Rating: C+
Dir: Jason Trost
Star: Jason Trost, Lucas Till, Scout Taylor-Compton, Sean Whalen
The film opens with a bold statement: “WARNING: The following film requires a 3 drink minimum to fully enjoy.” Hah. You’re not the boss of me. I watched it stone-cold sober on a Monday afternoon. Take that, Mr. Trost. However, I still had a decent time: I suspect in part because it seems he shares my deep disdain for reality television, in particular of the MTV flavor. I speak as someone whose wife and daughter were on an episode of Room Raiders. However, based on this, I suspect Trost has watched a great deal more of it. Possibly hate-watched, given the first half-hour here is a particularly vicious parody of the genre, and those who make it – both in front of, and behind, the camera.
The central characters here are two thoroughly obnoxious males: Lobo (Trost) and Toby Dollars (Till), stars of Pussy Police, which is exactly what it sounds like. They get exported over to Thailand, along with new cast member Sonya, a.k.a. Turbo (Scout-Compton). However, the trio are then abandoned by the production company, and left penniless in what seems to be a ruse to get the show re-cast. For if they’re not back on set in America by the time shooting starts, their contracts become null and void. But it’s okay, because Lobo has half a treasure map, passed down from his father. All they need do is find the other half, locate the treasure, and use it to buy their tickets home.
Early on, you’ll want to throw things through the TV, because Lobo and Dollars are utterly repellent. I mean, entirely deliberately, not that it makes it easier to watch. I’d call them whiny, egotistical Neanderthals, except that would be an insult to Neanderthals. However, once they’re abandoned, it becomes apparent much of that is a facade for the cameras, as fake as everything else in “reality television.” The change is a little abrupt, especially in how they relate to Sonya. Lobo goes from date-rape drugging her, to making her an honourary member of the Pussy Police rather too quickly. However, you do end up no longer hating Lobo and Dollars, especially when the truth comes out.
It’s largely shot hand-held for that “found footage” feel, and I suspect a fair amount of guerilla filming too. Witness the scene at a temple, where Lobo and Dollars bounce around the ruins looking for a fake brick, while Sonya tries and fails to distract other tourists by showing a bit of leg (“Correction: Got a pack of homosexual tourists coming your way”). It’s sometimes not very coherent: one second, Lobo gets shot with a tranq dart at Bangkok railway station, the next he’s sporting a blonde fright wig and is tied up in a Russian drug lab. Wait, what? So I suspect the alcoholic suggestion of the opening might help paper over such cracks. Crude in approach and attitude, it skewers the idiocy of the genre effectively. Might be a while before Trost is allowed back into Thailand though.