Let's Go to Prison

After serving three prison sentences, repeat offender John Lyshitski plots to exact revenge on Judge Nelson Biederman III, a well-respected but harsh judge who presided each of his trials and passed him stiff sentences. John calls the courthouse under an alias to determine when Judge Biederman will be presiding over his next 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, John breaks into Nelson's car and empties his emergency inhaler. After the ceremony, John stalks Nelson in his van and a hyperventilating Nelson stops at a pharmacy and frantically searches through the shelves for a new inhaler. Nelson's erratic behavior horrifies the pharmacy owners, who think he is a junkie seeking a fix. After Nelson finally finds an inhaler, he begins to use it; when he holds it up over his head to prove he means no harm, the pharmacy owners mistake the inhaler for a pistol and call the police. John takes out his real gun and fires a shot into the air. The gunshot sound further terrifies the pharmacy owners, who think Nelson is shooting at them. 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.

Nelson is charged with felony assault. He demands that the Biederman Foundation do everything possible to have him acquitted. The board nearly complies with Nelson's demands, but, as they are fed up with his behavior, they suddenly realize that this is an opportunity to get rid of him. They purposely conspire to provide him with a grossly incompetent defense team at the trial. Their (and also John's) plan succeeds as an incompetent jury found 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 in prison by purposely selling narcotics to undercover cops. At his trial before the same judge Nelson had, John pleads guilty and successfully convinces the judge that he be sentenced to three to five years in the same prison Nelson will be incarcerated. He manages to become Nelson's cellmate, pretends to be his friend, and gives Nelson terrible advice on surviving life in prison.

Despite being an unhardened and inexperienced prisoner, Nelson manages to get himself out of the many situations that John's misinformation creates. He meets gang leader Barry, an imposing, brawny gay fellow who coerces Nelson into a relationship. Despite his intimidating appearance, Barry is a sensitive romantic, supplying potential romantic partners with his finest toilet-made Merlot.

Nelson gets on the wrong side of the prison's white supremacist gang leader Lynard, who vows to kill him. Nelson gets his hands on a syringe containing deadly chemical, with the intent of using it to commit suicide. Before he can do so, Nelson is attacked by Lynard in his cell. As Lynard attacks Nelson, the syringe falls out of Nelson's pocket. Lynard assumes it to be heroin and injects himself with it, accidentally killing himself and earning Nelson the respect of and authority over his fellow white supremacists, who believe Nelson had done the deed. Nelson reaches his one-year parole hearing not only relatively unharmed, but the new leader of the white supremacist gang for "killing" Lynard, who was violent and spiteful towards all the prisoners including his fellow white supremacists. Nelson, who initially submits to being Barry's partner out of fear, grows to care for Barry and willingly plays along with the "relationship" to keep him happy. Nelson also protects Barry from Lynard's former cronies, who are now loyal to Nelson.

Frustrated with Nelson's newfound respect, John drugs Nelson and tattoos "white power" onto his forehead, causing Nelson's parole to be denied. Enraged, Nelson confronts John, who then confesses to framing him and causing him to end up in jail. The two get into a fight. John quickly realizes that he is now Nelson's target. The guards set up a death match between the two. John and Nelson secretly hatch a plan to inject each other with a coma-inducing drug. The guards and prisoners, believing that they are dead, bury the pair in the graveyard. Just before the death match, Nelson had legally adopted Barry, who has been paroled, to allow him to retake control of the Biederman Foundation. Barry uses the Biederman Foundation's funds bribe the mortician to skip the autopsy. Barry later digs up John and Nelson. John, Nelson and Barry begin a new chapter of life, starting a winery (the product being "toilet wine").

• Dax Shepard as John Lyshitski
• Will Arnett as Nelson Biederman IV
• Chi McBride as Barry
• David Koechner as Shanahan
• Dylan Baker as Warden
• Michael Shannon as Lynard
• David Darlow as Judge Nelson Biederman III
• Bob Odenkirk as Duane
• A. J. Balance as John Lyshitski – 18 years
• Tim Heidecker as Wine Tester
• Eric Wareheim as Wine Tester

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 Mr. Show with Bob and David 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.[2][3][4]

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."[5] Metacritic gives it a score of 27 out of 100 sampled from 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[6]

Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote: "Unlike the vast majority of rude bigscreen comedies these days, "Prison" may actually improve with repeat viewings, since its best aspects are offhand enough to be missed the first time around."[7] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter did not find the film funny "the few laughs this purported comedy contains are fully displayed in its far more amusing trailer".[8]

Box Office Mojo reports that the film opened in 11th place with a meager take of $2,220,050. It closed with a domestic gross of $4,630,045.[9]

The film was released on DVD March 6, 2007 with deleted scenes and an alternate ending.[10]

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