Rating: B-
Dir: Brandon Trost + Jason Trost
Star: Jason Trost, Art Hsu, Caitlyn Folley, Lee Valmassy
I’ll be honest, I had come across this in the past and scrolled right past it. I mean, wouldn’t you with this synopsis? “In a post apocalyptic future, two rival gangs fight for control of Frazier Park by playing Beat Beat Revelation, a deadly version of Dance, Dance, Revolution™” Nah, I’m good, thanks. The description is entirely accurate, and the film approaches its topic with an absolutely earnest attitude. Yet that deadpan seriousness is precisely why it’s frequently laugh out-loud funny. The proceedings are anchored by Trost as JTRO, the BBR ace, who quits the game and moves away, after his mentor BTRO dies in a match. But the power vacuum he leaves get rapidly filled.
In his new, wood-chopping life, he’s visited by best friend, KCDC (Hsu), who begs him to return. For the FP has been taken over by the evil L Dubba E (Valmassy), and gone to hell as a result. JTRO is convinced; complicating matters, on his return he falls for L’s girlfriend, Stacy (Folley). JTRO challenges L, but before he can face his nemesis, has to prove his worth against other opponents. Yeah, this is less a plot than a parade of clichés and tropes from every sports movie ever made, with Rocky the most obvious (and cheerfully admitted) influence. The joy is in the execution, not least dialogue which is perhaps the most incomprehensible youth-speak since A Clockwork Orange. I strongly recommend subtitles.
KCDC is a delight in this area, and reaches his peak with this emphatic explanation for why JTRO must come back.
It’s end of days out there, JTRO. The darkness has come. Goddamn drunks goin’ straight edge right on the street. Resortin’ to meth and shit! And now with no drunks, there ain’t no bums. And with no bums, there ain’t no motherfuckers to feed the ducks at the park. What’s a fuckin’ town with no ducks, JTRO? It’s nothin’! It ain’t nothin’! How’s a nigga supposed to sort his shit out without no ducks?
I want that last, glorious sentence on a T-shirt. In contrast, JTRO is very much the stoic type. Imagine Derek Zoolander as an action hero, and you’re close.
To be honest, I was wanting more of the actual BBR. There’s only three scenes, and they’re a particular joy – probably more than the JTRO-Stacy relationship, which isn’t very interesting, even by the low standards of such things in sports movies. However, it’s still amusing, far in excess of its price tag. Does the concept deserve no fewer than three sequels? Well, I’m not entirely convinced of the need for these, and cannot see myself going down that rabbit-hole anytime soon. This almost feels like a SNL sketch extended to feature length, and by the end, the cracks are beginning to show. However, it crosses the finish-line intact, and is a demonstration that the best way to do a successful parody, is to play it entirely straight.