Let's Go to Prison

2006 film by Bob Odenkirk

Let's Go to Prison is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Bob Odenkirk and starring Dax Shepard, Will Arnett and Chi McBride. The film was loosely based on the non fiction book, You Are Going to Prison by Jim Hogshire. It was released in theaters on November 17, 2006. The film was the product of creative interference on the part of the studio, according to Odenkirk, and went on to receive mostly negative reviews and was not financially successful.

After serving three prison sentences, repeat offender John Lyshitski plots revenge on Judge Nelson Biederman III, a tough judge who presided over each of his trials, passing him stiff sentences. John calls the courthouse to determine when he will next preside over a case, only to discover that he died three days before John's release. John turns his attention to the late judge's obnoxious son, Nelson Biederman IV. At a dedication ceremony for Judge Biederman, he breaks into Nelson's car, emptying his emergency inhaler. After the ceremony, John stalks Nelson in his van; a hyperventilating Nelson frantically searches through a pharmacy's shelves for a new inhaler, with his erratic behavior making the owners think he is a junkie and mistake him for a violent robber. The police arrive and arrest Nelson. John is ecstatic that Nelson has landed in the criminal justice system which he suffered in for so long at the hands of Nelson's father. Charged with felony assault, Nelson demands that the Biederman Foundation get him acquitted. The board nearly complies, before deciding to purposely provide Nelson with a grossly incompetent defense team at the trial. The incompetent jury find Nelson guilty and he is sentenced to three to five years in state prison. John, not satisfied with Nelson merely going to prison, decides to join him there by purposely selling narcotics to undercover cops. At his trial before the same judge Nelson had, John pleads guilty and convinces her he be sentenced to three to five years in the same prison as Nelson. John bribes a prison guard to become Nelson's cellmate, pretends to be his friend, and gives Nelson terrible advice on surviving in prison. Despite being an unhardened and inexperienced prisoner, Nelson gets himself out of the many situations that John's misinformation creates. He meets G Lords leader Barry, an imposing, brawny gay man who coerces him into a relationship. Despite his intimidating appearance, Barry is a sensitive romantic, supplying potential romantic partners with his finest toilet made Merlot. Nelson angers white supremacist gang leader Lynard by ratting him out on a prison shanking, who vows to kill him after being thrown into the hole. After Lynard was released, Nelson acquires a syringe containing deadly chemicals, to commit suicide; before he can do so, Lynard attacks him in his cell. The syringe falls out of Nelson's pocket, Lynard assumes it is heroin and injects himself, accidentally killing himself, and Nelson earns the respect of and authority over the White Kingdom. Nelson reaches his one year parole hearing relatively unharmed, and as the new leader of the white supremacist gang for "killing" Lynard. Nelson, who initially submits to being Barry's partner out of fear, grows to care for him, willingly playing along with the "relationship" to keep him happy. Nelson also protects Barry from Lynard's former cronies, who are now loyal to him. Frustrated with Nelson's newfound respect, John drugs Nelson and tattoos "white power" onto his forehead to sabatoge his parole hearing. Nelson's parole is denied and the board recommends he serves the full sentence. Enraged, Nelson confronts John, who confesses to framing Nelson, making it clear it was his father who made John the man he was, and they fight. Shanahan and his guards intervene and set up a death match between the two prisoners. When the fight comes, John and Nelson inject each other with a coma inducing drug. The guards and prisoners believe they are dead and bury them. Just before the death match, Nelson had legally adopted Barry, who has been paroled, so he retakes control of the Biederman Foundation. Barry uses the Biederman Foundation's funds to bribe the mortician to skip the autopsy and later also digs up John and Nelson. John, Nelson and Barry begin a new chapter of life, starting a winery (the product is "toilet wine").

The defunct Joliet Prison in Joliet, Illinois used for the film is the same prison featured in the beginning of The Blues Brothers (1980) and the first season of the Fox show Prison Break (2005). During the end credits, Chi McBride in character as Barry, sings a song called "Shower with U" (credited as "Barry's Love Theme" on the soundtrack) in which he repeatedly sings "I wanna take a shower with you". The studio made significant alterations during the film's editing process that made Odenkirk unhappy with the final result (which also happened with the film Run Ronnie Run!, which Odenkirk wrote). According to writers Tom Lennon and Robert Ben Garant's appearance on the Nerdist Podcast from August 23, 2011, changes included a happier ending, the removal of a sparse drums only score recorded by Meg White of The White Stripes, and other alterations that made a significant change to the overall tone of the film.

Let's Go to Prison received mostly negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 12% based on 41 reviews. The consensus states: "Let's Go to Prison is guilty on all counts of clichéd setups, base humor, and failure to ellicit laughs." Metacritic gave it a score of 27 out of 100 sampled from 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote: "Unlike the vast majority of rude big screen comedies these days, Prison may actually improve with repeat viewings, since its best aspects are offhand enough to be missed the first time around." Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter did not find the film funny, and wrote: "The few laughs this purported comedy contains are fully displayed in its far more amusing trailer". Box Office Mojo reports that the film opened in eleventh place with a gross of $2,220,050. It closed with a domestic gross of $4,630,045.

The film was released on DVD on March 6, 2007 with deleted scenes and an alternate ending.