I enjoyed Deadpool this weekend. Laughed out loud many times, clapped and cheered at the Stan Lee cameo (like 1/3rd of the other people in the theater), and definitely got my $12 worth! Lotsa fun.
But I couldn't help thinking that this movie crossed a line that cannot be uncrossed.
Ever since Ferris Bueller's epic example, the trope of breaking the 4th wall and confiding in the audience has been well trodden, and has even found a few innovative and clever uses.
Deadpool, of course, uses this to the extreme. In fact, at one point he shares a thought with the audience, and then stops to analyze that thought further with the audience... and then comments on the double-commentary with a witty line about "breaking the 4th wall. Twice! That's like, sixteen walls!"
But this is exactly where my problem comes in.
I had the distinct feeling that the writers, director, producers, and Deadpool himself were sitting in the back row of the theater watching us laugh at them laughing at themselves.
It kept popping me out of the movie and into a weird meta-space. I kept feeling like I was watching Mystery Science Theater 3000... a group of people making a movie commenting on themselves making a movie.
It got so self-aware and self-referential - and it was so goddamn funny - that the next 25 movies that Hollywood vomits out will be pale carbon-copies trying to see if they can break the 32nd wall, or something.
Did I just witness the demise of the movie theater movie?
Is all the original and interesting content being made by Netflix now?
Did Deadpool register as the denouement of something to anyone else?