Goat Testicle Transplants Don't Cut It

by Luke Johnson

Kudos to filmmaker Penny Lane and writer Thom Stylinski for the clever approach they take to their new high-concept documentary, Nuts!, about John Romulus Brinkley, a real-life Kansas doctor who in 1917 attempted to cure impotence by transplanting goat testicles in men. Too bad, though, the onscreen result is less than stimulating—much, much less funny or cute than it thinks it is. Only in America could a jerk-off like Brinkley nearly win the governorship of the Jayhawk State, build his own radio station to broadcast the world's first infomercials, and make millions doing it. Such a shame then, that as his biography unfolds in wonderfully rendered animated re-enactments, the jokes meant to carry these scenes fall noticeably flat. What should have been a triumphant reveal at the film's climax instead flops out flaccid due in no small part to all the forehead-pounding boredom that precedes it.

Rated R.

Critic's Grade: C-

Willamette Week