Gentlemen Broncos

Three other films spring to mind that Broncos reminds me of in the sense that they all bring similar elements; absurdist story structure, over-the-top character-acting, and an unapologetic bevy of immature, toilet-ish, sometimes abstract humor.

What I can't think of is two people other than me that actually enjoy this kind of film a lot. And I'm guessing you can't either. That's why I think these kinds of films do badly. It breaks down like this;

• 10%; people who even knew this was coming out - 5%; of those people saw it - 2.5%; of those people liked it - 90% of everybody else doesn't care - 100% of those people who didn't care would probably hate this worse than could possibly be imagined.

If you disagree and love this film, see box office receipts for, and then watch; Land of the Lost, Freddy Got Fingered, and UHF. Not only are they three excellent movies in a similar vein, but they all bombed beyond oblivion for the same reason.

I'm going to keep this one short and simple.

Gentleman Broncos is the 3rd feature film written and directed by Jared Hess. Gentleman Broncos follows awkward sci-fi loving Benjamin as he tries to have his story, Yeast Lords, made into a "movie." But after going to a sci-fi camp and meeting his favorite sci-fi author, Chevalier played by Jemaine from Flight of the Concords, he steals Benjamin's idea and makes the book himself.

Now, first things first, unlike another That Was Junk writer, I like Napoleon Dynamite and I don't think it's the worst movie I've ever seen. I love it in fact; movies about awkward, weird people out of place people make me smile. And that's what this movie felt like. It's basically Napoleon Dynamite 2. The main character, Benjamin played by Micheal Angorano, isn't necessarily as weird as Napoleon Dynamite but everyone else around him is such as his mother, played by lovely Jennifer Coolidge who sells tacky clothing and giant balls of popcorn, is.

Everything and everyone is weird in this movie. And everyone is fitted in retroesque clothing and sporting bad haircuts. There is a lot of silly dialog and snappy one-liners that would make any teenager crack-up. Watching at 5 in the morning had me laughing, but honestly the lack of sleep could have been a factor. It's quite obvious Jared Hess has an odd and unique way of making movies. Even if one hates the dialog, I don't think anyone could deny that he is a great director. And cinematographer Munn Powell, also DP on Napoleon Dynamite, has a way of making Hess' movies look dated. Hess loves awkward, deformed, and over the top character. Héctor Jiménez, of Nacho Libre fame plays over-smiling and flamboyant Lonnie. Sam Rockwell plays the rough and tough Bronco and the flouncy Brutus. And Mike White plays the Jennifer Coolidge's slow husband. I loved all these characters because they were silly. I can most definitely guarantee that one of the big reasons this movie has a 5.4 on IMDb is because people hate the characters. They make you feel uncomfortable and have you asking "why are they doing that?" Their dialog, movements and just everything about them is completely unnecessary. So why do I love them, because everything about them is so unnecessary. It's like passing through a small town when you're coming from your big city home. Everything is surreal and you feel like you've stepped into another world. The Clothes are old fashion and the people are completely clueless. I love people and movies like that personally. I love movies that don't take their characters too seriously and can make them silly. It's the reason why I watch movies like G-Force from time to time.

If Napoleon Dynamite made you want to pull your eyeballs out then stay for from this movie, you won't like it.

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You will know within 2 minutes of watching this if you can watch all of it or not - it is anti-Hollywood, just about anti-indie, a brilliant take on boredom, eccentricity, makes unoriginality into hyper-originality and is generally like a 1930s freak show with a side order of banal.

Seriously weird, and yet oddly familiar, the psychodramas and models of parenting and the wakwardness of friendships are all twisted in a maelstrom of ideas that just keep on coming. Every character is explored not for character but for something odd, find the oddness, in the face, the mannerisms etc; and its in their eccentricities that you find the story.

However, behind all of the strangeness, there is consummate skill: the actors are all just on the line between satire and buffoonery and it all works brilliantly. This is a truly strange, odd, little film with Sci-Fi roots and strange strange buds.

All I can say is plunge in - it is one of the stranger films out there - yet it has heart and humor, and many will recognize the nerdcore COS world it inhabits all too well - if off the wall is your cup of tea you can rest assured you have found the right stop...weirdly brilliant....

this unknown little indie film is a strange delight, i managed to catch it on TV recently and i was amazingly surprised. its premise did sound like a rip off of big fat liar, but its content was filled with a sparkling amount of originality. the cast wonderfully carry the story of original creations being destroyed which i believe to be a stab at all the films which may have been based on great source material but destroyed by the stupid minds the carry on to own them. the best part has to be the performance from Jermaine clement as a snooty and up his own anus sci-fi writer. an excellent treat for any hunters out there. i would highly recommend this film to any one who enjoys cringe humour that is made to make you feel uncomfortable.

Seeing this was released in 2009 my first thought was, "Oh yeah, there WAS a follow up to 'Napoleon Dynamite'... wasn't it not that good?" Now I'm watching it in 2024 and it's better than 'Asteroid City', so either entertainment was so good in 2009 that 'Gentlemen Broncos' was considered "mid", or entertainment for the last decade has lowered the bar to where 'Gentlemen Broncos' is now comparatively "good". Regardless of how we got here, I'm enjoying it now.

Jared Hess certainly continues the weirdness in this one. 'Napoleon Dynamite' pioneered the art of bludgeoning the audience with awkward character actors, which he does again here. The first time I saw ND I couldn't find the humor through the cringe, and it took multiple watches to appreciate. GB is much less grounded in reality and more absurdist slapstick than ND, which imho makes it more accessible to a general audience.

I like the characters, the actors, and the story, but some of the characters lean a little too hard into their stereotypes to where they lose some believability, and the believability of the characters was a strength of Napoleon. Great cast, sets & props, music, cinematography, lighting, etc.

Saying 'Gentlemen Broncos' was "ahead of its time" implies it does something profound, which it doesn't; but it was ahead of its time in the sense that if it came out today it would probably receive more praise than it did in 2009.

As a fan of Breen, Wiseau, DeCoteau, Nguyen, MST3K, Rifftrax, EFAP, etc, I appreciate the bad films.