Adventures of the Naked Umbrella

A conspiracy theorist, pyromaniac. Haven't heard of that one before! Jeremy Davies as 'Sam Wanoutsky' masterfully navigates this blast of a movie, expertly flipping from conspiracy podcaster, (sometimes channeling Robbin Williams' Good Morning Vietnam) to vulnerable, delusional misfit in search of his family. The fireside chat with the alien is probably my favorite scene, followed by Sam's encounter with a quicky mart clerk, (Mike Marks) who not only out-conspiracies him, (Birds aren't real) but also keeps Davies on his feet in this scene stealing cameo. Other standouts include Darnell Rhea as Sam's parole officer, "Yolanda" who keeps things grounded; Richard Riehle as a cross-dressing, drug dealing, "Granny", and the always funny Tom Arnold as the town sheriff, (Would've loved to see more of him!) Although this movie won't be for everyone, it's got so much going for it- think The Big Lebowski and other Early Cohen brothers movies with a "Sixth Sense" style reveal, I think it will be one of those films that pops up every holiday, (Oh yeah, this all happens at Christmas!) I was hooked! Well done.

This is NOT a comedy. It's a drama. An odd drama.

There are multiple scenes and setting where the makers CLEARLY thought they were creating comedy... but there isn't any.

For the most part it's a pure drama focused ENTIRELY on "Sam Wanoutsky" (the "Naked Umbrella" according to his conspiracy theory pod cast). He's on screen a good 90% of the time. Frankly I didn't think the character was very interesting nor compelling. And with htat, the entire film felt unsatisfying and a waste of time. Many of these scenes are purely to try and show quirks that Sam Wanoutsky - but they weren't so much quirks as just stupid illogical actions. Much of it makes no sense.

Ultimately this film's plot COULD be written in two sentences, but I will avoid spoilers.

It's a waste of time with no real payoff.

For the record the perhaps the SMALLEST speaking part in this film is Tom Arnold's part. He is NOT a major character in this. He's a "known cameo" if anything.

----- PASS -------

Adventures of the Naked Umbrella is suppose to be hilarious judging by the so called reviews for this film!

Lets get something clear and this movie is far from funny. I couldn't muster up one solid laugh from start to finish!

Majority of the movie is what I call dark drama with little laughs to back it up!

The main two characters are based on red necks from the swamps of Lousina! Basically drugs seems to back his paranoia as well as his conspiracy theories! They are being chased by parole officers which are not funny at all.

Over acting and just a weak plot makes this movie just dull as well as boring!

Ignore the reviews for this movie giving it well over the top ratings because it is not hilarious at all.

I mean look at the fricking scores people! Here I am, my neurodivergent ass, crying and screaming with laughter at this film! I'm only half way through and I'm like "wtaf is wrong with people? This is a MASTERPIECE! And such beauty!"

Come on viewers - this is magnificent. Who cares about the whole conspiracy angle - maybe the conspiracies are real (hello : some conspiracies ARE very real - like CAPITALISM, baby! Best there is a BigMoneyTM knows what it's doing!) or maybe they're not - but at the heart of this story is LOVE - and omg the chemistry between these actors is so incredible that I believed they were in love. And I love them too.

What a superb film. Everything about this was queer and divergent and gorgeous and right. Thank you. I'll give it a 9/10 just because I want to invite you to come back with a sequel to make me a naked umbrella 10/10 film (shhhh it is already that).

Ps I am not sure if this has any spoilers - is there anything one can say about a film that isn't a spoiler - for someone?

Pps love you - mr or mrs or Missy reader - remember the world loves you back.

Ppps for anyone that suspects I'm on drugs - actually I'm just one big grown up kid who knows that the manual we've all been given on How to be Human - is wrong. *This* (points to self) is how you do human. Thanks. And good night. Kiss and heart emojis.

What a tricky funny strange caper. I loved it. Keep them coming Gerold! I felt the character development was great and it was interesting that the bad guy was hard to pin point at first. But then we feel bad for that bad guy too. The cinematic movement was also well thought out and the stunts were fantastic. The acting was the key to the whole thing. The music really lifted this UFO off the ground too. I really hope this is seen by everyone with an imagination.... The choice of location was cool to shoot this film and Tom Arnold was his classic Iowa self. I hope it gets picked up by a major distribution company and if the critics who only watched the first scene before writing their review on rotten tomatoes will give it an actual look they might be surprised at what they might find.