The Big Picture

The Treasure of Foggy Mountain feels like a series of sketches stitched together, which can be hit or miss, but mostly works. The film showcases the strengths and weaknesses of each member of the Please Don’t Destroy comedy group. While it may not be a grand statement, the movie serves as a proof of concept and hints at better things to come for the talented trio.

One of the biggest criticisms of films made by Saturday Night Live alumni is that they can often feel like a series of sketches or an amalgamation of ideas that don’t justify a full feature. This isn’t always necessarily a bad thing—films like Anchorman and The Blues Brothers are barely held together by a plot—but sometimes, this can lead to films like The Love Guru or The Master of Disguise. Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, the first film from the comedy group of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, falls into this same problem, often seeming like deleted concepts stitched together into a “story,” but thankfully, it’s a form that mostly works here—even though the result doesn’t have the quality of the group’s SNL videos or online sketches.

Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain Release Date November 17, 2023 Director Paul Briganti Cast Nichole Sakura, John Goodman, Gaten Matarazzo, Sunita Mani Rating R Main Genre Comedy Genres Comedy Writers Martin Herlihy, John Higgins, Ben Marshall

What Is ‘The Treasure of Foggy Mountain’ About?

In The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, Martin, John, and Ben play three longtime friends who live together and “work” at Trout Plus, owned by Ben’s dad (a rare film performance by Conan O’Brien). But in their twenties, this trio is starting to pull apart. Martin is caught up with his girlfriend (Nichole Sakura) and has just converted to her faith—including getting baptized as a full-ass adult. Ben wants to take over his dad’s business, but his ideas like a hair salon for boys and a store that sells everything don’t give his father much confidence. Meanwhile, John just wants to have fun, drinking too many Truly Hard Seltzers and flying in Trout Plus’ indoor skydiving booth.

With the group splintering, John gets an idea to bring the group back together. As kids, John, Ben, and Martin found a compass, and now, John believes it may be the key to finding a treasure that has become local legend: a $100 million golden bust of Marie Antoinette. With the promise of enough money to make their dreams come true, these three embark on a hunt for the treasure of Foggy Mountain.

‘The Treasure of Foggy Mountain’ Often Feels Like a Bunch of Sketches
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For longtime fans of Please Don’t Destroy, the beats of the humor should feel familiar. For example, the film opens with this group trying to get to work, leading to them roller skating and having a good time together, before Ben’s dad reveals that they’re several hours late. That sharp cut in the fantasy is key to so many of the Please Don’t Destroy sketches, and while it works here off and on, the blueprint for the jokes can start to become a bit too obvious in a feature-length format.

At times, The Treasure of Foggy Mountain breaks off into little segments that do feel like sketches. We get a flashback to John in middle school at his talent show that explains how these three met, and it can’t help but remind of the recent “The Original Princes of Comedy” piece on SNL. Similarly, an alter-ego of Martin, in which he blacks out after drinking too much, and becomes a new, badass version of himself, could’ve easily been one of the group’s shorter Twitter videos. Again, this segmentation isn’t always bad and does lead to some pretty funny jokes, but the rhythm here does occasionally feel off because of it.

The Treasure of Foggy Mountain doesn’t always rely on these three staying together, and some of the best moments here allow each member to have their own stories. O’Brien and Marshall playing off each other is almost always gold, and O’Brien’s complete outrage as a father over his son’s incompetence will make you wish there were more movies featuring the comedian. Herlihy’s strange conversion is funny by simply putting him in childlike situations. Meanwhile, two rangers (played by Megan Statler and Mayo X) find out about this group’s treasure and start to track them down, which leads to a charming relationship that brews between Statler and Higgins’ characters. By watching these three have their own moments apart from the group, we do start to see their strengths and weaknesses as comedians on their own, instead of as part of the group. Plus, between Statler, O’Brien, a cult leader played by Bowen Yang, and great narration by John Goodman, Please Don’t Destroy has amassed an excellent group to surround themselves with in this initial feature.

Even Though It’s Not Great, ‘The Treasure of Foggy Mountain’ Is Just the Beginning for Please Don’t Destroy
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Director Paul Briganti does a good job at matching the tone that Please Don’t Destroy usually has with their videos, and the script by Marshall, Herlihy, and Higgins does its best to expand their comedy into a feature—even though it still seems stretched thin at only 90 minutes. But in a way, it almost doesn’t really matter that The Treasure of Foggy Mountain isn’t much, as this does feel like a calling card as to what their style will be for an entire film, or to prove that they can maintain this for an hour and a half. While it’s not the quality of, say, what Adam Sandler did in his leading role in Billy Madison, or what The Lonely Island crew did with Hot Rod, those led to bigger and better roles for the SNL alumni involved. The Treasure of Foggy Mountain doesn’t feel like a grand statement that Please Don’t Destroy is here, it’s more a proof of concept—these three have made a movie, it’s mostly funny, and it’ll probably go up from here.

And considering the rocket ship of success that Please Don’t Destroy has been riding on for the last few years, that’s almost certainly true. Their videos online frequently went viral (and for good reason), and their arrival on Saturday Night Live felt like a natural fit, filling the void in digital shorts that’s been there since Andy Samberg left the show. The Treasure of Foggy Mountain isn’t the type of movie you make to stake your claim as you leave SNL, it’s the type of movie you make to show you’re more than just a fifteen-minute flash in the pan. Please Don’t Destroy’s debut film isn’t necessarily a treasure, but there are a few gems to make the future look solid for this trio.

Rating: C+

Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain is now available on Peacock.

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