My Big Fat Independent Movie

This was one of the absolute worst films I have ever seen. Every single "joke" had no substance. The film makers expected that pointing out what characterizes Indy films would be funny enough to not have to actually write a movie. The jokes weren't jokes, but explanations of plot techniques used in the films it satirized. On top of that, a good amount of what it made fun of for being "unoriginal" were unique elements giving the films the "Indy" feel. Films like Pulp Fiction, Amelie, and Reservoir Dogs are films whose worst offenses are starting cliché's, not supporting them. I will say that i laughed at seeing Pauly Shore. But a cameo shouldn't be the highlight of any movie, comedy or not. I can't urge you enough not to see this film. Granted, parodies are hard to make work. But this was so bad it was embarrassing. Movies like this shouldn't be paid attention.

No. Just no. If you're thinking about being in the same city as this movie, no. Don't do it. My friend held the remote hostage and forced me to watch it. I will never get that time back. I wish I could get struck in the back of the head and forget that it was ever created. Oh yeah, it's that bad. To explain it's horrible quality further, the movie just makes retarded allusions to other horrible movies. I felt like eating my own heart to end it quicker. The only slightly redeeming quality is that the black protagonist's hair made me chuckle. It's kind of like a sponge wrapped around his head. Or even better, it's like a quarter of an afro. But that's all. I only wish that the 10 scale could be a 1,000,000,000,000 scale so I could give it a lower rating.

I don't expect movies like this to be good, but I don't expect them to be this bad. This was awful. It was an extremely disjointed, low budget spoof of independent films, including Pulp Fiction, Amelie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Memento and many more. Where I enjoyed all of those films, I hated this with a passion. It was painfully unfunny and not one of the stupid jokes made me laugh. It had a cast of some semi-known celebrities including Jason Mewes from the View Askew films doing the voice of an answering machine, and Clint Howard (from practically everything) as the mechanic. I found all of the movies this parodied funnier than this.

My rating: 0/****. 98 mins. Rated R

Not a horrible movie, but it definitely has flaws.

The script is too self-referential. I get that this is one way to make fun of movies, but honestly 75% of the films jokes (the ones that worked, anyway) were simply making fun of movie clichés. Taken one at a time these references are done well and "funny" for lack of a better word, but it gets old (and predictable) fast. The acting was also inconsistent. Most of the leads do a great job, actually, but a few weak links really make this feel like an amateurish effort. And as with any parody movie, some of the gags worked, and some didn't. Jokes that are too obvious, out of place, or just not that funny frequently come up.

On the other hand, some of the actors do a great job, most of the gags are based on ideas that are funny (note, based on), they don't try to parody too many movies at once (epic movie, date movie, etc,), and it only dips into true-low brow humor a couple of times. The movie also has a good flow to it. I wasn't laughing much, but the movie went by smoothly without dragging. The energy and cinematography are good, although the sound was inconsistent in the beginning.

Overall, I was surprised by the production value of this movie; they nailed "independant" movie without looking like a "bad" movie. The actors are fine, the plot is adequate, the music is actually great. The humor, unfortunately, is not all it should be. I'd recommend it to fans of pulp fiction and film school students.

Though it puts me in the minority to say so, the successful independent films of the past dozen years have been pretty awful. For every great picture like Clerks, there's a vast number of unwatchable ones like The Good Girl, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Memento, Waking Life, and The Blair Witch Project. The talent behind My Big Fat Independent Movie realizes that just because a movie is independent and successful, it doesn't that the flick is any good. Taking a cue from the relatively recent hit parodies such as the Scary Movie franchise and Not Another Teen Movie, screenwriters Chris Gore (editor of Film Threat) and Adam Schwartz along with director Philip Zlotorynski have crafted an enjoyable, well cast, and occasionally hilarious spoof of most of (if not all) the indies of the 1990s and 2000s so far. Some of the best material comes from the Pulp Fiction and Reservior Dogs jabs, but where 'Independent Movie' really hits gold with its low brow, bluer than blue humor. It's very easy to make a jokes about excrement and sex. It takes certain skill to make the joke actually funny without seeming unnecessary. Finally, a comedy that knows exactly how to use its raunchiness correctly. None of that American Pie "let's throw it in there to meet a running time" found here. However, like with most spoofs, 'Independent Movie' runs pretty thin by the hour mark. Once the final act begins, the laughs become almost nonexistent. For that, I can only recommend the R-rated version as a rental. The unrated version may be slightly better. 6/10