Gentlemen Broncos

For some reason I managed to miss the reviews for Jared Hess' "Gentlemen Broncos" when it first opened in limited release. I saw the trailer for it some time ago, and was excited for it; "Napoleon Dynamite" and even Hess' follow-up "Nacho Libre" were two of the most off-kilter, refreshing comedies I've seen in the past decade. "Broncos" is absolutely no exception, expanding on and arguably perfecting the "geekverse" that Hess started with "Napoleon." This third film in the "Crayola Trilogy" may be so well designed for sci-fi geeks and lovers of Hess' first two movies, that it simply had no way to possibly survive in the mainstream market.

Me? I loved it. Not seeing any reviews beforehand, I was expecting a film that hit the same high notes of "Napoleon," and for me, I got them. I am also a sci-fi nut, and I like my comedies full of bizarre and strangely real people- this, Hess excels in, as well. I went to bed last night rating it a "10" on IMDb; I was shocked to see the rating at a mere "5.5/ 10." Flip over to Rotten Tomatoes; it's a "Rotten" at 16%. I also find it worth noting that neither of Hess' previous releases have been treated on IMDb much better--- I seem to remember a time when "ND" was in the Top 250, or at the very least had a much higher rating than it does today (6.9). I recall "ND" being hailed as a cult classic, only to see its popularity seemingly cripple later opinions of the film (regardless of the fact it started very small).

Anyway. I'm just saying I think Jared Hess' work has been roundly ignored for being truly great cinema. I can see why "Gentlemen Broncos" has not enjoyed the success of "ND"--- it is a truly far-out film, that only "nuts" such as myself are likely to enjoy; I spent my youth much like the lead character writing short stories and dreaming up far-off worlds--- for kids like that, and their adult counterparts, I can only say "See This Film." You won't regret it.

"Gentlemen Broncos" is so off-the-charts weird at times that you often can't tell whether it's breaking new ground as a brilliantly original and creative work - or just trying too hard.

Michael Angarano ("Forbidden Kingdom") plays Benjamin Pervis, a friendless teen who lives with his penniless mom in a geodesic-domed house in rural Utah. Ben is a writer of sci-fi fantasy fiction who has one of his stories stolen by Ronald Chevalier (the delightful Jemaine Clement), a world-famous author with a James Mason voice. Ben also runs into a couple of bizarre indie-film makers who want to make the same story Chevalier stole from him (entitled "Yeast Lords" from the series "Gentlemen Broncos") into one of their shoestring-budget productions.

It's hard to know whether writers Jared and Jerusha Hess (Jared also directed the film) have any real affection for their characters and the world they inhabit or whether they view them merely as objects of out-and-out mockery and ridicule. In fact, the characters, with their mouth-breathing, slack-jawed expressions and atonal line readings, achieve near-freak show status at times. It's this air of condescension, rather than the tale itself, that sometimes makes it hard for us to laugh at what's happening on screen.

Despite this discomfort, however, there is still much to admire in the work. The movie has fun parodying both the unscrupulous nature of the publishing business and the accoutrements of low-budget filmmaking. Clement is marvelously deadpan as the sci-fi penner whose writer's-block forces him to scrap all traces of authorial integrity in pursuit of the almighty buck. And Angarano creates in Benjamin a character we can actually care about and root for. The enactments of scenes from Benjamin's novels are appropriately hokey and cheesy, and the movie also makes astute musical choices, particularly Zager and Evans' 1969 hit "In the Year 2525," which effectively book-ends the story.

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.

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.

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.