Eight Crazy Nights (2002)

Often sincere when it should ironic and ironic when it should be sincere. The animation's good and some of the songs are catchy, but the attempts at a social message about overcoming prejudice are undermined by how much the film's presentation and universe hew to the bitter, spiteful perspective of its main character. It's a shame, because there's something genuinely interesting about what they try here. Many stories about prejudice against outcasts make the outcasts beautiful, talented, heroic—easy to idealise—“handsome vampire oppressed by Vatican vampire hunters” or “nerd girl gets makeover, becomes beauty queen” or “black NASA genius helps USA score propaganda victory over USSR”—or make them perfectly norm-fitting people but for some irrelevant detail, e.g. a mortgaged-up gay suburbanite in business casual, “not one of those blue-hair-and-pronouns freaks”. The team behind this film says “okay, what about an old man with odd features, weird habits, and no great talents, just truly deep kindness?” They fuck it up, but still, they tried.