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Mixing shocking gore and deadpan humor (think The Office and Office Space meet Mission: Impossible by way of Agatha Christie), this spy spoof’s hit and miss. But Rob Corddry fans get a mean-spirited treat in advance of Hot Tub Time Machine—the comic actor hilariously bullies his way into Operation: Endgame for some nasty fun.

Rob Corddry blasted out of The Daily Show several years ago, no doubt hoping to catch the same wave of movie and TV fame that swept up his predecessors Steven Colbert and Steve Carell. Thing is, Colbert has his brainiac policy wonk routine and Carell, as much of an idiot as he plays, is always still mostly lovable. Corddry on the other hand is not lovable—his wide-eyed mania isn’t charming, it’s kinda scary. His blowhard characters aren’t adorably pathetic in their delusions, they’re eyeing the nearest bell tower. They’re also really, really funny.

Corddry’s best known as the Arrogant Loser—the guy who’s bull-dozered over any self-doubts with relentless asinine egotism. He’s a meaner Bill Murray for the 21^st Century, except Murray’s appeal was always that he knew he was a schmuck faking confidence. Aside from a few fleeting moments of self-realization weakness, Corddry’s characters are oblivious to their own loserdom—they’re sure they’re the “normal” ones and consider being a total jackass their right and pride.

Mainstream pop culture and those who were not dedicated Daily Show viewers finally caught wind of the Corddry Magic this spring in Hot Tub Time Machine (out tomorrow in the redboxes), but for a truly dark dose in advance, check out Operation: Endgame, currently available for rental.

Operation: Endgame is an extremely droll comic spy thriller that’s being marketed based on Zach Galifianakis’ involvement, but don’t be fooled by Galifianakis’ hirsute mug front and center on the cover—he’s only in a few scenes, and he’s playing things much more deadpan and weird than what Hangover fans might expect.

Instead, Operation: Endgame is very much Corddry’s show, and he takes it and runs wild as part of a super-top-secret spy organization in which the shop assassins are organized around cards of the Tarot deck. The entire film takes place in their deep, dark fortified bunker on the day of Obama’s 2009 inauguration, just as someone begins killing off team members.

Stacking the Deck–and the Cast–with Crazy

The increasingly great Joe Anderson (Across the Universe, The Crazies) is our “everyman new guy” introduction to the teams (The Fool, in the film’s symbolic Tarot parlance). While I firmly believe Anderson is on his way to be a huge star very soon, the rest of the Operation: Endgame cast is a who’s who of the alternative comedy scene. In addition to Corddry and Galifianakis, there’s Jeffrey Tambor (The Larry Sanders Show, Arrested Development), Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation, Party Down), and Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show, Breaking Bad).

Meanwhile, Michael Hitchcock (the Christopher Guest films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind) and character actor Tim Bagley have a note-perfect chemistry as a couple of Statler and Waldorf-like observers who provide a twisted Greek Chorus while watching the increasingly gory proceedings on surveillance monitors. Also on hand are Ellen Barkin (vamping it up with sneering, scary glee), Odette Yustman as the Love Interest, Ving Rhames in full creepy leer, Emilie de Ravin (Lost, Remember Me) as a giggling Southern-fried femme fatale, Maggie Q kicking a little butt, and Brandon T. Jackson (Percy Jackson, Tooth Fairy) playing it much, much lower key than Alpha Chino in Tropic Thunder.

Operation: Corddry

As you might gather from that eclectic cast, Operation: Endgame is a bit all over the place. It comes off as first as a very dry send up of spy films, but you soon realize it’s playing things closer to the violent thriller side of things. One by one the members of the team die in a very graphic manner—usually dispatched (in one of the film’s amusing nods) with sharp office implements, such as staple removers and paper cutters instead of guns.

That might leave the movie, high-ended– as directed by Fouad Mikati and written by Sam Levinson (Barry’s son), it doesn’t quite work as a comedy or a spy thriller. Except for Corddry. As Chariot, the burned-out, alcoholic agent with a foul mouth and a filthy mind, Corddry strides into the middle of Operation: Endgame and owns. Talented folks like Galifianakis and Adam Scott are geniuses as playing it so straight you’re not even sure there is a joke, but Corddry isn’t going for any such subtlety here. Most scenes he’s off in his own Corddry World, his hilarious drop-ins dripping with bitter resentment, his insanity just barely contained.

Best of all, at least for the Corddry scenes, Operation: Endgame is one of those cult-films-in-waiting where the drollery just gets funnier with repeated viewings. Between the deadpan humor and bloody dead bodies, the movie certainly isn’t for everyone—and at its best, it’s often uneven. But if anything I’ve said here today has struck a chord—or a funny bone—by all means give it a shot.

Operation: Endgame is on DVD and available for rental from redbox.