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Jun 08, 2016 Web Exclusive By Austin Trunick

Los Angeles, the city of angels, sometime in the 1950s. Jazz singer Fresno Foxglove, better known as “The Topanga Songbird,” is found dead in the company of a world-class rocket scientist. A pair of two-bit coppers want to pin the bodies on a jazz musician named Rock Banyon (The Wire’s Michael K. Williams), a former lover with plenty of problems of his own. Rock’s given three days to prove his innocence and find Fresno’s real killer, uncovering a conspiracy much larger than anyone ever imagined.

Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph also starred in this six-part miniseries which aired on IFC last summer, and it’s amazing how something this fun could fly under so many radars when it’s better than so many of their higher-profile projects from the same timeframe. The Spoils Before Dying is a dead-on parody of vintage, L.A. noir, equal parts Raymond Chandler, Double Indemnity, and The Big Sleep. It’s presented as a long-lost, previously banned masterpiece by novelist-turned filmmaker Eric Jonrosh—played by Ferrell in each episode’s TCM-esque intro and outro, channeling Ron Burgundy through a filter of late-era Orson Welles. Cineastes, in particular, will lap this up—there are many throwaway gags (such as a “lost” scene reconstructed via storyboards and audio recovered from “a German television broadcast”) that poke fun at the exact sort of extras film school geeks flip for on Criterion releases of the type of films this one plays upon.

While admittedly it’s going to resonate most with viewers who have seen Touch of Evil or Chinatown dozens of times, The Spoils Before Dying is packed with lots of general silliness for everyone who’s not going to pick up on more subtle genre in-jokes. It’s produced by Funny or Die—Ferrell and Step Brothers/Anchorman/The Big Short’s (!) Adam McKay—so you should expect lots nonsense and goofiness, including talking cats, model cars and buildings being used for establishing shots, and off-the-wall editing which makes whiskey pours go on for ages. Helmed by former SNL writer Matt Piedmont, it’s no surprise that other familiar alumni turn up in small roles, including Tim Meadows, Molly Shannon, Kate McKinnon, Chris Parnell, and Jimmy Fallon. (Haley Joel Osment steals multiple scenes as Rock’s British manager, and even Tim Robbins has a tiny part.)

The DVD offers nothing in the way of bonus materials save for a “Play All” feature, which is the best way to experience this unique comedic treat. The whole series clocks in at just over two hours, and plays out just like the bonkers lost film it’s framed to be. If you consider yourself a cinephile or a noir buff, we can’t give The Spoils Before Dying a higher recommendation.