The Truth About Average Guys

Most of these reviews are in the vein of "Oh what a great job you guys did for such a low budget. Way to go, little guys, hey your movie is in focus and well lit, so I give you nine stars". Sorry if I don't jump onto the band waggon. In the interest of balance I will now tear the movie apart.

While the shots are properly lit (overall a little flat, betraying it as video), there is barely ever any movement in the interior scenes. Some of it is very weak. The concert scene lit day for night (?) or possibly under lit. The framing is often pretty boring which carries over to the cutting. The editing really has no rhythm. The film (already at 83 minutes) could easily be cut down and made tighter and funnier. (In the commentary the film makers admit that they had a lot of seven pager scenes in the script which you are not supposed to do, and they cut down to four on set. "We make our own rules" one of them brags). The sound is flat and un enhanced. It has no depth with practically no effects to deepen and create ambiance. There is very little underscoring. Music is used for transitional effect or for the montage sequences.

The direction lacks inspiration from a technical standpoint. There are a lot of annoying amateurish details that jumped out at me. The actors are framed head on, which is visually uninteresting. Notice all the closed doors in the background of corridors of the office scenes. The location would have benefited being opened up and given depth. Same location too obviously re-used as a gym five minutes later when Katie and her friend are working out. The bar scene at the end is excruciating.

I guess establishing shots and reverse angles would have required more money.

The film needed a stronger director to stand up to the actors and push them further along. They obviously have potential and sometimes come up with truly inspirational moments but at least half their performances are either pedestrian or "actorish". It looks like they would do two or three takes and then say "good enough lets move on".

Some of the "guy buddy ensemble scenes" should have been trimmed in the editing and at least two of the characters cut out completely at the writing stage. They add nothing to the movie. Its educational to listen to the audio commentary. These guys think their (awfully bad) montage scene is good because the dinky little sight gags they improvised go "great with the music".

The film struggles between over the top sight gags, caricatures and more naturalistic, topical humour. It cannot make up its mind between the two and in the end should have gone for the latter.

Bad sight gags... The guy who feints when he finds out Jason is dating Katie. The introduction of the female protagonist in slow motion with wind blowing her hair back. The blah office co-workers, again too many of them get too much screen time. In the commentaries the two main actor-producers admit there was too much nepotism. The whole scene when Katie's friend introduces the two guys in the bar. And on, and on, and on...

Best stuff: Almost everything involving Jason Schaver. He comes up with little gems in almost every scene. The book end hammer scenes are wonderful.

Too bad the movie is in fact about Ken Gayton's character. He doesn't come across as the really "average guy". Meanwhile Erika Walker doesn't come across as the super hot chick. They both look good enough and at the same time ordinary enough that they look suited to each other, which doesn't fit with the theme.

You can tell they were learning as they went by comparing the ending they re-shot and added with a lot of the earlier scenes. It plays a lot better that most of the rest of the movie.

I took the time to write this very long review out of respect, not contempt. So four stars for actually getting it done and adhering to the first of Billy Wilder's ten commandments of film making. "Thou shalt not bore".

I was pleasantly surprised by this comedy, made on a micro budget (5 grands according to IMDb) by two guys. Ken Gayton and Jason Schaver are not only the two male leads in this flick but also wrote, produced and directed The Truth About Average Guys.

The limited means obviously show everywhere in the film but nonetheless, it offers several funny moments, some which are golden. The premise is nothing new. An average guy decides to get the attention of his dream girl with an elaborate lie, requiring the help of his best friend. Once the plan works, he must maintain the lie or risk losing her. The movie works because the treatment is often raw and very indie underneath the clichés.

Ken Gayton adequate as "the average dude", a classic underachiever with an ensemble of weird friends. I thought he was the weakest of the three leads and some of the characterization is just awkward. Better writing could have fleshed him out more which would have led to a much stronger film. A scene where he "rehearses" asking Katie on a date talking to himself in a mirror just makes you cringe because of its unbelievable nature. How can you properly act scenes that make no sense and no one can relate to? Yet overall, he does okay.

