King Kelly

A cute and annoying popular webcam girl out on a night of getting F'ed up with a friend, that ends up spiralling out of control and into violence. Could have gotten more shocking, but was OK. The female lead was interesting to watch as she was pretty full on.

I'm not a big fan of the "caught-on-camera" genre. It may be the lingering-like-a-stale-fart influence of "The Blair Witch Project," or more likely the pernicious influence on-going "reality" TV craze, but most of these films, where everything is supposedly being captured on video by characters in the movie, fail miserably, even when the characters are actually INTENDING to document their entire lives on video like the protagonist, "King Kelly", is here. The problem is people don't act the least bit "real" when they know a camera is on them, but often take on the exaggerated persona of a bad actor in very bad and very annoying soap opera. I also think few realize that these "unscripted" or "reality" TV shows are actually filmed with many cameras and heavily edited to capture all of the alleged drama and none of the boring parts. That wouldn't realistically happen with someone spontaneously filming their every moment. Some stuff captured here would end up off camera and there would no doubt be a lot of other boring stuff in between.

On the plus side, I was impressed with lead actress Louisa Krause who creates perhaps the sexiest AND most annoyingly stupid young female character I've seen in recent memory. "Kelly" is a budding internet porn star trying to create her own "King Kelly" website. She goes around crapping all over her family and friends and generally acting like spoiled, overly obnoxious middle-class princess well on her way into the world of prostitution. The main "drama" here involves her ex-boyfriend stealing her car, which happens to have $20,000 of heroin in the trunk that she didn't know about. (What idiot drug dealer would entrust a shipment to a total moron like this?). That part reminded of an interview I once saw with "celebrity" porn star Katie Morgan where she claimed she got into porn to hide out from her associates after a drug smuggling arrest (I'm sure they'll never figure out she's a porn star now). I suspect Morgan is putting on an act because no one is that stupid in real life, but "Kelly" in this movie manages to be even more stupid and obnoxious than any real-life porn or "reality" (or "reality" porn) star could ever be.

She is also sexier than any real porn star (none of whom have Krause's degree of acting talent). She starts out the movie doing her solo act on-line (although since this is NOT a porn movie, the director chooses to pan over to the lewd comments of the guys watching her when the action heats up). She then has her friend film a memorable wet t-shirt scene. The most amazing scene though (for several reasons) might be where she films herself rubbing her American-flag-panty-clad ass all over her father's birthday cake! (I think the American flag panties and the fact the whole film takes place on the Fourth of July might be some kind of statement on America, but I'm not sure). Interestingly, Krause's most notable previous role was playing an underage amateur prostitute in the satirical black comedy "The Babysitters". Here she has moved to playing a "barely legal" amateur prostitute in another satirical black comedy. She has an undeniable talent, but I think she may be getting a little bit typecast. . .

It is difficult to review this movie without spoilers because it is so disjointed.

The opening scene is an extreme closeup showing only the audio and text of an online sex chat between teenage Kelly and various older men that are paying for the privilege of watching Kelly "perform" for them. But this scene is deceptive because it's not what the movie is about. It is merely to introduce you to the life of a young girl that is pure "id" (or "superego") caring only about herself.

Kelly wants to "go pro" by starting a webcam site of her own, but again, that's not what the movie is about.

Early on, we are introduced to Kelly's dysfunctional White Trash family for some insight on just why young Kelly is so troubled.

Friends, family, everyone that gets sucked into Kelly's self-involved world ends up worse for it. Following a falling out with her on-again/off-again boyfriend, Kelly finds herself in a world of trouble, turning to one of her online clients for help. Things continue to spiral out of control and you are taken for a ride on one of the worst nights of anyone's life.

The acting isn't awful, and despite an amateurish script, is worth watching till the end, but don't go looking for "King Kelly" on Oscar night.

Louisa Krause... never heard of her, but what a fine actress... she really can make you hate Kelly. Kelly is the girl you want to be friends with, why? Maybe because she is the girl you would really love to make out with, but you know she wouldn't probably even know you, so you really would like to bitch about her as how much of a bitch she is where actually you would probably give an arm just to be friends.

Well, at least that is the picture Louisa Krause completely drew out of the Kelly character. Louisa Krause really got to the skin of the character. Yes, the entire camera is like a POV, but not like those shaky hand held cameras where you kind of feel like pulling your hair out, so I have strong doubts if it was actually done by the iPhone she carried, it was made to look like that,, but I doubt that strongly. But the result was good, you are made to feel you are looking at a POV but it is nicely captured.

The movie... well, "typical American" girl trying to be a internet star through her peep show and what follows for roughly 24 hours. The story is barely watchable, just a random 24 hours happening, but Louisa Krause makes it watchable. Like the other reviewer mentioned, it is a weird film, not really a comedy at all as mentioned in IMDb. There are naked scenes, drug use, sex and all, so strictly not watchable with children, difficult to say who the target audience is, looks more like the girls of 18 to 24 who are like the Kelly character. Watch the movie for Louisa Krause, she is really good. You might forget the movie, but you will not forget to hate King Kelly.

Be prepared to hate King Kelly.

The character, that is, not the movie. Though possibly the movie too, depending on your tolerance for movies about spoiled brat kids with an unbearable sense of entitlement and a nonexistent grasp of reality and the consequences that come from behaving badly. You might also hate it if the idea of a movie filmed entirely on iPhones in shaky first-person and extreme close up sounds obnoxious. And if there is anything about "King Kelly" that tested my patience, it was this stylistic conceit that's been done to death and stops making narrative sense 10 minutes into the film. It's just not plausible that characters, even characters as obsessed with themselves as the ones who populate this movie, would be able to continue filming each other in any number of the situations in which they find themselves. Those situations include a car accident, a queasy sexual encounter with a state trooper and a shooting, along with lots of running around trying to track down a lost package of drugs.

Other reviewers seem to be responding to "King Kelly" as if it's a zany satire not to be taken too seriously. But if this film was meant to be funny, it's attempts failed miserably, because I found it to be more akin to a horror movie than a screwball comedy. It's not a great film, but it does tap into something very authentic about the current world culture of self-made celebrity, in which people with no talent and nothing really interesting to say or relate can pretend to be the famous person they'd rather be by posting every last thought and action on the Internet for the world to see. It's a deeply depressing trend, one that highlights just how bored people are with their lives and how desperate they are to be seen and heard, no matter for what reasons.

Grade: B+