Netflix launches ‘Short-Ass Movies’ category inspired by Pete Davidson SNL sketch
Comedian despaired over lengthy feature films with US rapper Gunna in latest ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Netflix has launched a new category, Short-Ass Movies, inspired by Pete Davidson’s latest sketch for Saturday Night Live.
In the musical skit– which aired on 2 April – the comedian, along with Chris Redd, musical guest Gunna, and actor Simon Rex, raps about films he considers to be unnecessarily long. He then asserts his preference for “a short ass movie. A really short movie. Like, at most, an hour 40 [mins].”
“‘Cause I’m a simple man with no attention span,” Davidson jokes to explain his preference.
Movies including Once Upon a Time in America (1984; 4h 11m), The Batman (2022; 2h 56m) and Sex and the City 2 (2010; 2h 26m) are all lampooned for their long duration during the skit.
In contrast, shorter films such as The Lion King (1994; 1h 29m), Good Time (2017; 1h 41) and the Austin Powers movies (all under 1h 40m) are praised, as well as the three-minute short films that appear at the start of Pixar features.
@NetflixIsAJoke – the streaming service’s comedy branch – retweeted the sketch, commenting “good idea” and linking to the new category.
A range of titles are featured, from rom-coms such as Bride Wars (2009; 1h 29m) and Easy A (2010; 1h 32) to horror films including Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022; 1h 23) and Halloween (1978; 1h 31m).
The sketch ends with Rex asking Davidson “How long was The King of Staten Island?”, referencing the 2020 comedy written by and starring Davidson, with a running time over two hours.
Davidson stutters in reply: “It was like two hours and 17 minutes – but we needed all of those minutes.”
You can find a full list of all the films and TV series arriving on Netflix in April here, and everything leaving the streaming service this month here.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments