Postal (film)

Postal

Company type	Film
Industry	Film industry
Founded	2007
Founder	Uwe Boll
Headquarters	Vancouver , Canada
Key people	Uwe Boll (director, co-writer), Vince Desiderio (producer)
Products	Film adaptation of Postal video game series

Postal is a 2007 action comedy film co-written and directed by Uwe Boll, featuring performances by Zack Ward, Dave Foley, among others. The movie adapts the Postal series, primarily inspired by its 2003 sequel, Postal 2. Despite the video game’s established fan following, the film was a box office disappointment, earning less than 1% of its $15 million production budget and receiving predominantly negative reviews from critics.

Plot

The story begins with a satirical prologue portraying two fictional 9/11 hijackers who abandon their mission upon discovering “there are not enough virgins to go around,” which inadvertently results in a crash into the World Trade Center.

Set five years later in Paradise, Arizona, the unstable main character known as the Postal Dude struggles with both personal and financial issues after uncovering his wife’s betrayal. He joins forces with his uncle Dave, a con artist turned doomsday cult leader burdened by over a million dollars in unpaid taxes, to orchestrate the theft of a shipment of rare Krotchy Dolls—plush toys shaped like oversized scrotums that can fetch up to $4,000 each on the internet.

Simultaneously, Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda operatives, covertly residing in Paradise under President George W. Bush’s administration, plan to contaminate these dolls with avian influenza to target American children. At the shipment’s endpoint—a German-themed amusement park named Little Germany—a violent clash unfolds involving the cult, terrorists, law enforcement, and the park owner Uwe Boll, leading to numerous casualties.

The Postal Dude and his companions manage to flee with the dolls and a celebrity hostage but return to discover their hideout seized by terrorists. Amidst internal treachery and turmoil fueled by Uncle Dave's apocalyptic visions, the Dude launches a solo assault against terrorists, local residents, his unfaithful wife, and police forces.

After an intense gunfight that injures bin Laden—who escapes with assistance from Bush—the narrative ends with nuclear strikes exchanged between the United States, China, and India following Bush’s accusations against those nations for inciting the conflict. The closing scene reveals Bush alongside bin Laden as nuclear blasts signify worldwide annihilation.

Production

Director Uwe Boll revealed that a German fan club dedicated to Postal approached him about creating a film adaptation. Boll reached out to Running with Scissors president Vince Desiderio, who agreed to sell him the rights provided he participated in both scriptwriting and production. Although Desiderio and Postal 2 director Steve Wik suggested a darker and more serious storyline, Boll chose a comedic direction to incorporate political satire and address criticisms of his previous works. He co-wrote the screenplay with assistant director Bryan C. Knight, who had collaborated on his earlier video game adaptations.

Actor Dave Foley highlighted Boll’s aim to challenge the heroic narrative often associated with 9/11 victims by emphasizing that those affected by terrorism should not be idealized as heroes. Foley tried to convince Boll to remove a contentious 9/11 scene depicting hijackers causing an accidental crash into the World Trade Center, fearing it would limit the film’s distribution in the United States.

Principal photography occurred from September 13 through October 30, 2006, in Cloverdale and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Although set in Paradise, Arizona—consistent with the games—the actual filming location was a deserted ghost town.

Worldwide

The 114-minute director's cut of Postal debuted at Montreal's Fantasia Festival on July 21, 2007. Following this, it was shown at several festivals across the United States and Europe before receiving a limited release in Germany on October 18. In its opening weekend in Germany, the film ranked #27 at the box office, generating $79,353 from 48 theaters and accumulating a total of $142,761 within the country. In Italy, after two weeks in theaters, it earned $3,980. By August 31, 2008, the global box office revenue stood at $146,741.

North America

Although director Uwe Boll initially planned for a wide release on October 12, 2007, Postal was postponed and eventually released on May 23, 2008. The original plan to launch on 1,500 screens was drastically scaled back to just four theaters by distributors. Boll attributed this reduction to a boycott motivated by the film’s political themes, stating that multiplex chains nationwide refused to exhibit the movie despite attempts to secure venues in New York City and Los Angeles. He urged independent theater owners to screen the film to satisfy audience interest.

By May 20, the number of theaters showing Postal had grown to 12 and reached 21 by the official release date.

The film premiered one day after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. To promote his movie, Boll created video campaigns humorously claiming that Postal would outperform Indiana Jones at the box office. Online promotions featured actor Troyer dressed as Indiana Jones asserting the superiority of Postal.

Home media

In North America, Postal was made available on DVD starting August 26, 2008. The release included both a 102-minute unrated cut and a 100-minute rated edition, alongside a 102-minute unrated Blu-ray version. These packages contained extras such as the theatrical trailer, a promotional clip featuring Verne Troyer as Indiana Jones, a behind-the-scenes featurette focusing on the Little Germany sequence, footage from Boll’s "Raging Boll" boxing matches, and an audio commentary by Boll himself. Certain editions also offered the complete version of Postal 2 (the Share the Pain edition) on an additional disc.

The director’s cut running 118 minutes was released in Germany on September 26, 2008. Although scheduled for a North American Blu-ray release on November 25, 2008, and a DVD release on January 6, 2009, these were indefinitely postponed. This version modifies the aspect ratio from 1.85:1 to 2.35:1.

In Australia, an edited version lasting 89 minutes without bonus content was issued with an MA15+ rating.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, Postal holds an approval rating of Template:RT data based on Template:RT data reviews and an average score of Template:RT data. The critical consensus describes it as "one of Uwe Boll's more successful films – for what it's worth." Metacritic assigned it a score of 22 out of 100 based on evaluations from 11 critics, signaling "generally unfavorable reviews."

Jeremy Knox from Film Threat awarded it 3 out of 5 stars, calling it "an insanely fun ride" despite its imperfections. Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle gave it a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars and described it as "occasionally enjoyable." Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club rated it at 2 out of 5 stars, characterizing it primarily as "a provocation... with the film itself ranking a distant fourth." Dennis Harvey from Variety also scored it 2 out of 5 stars, commenting that while outrageousness is present, consistent humor is lacking.

Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide gave it a score of 2 out of 5 stars and criticized its heavy reliance on gross-out humor rather than cleverness. Michael Harris from The Globe and Mail rated it just one star out of five and called it "a boring beating over the head." Aaron Hillis of The Village Voice assigned it one star as well and described it as "toothless and tasteless," though still considered it Boll’s best work. Nathan Lee from The New York Times gave it half a star out of five and labeled it "infantile" with "bad attitude and poor filmmaking." Elizabeth Weitzman from the Daily News rated it zero stars and deemed it aggressively tasteless without any entertainment merit.

Accolades

Despite negative critiques, Postal received three Golden Raspberry Award nominations: Worst Supporting Actor (for Boll and Troyer appearing as themselves) and Worst Director (Boll), winning in the Worst Director category. Additionally, at the Hoboken International Film Festival, the film earned awards for Best Director and Best of Festival.

Cancelled sequel

Uwe Boll expressed interest in creating a sequel titled Postal 2, even considering a direct-to-video format. In 2012, Vince Desi from Running with Scissors confirmed ongoing discussions about producing another installment. On August 28, 2013, Boll initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund Postal 2, but due to inadequate financial support, the project was terminated on October 5 of that year.

See also

• List of films adapted from video games