Never Been Thawed

Just see this movie... just do it already.

It'll put a smile on your face that'll be harder to get off than Martha Stewart on a set of dirty sheets.

There are so many little things in this movie that are really easy to miss the first time you see it. I'd advise seeing it once just to "get your laugh on"... and then go back and see it and pay attention to the background things in the scenes. The magazines they read, the statues on their desks, the names of the places they go to, etc. These guys could make a fortune just selling some of the original props.

And who else is waiting for the new Christers album? Yeah, I thought so... well, I'll be camped out at the record store the night before that release and I'm getting the first copy. Just try and beat me there!

This movie is all that... and an entrée.

HILARIOUS! The film takes us through a few weeks with people who share a common interest, collecting unthawed commercial frozen dinners. As it explores the lives of these collectors more deeply we are brought into a world that includes various characters that run the ranges of successes and failures. This 'mockumentary' primarily pokes fun at Christian rock and obsessive collectors of all kinds, but in a greater sense takes its aim at the values to which all people believe they are true. The laughs are frequent and well set-up.

Truly an amazing first effort. It will be a shame if this film does not receive the recognition it deserves.

Everything about this extremely low-budget mockumentary is either extremely hilarious or brutally, BRUTALLY bad. I'm going to start with the bad so that I can leave this review on a high note. The absolute worst thing about NBT: Never Been Thawed is the acting. It's obvious that most of the dialog is improvised, but it's also obvious that most of the cast has never acted before. I know they were trying to make a comedy along the lines of the Christopher Guest comedies like Waiting for Guffman and Best In Show, but they just didn't have the actors to pull it off.

But when it comes to absurd scenarios, NBT borders on genius! It's about a group of "Frozen Entrée Enthusiasts" – or rather, it's about a group of huge dorks who actually collect microwavable TV dinners. Not only do they collect TV dinners, but they actually get together every week to talk about the new meals coming out, and they buy and sell and mix and match meals amongst each other. Insane. The group's leader is also the lead singer in a punk-turned-Christian-rock band called "The Christers". Best line of the movie has got to be: "So the formula for Christian rock is basically – man has problem, man finds Jesus, Jesus solves problem." Some of the other dorks in the "Frozen Entrée Enthusiasts" club include a clown who cuts children's hair at a salon called Klown Kuts. He's in love with a 35-year-old virgin who works at the William Jefferson Clinton Abstinence Center. There's an efficiency expert whose main hobby is playing the highway alphabet game (the one sanctioned by the Arizona Highway Gaming Association). And there's the restaurant owner who opened the No Choice Café next to the abortion clinic to cater to the anti-abortion protesters who are always hanging around. The menu reads: "What would Jesus choose?" NTB: Never Been Thawed is brilliant in its absurdity, I give it that. I laughed more in this film than any other this week. But the actors constantly remind you that you're watching a low-budget farce with really bad actors, and that's a shame.

I applaud the originality of the story, and I'm proud that it's a local production; but, maybe it's been hyped up around here so much that it was a bit of a let down. I'm not easily offended, and I enjoy "edgier" comedy, but this film seemed a bit lackluster--I kept waiting to laugh out loud about something, and I never did. I caught the smaller visual jokes and thought some of them were clever, just not hilarious. I also think I expected the film to be a Spinal-Tap-like spoof, and in some respects it was (punk band goes Christian). However, I felt as if the writers perhaps didn't have enough jokes to write about that so they also flushed out the frozen entrée angle. Maybe if the film had just settled on one thing rather than both, it could've been a bit more fluent for me.

I had the pleasure of seeing this indie at the 2005 Phoenix Film Festival. I believe from what the filmmakers said that it is only going to be in very, very limited release in the Phoenix area as of the near future. So, sorry everyone else. But if you are lucky enough to live in the Phoenix area go and see this movie! I have not laughed so hard so often for as long as I can remember. I don't want to say anymore than that, because the less you know the better.

This is going to be playing at Harkins Valley Art in Tempe starting April 15th. If enough people see it and shell out some dough, it'll probably go into wider release in the Phoenix area. Trust me it's worth the eight bucks.

Independent film lovers and anyone else who wants a great laugh: GO AND SEE THIS MOVIE IT'S HILARIOUS.