Jason Schaver plays the best friend and sidekick. I have no idea who this guy is but I wouldn't be surprised if he had done stand up comedy. Oozes natural comedic talent and timing and makes all the scenes he is in better. Unfortunately, sometimes the writing lets us down again when it tries to hard to be hilarious or outrageous. I'm thinking this movie will be a great calling card for Schaver to get small roles in comedies at the very least. He was the best actor on display here.

Erika Walter was a good casting choice as "the girl", mixing very well a hot, unattainable young professional vibe with some depth as a genuinely nice gal. Walter wouldn't work as just a "hot bimbo". It's the fact that she adds soul and personality to her character that makes us find her so damn gorgeous.

So the three leads are very solid choices overall. The basic characterization is there. It's just the delivery that sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. The micro budget doesn't help, of course. But that's why many indie productions will instead focus on pre-prod and go for more ad-lib dialogue. Here, the actors stuck mostly to their lines and it shows at times.

The writing is a mixed bag. I can't help but think this thing needed another pass. Then again, these guys didn't get the luxury of Hollywood writers, who get their "bad stuff" cut off in the editing room. Overall, I appreciated the raw approach, several of the jokes and many of the peripheral characters (TTAAG has an ambitiously large cast of quirky characters, considering its budget).

If there's something that disappointed me, it's how sometimes, I got the impression both writers took the easy way out. For instance, how the relationship between Troy and Stacy was "resolved" in a neat, Hollywood way. This kind of convenient resolution is what prevents characters like Troy from growing.

The worse aspect of the movie by far is the crappy editing. Again, one of our two jack-of- all-trades (in this case, Gayton) was in charge and it shows. It's just terrible and hurts the potential of many scenes. The rest of the direction is adequate considering the budget but these days, there,s no excuse for the poor editing.

Overall, you'll laugh a few times and be introduced to Gayton, Walter and Schaver. All three of which may have a bright future ahead of them. I do hope to see more of them, be it behind or in front of the camera.

I saw TTAAG this weekend at the Trail Dance Film Festival where it kicked ass and took names. I haven't had a movie (intentionally) make me laugh this much in a long time. Ken and Jason were there along with Jason's beautiful fiancé and executive producer Katie and they were all very nice and very humble.

If you happen to live near any festival where this movie is screening make sure to check it out, if you aren't then head over to their website and pick up a copy. Actually if you can see it at a festival go buy the DVD anyway, the bonus features alone are worth the money. I know that this film won Best Comedy and Best Actress at Trail Dance, they were also up for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor but I can't for the life of me remember if they won. What I do remember is that even their acceptance speeches were hilarious.

ya this is pretty bad. i admit i really couldn't sit through the whole thing there was allot of fastforwarding. its basically someones high school project that got on the IMDb. the premise is another recycled hackneyed idea only done poorly. if your doing a comedy on video you also have to have good actors or otherwise its like a porno without the sex and thats what we have here. the lighting is terrible on half the scenes and it looks like they reused locations that are supposed to be different locations lol. the lead girl is supposed some 'super hot babe' but shes not in anyway. some of the lines were pretty lame. i would be embarrassed to say them if i was in this. it is just a bad production in every sense and frankly im amazed it was able to get on the IMDb.

As long as you are not easily offended (and if you are, you are likely missing out on a ton of great comedy), this movie will definitely tickle your funny bone. It's like a super-amateur production of a Judd Apatow type movie. The best part is, the miniscule budget very rarely hurts the movie because the script is filled with hilarious interplay and dialog, so even shoddy acting, lighting and cinematography can't bring it down! It's not just "good for it's budget," it's just good. It's squarely aimed at guys in their mid twenties, and it makes the most of its one-joke premise by not making the faux-retardation scheme the actual focal point of the movie. Rather, the main character's relatable group of friends, combined with awkward interplay between male and female, and a playful, almost surreal tone, is where the movie really succeeds. While it is most definitely a stupid movie with a stupid title, "The Truth About Average Guys" is an absolute treat and if it had bigger names and a bigger budget, it would have been a hit that could sit comfortably in cineplexes alongside such movies as "Knocked Up" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin."