MSC: The Movie is the fabric of a parent’s nightmare.

After countless bleeding hearts complaining about imitations inspired by shows like Jackass and underground guilty pleasures like Bumfights, Peter Guzda and his knucklehead cronies come along with a movie that proves all of them right.

In the early 2000’s, Guzda started high school with an open mind.  He soon met up with other students who shared a similar sense of humour and boredom.  Welland, Ontario doesn’t give youth enough to do when they’re not indoors learning or asleep, which led to these buddies making mini-movies.

As a caveman once picked up a rock and slammed it against another rock and made fire, Guzda caught some episodes of MTV’s Jackass and figured it’d be a good idea to act out similar stunts.  This rollicking self-abuse caught ablaze amongst the group of kids…and so began MSC.

MSC: The Movie follows this group of boys from grade nine to their high school graduation and prom.  How these guys made it alive no one will ever know.  As they grow up, their innocence slowly disappears and the “stunts” get crazier.  But, I wouldn’t say the “stunts” get more audacious in a good way.

On one hand, MSC: The Movie is a documentary wanting to capture that sense of nostalgia and growing up through your teen years.  It represents brotherhood and no holds barred immaturity with this close-knit group of pals who are always together and live every day to their fullest.

On the other more rational hand, you have a rambling assortment of strictly juvenile and puerile clips.  It’s proof as to why we can’t have nice things.  It features many bodily excretions, zero control, and ultimately becomes a strain on both the people in front of the camera and the movie goer covering their face in shame in front of their computer monitor.  Again, not particularly in a way that Peter Guzda and company should be proud of.

I didn’t have a good time watching MSC: The Movie.  I thought the “boys will be boys” attitude devolved into something really turgid and morbid.  Guzda’s film made me feel awkward amidst all the lewd acts and graphic nudity – mostly because virtually everyone on screen is underage.

The social commentary one could materialize has to be accidental; even if the concluding reflection by the filmmaker is truthful.  I really do believe Guzda was sitting on a ton of footage and decided to string a theme together in order to make this into something that wasn’t just an extra long home movie.

I sat down to write this review – fairly agitated – expecting to declare MSC: The Movie as a write-off.  But, I can’t.

As much as we’d like to separate ourselves from the MSC crew, we were just like them when we were in high school.  We may have not been setting our scrotum on fire or stomping our friend’s stomach in, but we all did something we can look back at and say, “yeah, that was pretty stupid.”  The only thing is that even though we may find these ridiculous memories especially rich, not everyone is going to want to relive them with you – such is the case with MSC: The Movie and anyone who is an outsider to the inane behaviour.

As much as MSC: The Movie perturbed me, I can’t take this chapter away from these hooligans.  It’d be like tearing up Peter Guzda’s yearbook because “I don’t get it”.  This was a project that was assembled by freewheelers not caring what anyone else thought – especially from a buzzkill critic like myself.  For these guys, this is a towering anecdotes to remember their reckless youth.

If the times have not been kind and everyone in this crew has parted ways, I genuinely hope these guys get together once every decade to catch up, drink some beer, and reminisce over a lil’ MSC: The Movie.  It’s a an assembly of insanity and stupidity that should only be viewed and cherished by those involved in it and the fans that have caught wind (literally) of the homegrown ludicrous.  As for everyone else: this probably won’t be for you.