Rating: C
Dir: Philip Zlotorynski
Star: Eric Hoffman, Neil Barton, Darren Keefe, Paget Brewster
Co-written and produced by Chris Gore of Film Threat fame, this aims to do for indie flicks what the Scary Movie series does for horror films; basically, spoof them silly. Emphasis probably on the word ‘silly’, and the results here are somewhat scattershot. I think part of the problem is ‘indie films’ is too broad a term – the audiences for Amelie and My Big Fat Greek Wedding are likely radically different from those for Reservoir Dogs and Pi. Yet, the film assumes you’ve seen all of them, and as a result, anyone with a day job outside the film industry, will likely find themselves scratching a head at some sequences. These are clearly intended to be funny, and perhaps might be, if you’ve seen the specific art-house flick in question.
Another problem is, Gore specifically targetted successful, popular indie films – these are generally good. His parody of Run, Lola, Run, say, is therefore about one-twentieth as interesting and fun as the original movie. Not to say that it all misses; we particularly liked the Christopher Walken impersonator, and the self-referential moments, such as the two hitmen discussing the merits of particular victims in terms of building audience identification with their characters, also work rather nicely. Don’t like this bit? Hey, there’ll be another one along in a minute; no issues with the pacing, certainly.
I’m left wondering who it was aimed at though, since the broad, slapstick style of humor is something rarely found in the indie movies spoofed…which you need to have seen to ‘get’ the references. The performances are nothing special, since they’re mostly playing other actors playing characters, and I can’t help thinking Film Threat could have done better than simply make a movie which shamelessly leeches off the works of others. While certainly worth what we paid for the DVD, journalistic integrity compels me to admit, we did find it in a dollar store.