‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Review: “The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6″

Wow, the latest season of 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' has just flown by as we're already at the penultimate episode of this year. And it's been a strong season, one of their best ever, which leads to high hopes for "The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6," which sounds amazing from the outset. Alas.

The episode opens with widescreen footage of a Native American woman chanting. A hand rises from the ground as Frank/Lazarus emerges for revenge. This is the start of 'Lethal Weapon 6' and Mac, Dennis and Charlie are showing it to a loan officer in the hopes of getting forty million dollars.

The boys reveal they're having "creative differences" with Frank because he wants to have a full-penetration sex scene in the film. The bank shoots them down, but they show more footage. Mac plays Roger Murtaugh (in blackface, of course), and loses a basketball game against retirees. Dennis is Martin Riggs and he's there to shame Roger for not RSVPing to for his wedding. It turns out Martin is about to marry Roger's daughter, which is why he doesn't want to go. They play a game of hoops to see if Roger will come, but Roger easily dunks his way to victory. At the wedding, Martin plays sax as he's about to marry Dee's Rianne Murtaugh (also in blackface). Martin then objects to the wedding because he needs Roger's blessing -- fortunately Roger is hanging out nearby. But then someone kills Rhianne with a bomb, and the bad guys are revealed to be Lazarus and Charlie (Charlie's playing the twin brother of the guy who was killed in 'Lethal Weapon 5'). There's a poorly green-screened chase when a different person stops the footage. But they resume the footage, and there Roger and Martin show up at the police station where Charlie is playing the commanding officer. Roger gets his badge back, when Dee shows up with clues. She's then cut out of the movie as Martin explains that Lazarus is back from the dead.

Martin thinks Lazarus's plan is to have a rain dance that would cause Los Angeles to wash into the ocean, and would turn Lazarus's land into valuable beachfront property. Charlie skips ahead a little because they explained the plot a little too much. But the woman at the dot com place where they're pitching for a loan has never even seen the original 'Lethal Weapon,' which the boys dismiss because she's a woman. They then have a volleyball scene just like 'Top Gun' with just as much homoeroticism. Which they take to the next level with a shower scene featuring gratuitous butt shots, and Mac's makeup and mustache falling off. Mac then plays Martin and Dennis switches to Roger, and then they start wrestling in the shower. The third person (a hedge fund manager) they're showing it to stops the footage because he thinks its a gay porno. But the boys reject that notion by showing the possible investor the next scene where Roger and Martin go to a strip club where they note that they're not gay. Next up on stage is Dee, though she's got an obvious body double.

The boys go to Frank complaining about not getting money from any of the people they've talked to, so Frank says he'll do it if he gets what he wants. The boys relent. Cut to the climatic shootout at an umbrella factory. Roger takes lead as Lazarus pushes Charlie in front of himself, which leads to Charlie's weird Danish twin character's death. But Lazarus escapes, and while Mac goes to the bathroom, he's replaced by someone else. Martin and Roger finally catch up to Lazarus, but they're out of bullets, so Roger uses his basketball skills to release a trap door. Lazarus then falls into a molten... something. When they're done they go to a wedding as Rianne has been resurrected by the shaman woman (who they killed shortly thereafter). The End. Except for Frank's sex scene with the shaman woman who turns into a beautiful naked lady. Back at the bank they show the footage to the loan officer, explaining that was what they were trying to avoid.

Tonight's episode of 'Sunny' had some good moments, and a callback to 'Top Gun' (which ties into Mac's questionable sexual interests) is always appreciated, but though this was a good episode, it hit a lot of same-y notes. Their version of a 'Lethal Weapon' movie is incompetent, and though some of the bits (like changing roles in the middle of the movie) were inspired, after a while the joke plateaus as it repeats. It's still got laughs, but this is easily the weakest episode of the season. In this case, the premise is so good that it would work better as a sketch than an a full episode.