The FP

Bizarre. Hilarious. Audacious. Good? If you like terri- awesome incredi- bad type flicks, this will be right up your alley. Imagine a post- apocalyptic world that is Riverside, CA meth culture with a dash of DDR -- I mean, Beat Beat Revelation. The slang is just wrong enough to ping your internal ear, the outfits are random hodgepodges, and the nudity is arbitrary. The pacing drags in the middle of the film, but overall, it is just crazy enough to cut it. It was as if someone raided TV Tropes and then made a film that just rolled with its own campy ridiculousness. There is no irony in the film -- it's all played straight. I loved it.

Every so often a movie comes along that seems so out there you just have to check it out. Usually it ends up also being so horrible that you wish you never bothered. The FP is one of those films that when you see the trailer you can't believe someone actually got money to make this film, let alone anyone would want to see it. Can a movie basically about gangs that fight using their own version of Dance, Dance Revolution work on any level? The FP follows rival gangs in the future who use a game known as Beat Beat Revelation to establish dominance and take control of the area known as Frazier Park. This is easily one of the most ridiculous films to come out in a long time and somehow still manages to work. This film is not intended to be as serious as it appears which is the beauty of it. These guys knew exactly what they wanted to do and went for it. All the characters are way over the top and deliver some of the most annoyingly obnoxious ghetto slang you can imagine, but it adds to the silly nature of the experience. The fact that they manage to take the video game dance battles as serious as a cage match adds to the absurd brilliance of this film. You have to understand going into this movie that is exactly what it is meant to be and that is a joke. They have crafted a film around the most absurd subject matter and made it work creating a grindhouse type film and kidnapping story ideas from everything from Rocky to The Karate Kid to the Warriors. The acting isn't always the greatest, but it somehow just enhances a film that should never in a million years work, but does and in a not soon to forget fun way that must be shown to as many people as you can.

If you tell someone the plot of this film, you will get eye rolls and groans about how that sounds just stupid, but until you witness this you cannot believe it. This is one of those films that is sure to garner a cult following and is well deserved. You probably think this was made by some non-experienced filmmakers trying to break out, but these guys already have careers working on films such as the Crank series, Rob Zombie's Halloween, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and many more. These guys know how to craft a movie with next to no budget, but still give it that big budget feel. Be on the lookout for the Trost brothers in the future, especially since they seem to be planning more additions to this series.

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-dallas/bobby-blakey

First off, this is loooowwwww budget and it shows. The sets are repeated over and over which makes the film feel a little claustrophobic given the story setting.

That said, it is really smart and clever in the way it was put together with some genuinely hilarious moments. But this isn't really a movie with a string of sitcom style setups to laugh about. It's more like one big long joke because everyone plays their characters completely straight within the context of a ridiculous world.

The standout character is the hillbilly/gang-leader villain guy. He's so over the top you can't help but smile when he's on screen being a total d'bag the entire way.

The main lead's nod to every anti-hero movie (and noticeably Snake Plissken from Escape from New York) is a running gag. The incongruity of these kids' lives is even more apparent when they have to interact with the occasional middle aged adult who (with the exception of crazy dad) all look pretty much like anyone you'd see today.

The plot is window dressing for the world building and seems mostly an homage to martial arts revenge flicks, with the dance video game taking the place of martial arts.

Where this movie stands out is in 2 places. 1. The music. It's fantastic. They knocked it out of the park with the electronic house/trance compositions that simultaneously nod to John Carpenter's moody soundtracks and bring it completely modern/futuristic.

2. The dialog. It's not quite as genius as Clockwork Orange in this department but it's in that direction. The kids all without exception speak their own dialect that can only be described as street ghetto. It will will be recognizable to Americans who will have heard lots of it in daily language but this is over the top constant. What sets it off as more than an affectation of the movie is the complete lack of black people that you would presume originated the style of language. Not one. There are whites and asians but no blacks. I can only think this is a purposeful move on the writers part and it does make a statement about language and co-opting 'cool'. This combined with the redneck/gangster stereotypes mixed in throughout the movie successfully give this movie a futuristic alien feel. Warning for the sensitive types there are a LOT of N'bombs dropped. However, through all the ridiculousness it hangs together with a weird logic.

Quite an interesting and enjoyable flick full of smiles but few laugh out loud moments. Most of the people in the movie seem to be able to act and they greatly help with the suspension of disbelief.

The last scene is quite hilarious.

If you don't like dry, wry, cerebral parodies then you probably won't like this much. It does drag here and there and the budget is glaringly obvious but I look for really good things from the Trost brothers in the future.

This movie basically reminded me of the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" except it's more brash, obnoxious and has cursing and sexual innuendo. It's a flick that tries to be so bad, it's good kinda approach but just comes off mediocre. It does have it's moments though with some funny and yet brash dialogues. Most of the humor comes from characters that tries to act like wannabe street gangsters and constantly talking in slang. The movie is about two rival gangs that is far from being taken seriously is constantly at war with each other and fight each other by playing...Dance Dance Revolution or Beat Beat Revelation in this movie. Which leads to dialogues such as "I challenge you to a Beat Off" and "dance with your mind not with your feet". It also has quite a bit of throwbacks to those 70's and 80's futuristic movies even when it comes to the music. And also has a bit of "Rocky 3" in this movie plot wise. Watching the video game dance skills isn't even impressive and it just focuses on the characters expressions while dancing. It's more entertaining watching a guy dance to Tashannie- Don't bother me on Pump It Up on youtube. I can tell how some audiences will like this movie or hate it.

6/10

Haters are gonna hate, and based on the low rating this film has received, they wanna hate on this movie. They are misguided.

Reviewer Matt Hawkins calls this film "the first legit goofball comedy that speaks to gamers without flat-out insulting them." That is high praise, and only the tip of the iceberg. This film is a work of genius, plain and simple.

Every costume choice, every bad line of dialogue, everything... it was all chosen for a reason, and anyone who takes this film seriously just does not get that. Watching the "making of" opened my eyes, and although I already loved the film, it made me love it even more -- the Trost Family has a bright future ahead of them.

Yes, even the "Rocky" and "Karate Kid" knockoffs are intended...