.”
Entertainment
Erupcja trailer: Charli XCX stars in explosive sapphic romance
Charli XCX is going from pop star to movie star with a string of films, including the queer fantasy 100 Nights of Hero, the mockumentary The Moment, and the sapphic romantic drama Erupcja.
Charli XCX co-wrote the script for Erupcja with director Pete Ohs and co-star Lena Góra. Set in Warsaw, the film focuses on two women, a local florist named Nel (Góra) and a tourist named Bethany (XCX), who has repeatedly crashed her love life. But this time, Bethany’s brought her current boyfriend Rob (Will Madden), who is looking for the perfect moment to propose.
In my review out of the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is quoted in the above trailer, I cheered: “Shot with the kinetic yet poised cool of the French New Wave, this Polish production feels timeless. Its scenes play out with enough specificity for audiences to hook in, but enough ambiguity that they can feel like a dream. There’s a touch of fairy tale to that. Ohs keeps his characters curious and fluid, refusing to shove them into easy-to-define roles of hero and villain. Instead, Erupcja embraces the feral nature of love, messy and wondrous…. Erupcja is a thundering rumble of drama and romance, leaving its audience excited and rattled.”
Erupcja opens in theaters April 17.
Meta AI can now animate your Facebook profile picture
Bumble quietly removes option for men to message first in Mexico and Australia
