The Truth About Average Guys

So, it took three attempts to try and make this film. Why does it look so amateurish? The framing of the shots is terrible, awful lighting, cheap audio cuts, and poor acting. I guess the acting is excusable, since indie flicks using local talent aren't known for their breakout performances.

I don't know why people like this movie though. I laughed only once, really. The whole mentally-challenged angle was old as soon as it was introduced. The writing stalls often. You can't just coast on a few good lines for an entire movie. Also, the main dude is such a whiny bitch, seriously. Girls *hate* insecure, non-confident dudes. They should have never gotten together in the first place.

A for effort to actually get the movie written and filmed and edited and sent out. Great, phenomenal. But the actual movie itself really isn't a super strong debut.

This clever comedy is "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" for the millennial set. Like that predecessor, it features raw dialogue about men and women and love and sex, with a challenging modern romance at its core.

During the all-guy scenes I felt like someone stumbling upon a secret primitive culture in their native habitat...a place far, far away from the female sphere where its natives try to figure out how to conquer that mysterious land. It's been done before but this film gave its male characters more freedom and more moments dedicated to their unfiltered, atavistic riffs.

There's much humor in how these "average guys" attempt to figure out how the navigate the land of Hot Chicks (a female sub-culture that is hilariously skewered in a memorable scene).

The story nicely balances the central romantic relationship with relationships among family and friends to provide a deeper well for drawing fresh laughs. It's fun and funny and kept me engaged. There are elements that overly sensitive people may find politically incorrect, but for me they enhance the unflinching, unprocessed style of humor that I like and that this film delivers in abundance.

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.