Break a Leg

I was pleasantly surprised I quite liked this movie. Witty writing (some "inside" jokes I got, others I didn't - maybe due to actors speaking on top of one another), great acting (notably John Cassini), great cameos, interesting and unique directing. I rented it to see Jeffrey Meek (very disappointed he was in it such a short time, blink and you'll miss him!) but found the movie remarkably entertaining. I'll actually watch it again before I send back to Netflix. I think actors and wanna-be actors will thoroughly enjoy this movie. The ending is somewhat expected but wish they'd done something different (and more positive). Too bad the movie wasn't better received except for in the "festival" market. I suggest it to anyone who loves the acting biz.

I recently watched Break A Leg (2005) on Tubi. The film follows a struggling actor reaching the end of his rope, trying everything from studying to taking classes and working closely with his agent to land the roles he believes he deserves. Frustrated, he decides to take matters into his own hands.

Directed by Monika Mitchell (Deadly Midwife), the cast includes John Cassini (Chaos), Carol Mansell (Better Call Saul), Frank Cassini (The Watchmen) and Jennifer Beals (Flashdance).

I really watched this thinking it starred John Cusack...it doesn't. It does have a cameo by Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), whose acting is a bit over the top and his character added little to the film. This also has fun cameos by Jennifer Beals and Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy). John Cassini does deliver a strong and authentic main character. There's a nice blend of desperation, hope and comedy in his performance. The storyline does have a great setup with some potential characters worth rooting for, but as the plot unfolds it losses some steam and ends as a dud.

Despite a promising setup and potential characters to root for, the plot loses momentum and concludes as a bit of a letdown. Break A Leg offers a unique character story with a great premise but lacks pull-through. I would give it a 5/10 but suggest watching it once.

Just saw this at the Phoenix Film Festival where it won the coveted Best Film Award. Suffice to say, I'm not quite sure why it won this award. I saw much better films at the festival. This was nothing special. Basically, about a struggling Italian character actor who decides to take matters into his own enraged hands to achieve his big break after pilfering in the rediculous film industry for too long. I was impressed with the cast they managed to get, esp. all the celebrity cameos. However, I felt this film felt like an old episode of "Tales From the Crypt" where the actor kills his competition more than anything else. I loved the climatic scene with the actor and and undercover cop who, for some rediculous reason, also happens to be very talented, but that's about it. I found the humour and plot to be very predictable and lame. The symbolism was truly putrid (Jennifer Beals gets her big casting break, then breaks her leg, how quaint!) There have been plenty of great films about the rage of rejection in the film business, murder in the entertainment industry, and paranoid psychotics, but this ain't one of them. It's amusing enough with great acting, cinematography and editing. But nothing truly memorable. Mainstream-pandering if anything else. 6/10.

I stumbled across the film at the San Diego Film Festival. The film has moments, especially the beginning is told nicely (the scene when Mateo decides to go after another actor who got his part), but then it becomes very confusing and somewhat indulgent. On one hand the film has plot holes. Certain scenes were left out probably because they didn't have time during production. On the other hand the film spends too much time on things that have nothing to do with the premise.

The worst part for me was a weird monoloque that Matteo had, voicing his frustration about his situation. I'm sure it was supposed to be this great character revelation, but it wasn't.

Cinematography and Production Design were both weak. The best part is Molly Parker. All in all, this movie, unfortunately is not as good as the premise sounds.

I saw Break A Leg as the opening night film at the SF Indie fest on Feb 5th. Break A Leg follows the struggles of an actor (John Cassini) trying to make it in Hollywood. After continually losing out on roles to other actors, he resorts to violence to eliminate the competition.

This movie is very funny, and the audience was laughing throughout. The tone is a little uneven, particularly in the final third, but the well scripted dialogue and fine work by the actors pull it through in the end. John Cassini and Rene Rivera both do a great job in this movie. Hopefully both of them get a lot more work in the future. There are also a number of hilarious cameos by Hollywood regulars.

The film is shot pretty well, and most of the visuals look good. The sound left a little to be desired - some of the dialogue is a little muddy and hard to understand. (Note: this may be due to the theatre where I saw it. They had to restart the movie after we were about 5 minutes in due to 'audio difficulties.')

Overall, it's a decent but not great movie. I went with a group of six people to the movie and all agreed that there were some hilarious moments, but all-in-all it's a so-so movie. Is it worth a trip to the theatre? Maybe, if you like movies with an indie feel and enjoy send-ups of Hollywood. Is it worth watching if it ever came out on DVD? Definitely.

5/10

Fun facts:

-The director (Monika Mitchell) and the lead (John Cassini) are married.

-In a Q&A session afterwards, Monika Mitchell mentioned that there are a whopping 64 speaking parts in the movie.